You might say that I have lost my mind if I said that I have a stress free Christmas. Well, my sanity is still intact and we have had several Christmases that were stress-free in the past. I would like to tell you about the things I’ve learned to help reduce the stress during the Yuletide season.

READ GODS WORD EVERY MORNING

Starting my day with Gods Word seems obvious, but sometimes gets left out. I need to hear from God & speak to God each day so I am strengthened and ready to be the mom He wants me to be. At breakfast, we have family devotions and can start our kids day on the right foot as well. Each of the kids know they are to read their Bible when they wake up. Of course, some need a little more reminding than others.

DONT DO EVERY ACTIVITY THAT POPS UP

This seems quite apparent, but it took me about 10 years to learn this lesson. Actually, my wonderful husband helped me learn how to reduce the activity in our lives during the holiday season.

In the past, I wanted our kids to experience everything available during this season. What was actually happening was I began to harbor stress that would usually explode around Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. (I’m sure none of you have ever experienced this.

WHICH ACTIVITIES DO I PICK

What works for us is to pick only 1 or at most 2 Christmas activities or gatherings to attend outside our home. The others we do at home. This is one of the best stress reducers and I am not “forcing” my husband to go to one more Christmas activity every week. He’s still working all day to provide for our family. Instead of being tired and grouchy, he is much happier going to fewer activities and enjoying the company of his relatives and friends.

We enjoy having others in our home, so we capitalize on this. Our children help us clean & cook, so our work is reduced and I am not stressed when our guests arrive.

HAVE FUN AT HOME

Back then, I would had more activities for us than we have time for. In our recent Thanksgiving weekend, I picked which activities will wait until next year.

REMEMBER: YOU CANT DO EVERY THING, EVERY YEAR.

I try to select activities that help my children to think of others, instead of themselves during Christmas. What we have done in the past is raise money for a missionary family. My kids would take orders for loaves of pumpkin bread and cookies. After baking and delivering them to their waiting customers, they would pay me back for the materials used. The rest of the money is used to buy games and toys that can be used by the needy.

This year we hope to have some kids over our house to bake cookies so their moms can do some uninterrupted Christmas shopping. A Christmas card stamping party for the younger kids would make a swell activity. I’m still thinking on how that will work.

I have some other ideas that are included in Celebrate Advent, Christmas & Epiphany Advent, Christmas & Epiphany Celebration Ideas

INCORPORATE CHRISTMAS YOUR SCHOOL ACTIVITIES

If you homeschool, drop some of your formal schoolwork and have fun during this season. There are myriad of ways of incorporating math, writing & reading concepts as we do baking, shopping and preparing for Christmas day.

At home, we still read aloud each morning and then proceed to work on a Christmas activity. It may be handwork type crafts or other quiet easy to do activity.

DO YOU FEEL A TREMENDOUS NERVOUS STRAIN DURING THE CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS? Stop and take a moment right now and prioritize all the activities you and your family want to do. Pick only 1 or 2 activities that the entire family can enjoy and pass on the rest.

Its a wonderful experience having your family at home. Invite another over to roast marshmallows and have fun with the fellowship. And don’t forget, keep your eyes and hearts focused on the Child Jesus. Without His love for mankind, you won’t be celebrating the true meaning of Christmas.

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Ephesians 2:8

This entry was posted on Friday, November 28th, 2008 at 5:38 am and is filed under Parenting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.