This year I have decided to intentionally try to create a calmer Christmas season for my family. Year after year it feels like there is more to do and less time to do it. Because truly, there is! There are always new, more exciting events to attend than the year before, without the added time to do them. And year after year I think and plan and try to get us to more and more things. Most years somebody ends up sick and we miss a lot of what I try to plan. Or we end up too busy to connect with people. Quite frankly, I’m over it.

Don’t get me wrong, I think all of the fun things are fantastic. And there are TONS of them in our area. But I’m committing to not over-committing this Christmas season. What we do, we do. What we don’t do, we can do without.

This could go one of 2 ways:

1. We could come out of it feeling like we had a calmer Christmas; or,
2. I could make all of us crazier by trying to control things too much. (I may have done this before.)

But in all honesty, I feel like this is one area where I need to reclaim some control. It is my battle against the constant insanity of “too much to do in too little time.” (Lord, help me.)

The Calmer Christmas “Plan”

Here are my intentional plans of creating a simpler, calmer Christmas season for my little family. I’ll report back at the end of the year to let you know how it went!

1. Putting our schedule on paper – This might sound silly, but having a good handle on the things that we need to do allows us to better figure out when we can fit in the things we want to do. I may know in my head what is going on when, but without a visual I can easily lose track of certain things and over-commit by mistake. Also, coordinating with the hubby. Because sometimes we have different calendars in our heads that don’t quite fit together.
2. Read together each night – We have a stack of Christmas books that come out of storage every year, but never get read. So this year I’d like to start a ritual of reading a little bit from these every night as a family.
3. Cookies/Movie Day – I’m going to designate a specific day for baking Christmas cookies and snuggling up with a Christmas movie at the end of the day. There will definitely be more cookies and movies, but the actual relaxed cookie baking day is what I’m going for here.
4. Family/Friends Gatherings – This one is definitely the trickiest, because everyone has their own schedules that don’t always work together. But I intend to try to make some plans ahead of time with family/friends for the Christmas break. (key word is try)
5. Christmas Lights – Plan a couple of nights to drive around the best Christmas lights displays that we don’t want to miss. (When possible, drive around while out and about for a little extra light-seeing.)
6. Take More Family Walks – We can simply walk around our sweet little neighborhood in the evenings and look at the pretty lights.
7. Special Events – Schedule specific times to see Santa (done!), and schedule times to go to a special event or 2 (also done!). Knowing when/where we’re doing the fun things can really be helpful. It takes the stress out of the constant question of “when are we going to do this or that?”
8. White Space – Leaving some white space in the calendar is a constant struggle, and will be at the top of my new year’s resolutions. But I’m not waiting until then. I want to have peaceful time with my family this Christmas season. In order to do that, it is absolutely necessary to leave some white space in the calendar. Space for rest. Intentionally empty spaces in the calendar that leave room for life to happen. Because we are not robots, and life happens in ways we cannot plan for.
9. Remembering the Reason – Most of all, I want to focus on remembering the reason we celebrate Christmas in the first place. As we make cookies, watch movies, read stories, drive around looking at lights… I want to remember and talk about the things that matter most. We can enjoy the time together doing the fun things, without missing the source of our deepest joy. Our hope that is found in Jesus. The light of the world that outshines all the Christmas lights we could ever imagine.

Here we go…

Ready or not. It’s December already, and I don’t want us to miss it among the chaos that can easily sweep us up into a frantic rush that leaves us wanting more. I want to embrace the moments as they come. I want to remember the Christmas season for what it is, the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ, rather than getting swept up into the madness of shopping and overspending and running around wishing time would slow down. No more.

If you have any family traditions that help you live in the moment, I would love for you to share them. And I hope and pray that you and your family have a beautiful, calm, peaceful, joy-filled Christmas!

XOXO ~Kristin