I meant to do a post on 100 days till Christmas; but my migraines cause me to lose track of things.
So we are at 98 days till Christmas....what are you doing to prepare?
Christmas is a most fabulous time of year but it is the most stressful for me. Why?
Because it has become so materialistic and to be perfectly honest; I would love to be able to give my children and grandchildren lavish gifts. But reality is there are 11 children and 17 grandchildren, plus Dan and I and parents (which is sadly dwindling). Don't be surprised if it is a homemade gift.
I love to decorate but then lose steam. So I went to the doctor yesterday, in an effort to find out what of all the things I am feeling are stress and which are organic. And hopefully, fix things.
So what am I doing to prepare for Christmas.
Starting Monday, we will declutter things. Many things will go, many things must be done and hopefully the result will be a cleaner and happier home.
Then Mary and I will sit and plan out some things. Her and I have already been looking at foods and ideas. I would love to experiment but the family will revolt...they are very stuck in there ways. The woman in the family are doing an ornament exchange, as none of the guys signed up :(
PLAN of Attack...at the moment :)
As far as Christmas, itself, we will have a Big Family Dinner Christmas Eve, where we will share a meal and exchange gifts.
Then on Christmas Day, we will go to the movies. We did this last year and it was a blast....I was really surprised by how many people go to the movie on Christmas Day.
MOM of 12 in MISSISSIPPI:Currently living in NEW MEXICO This is about me and the joys and frustrations of being a woman, wife, mother of 12 and grandmother of many. It will be thoughts about things tried or I wish I had tried. But most of the time it will be my ponderings, mutterings and just getting through this life as I know it.
This is from a dear friend:
ReplyDeleteIsn't it amazing how the years accelerate? I just said to Don this morning "Christmas is just around the corner". We have a number of things we've established as traditions over the years and some we've revised over time. I read a book years ago called "Unplug the Christmas Machine" and have since added it to my library. I LOVE that book!
Since, for us, Christmas is about family, service, and feeling closer to the Savior, we plan our activities around those things. We started doing RADAR (ring a doorbell and run) when Ben and Josh were young. Over the years it got bigger and bigger till the last year we did that-a couple of years ago-we were delivering 30 plates. And spending a rediculous amount of money on stuff to make the goodies that end up making us all feel YUK at the holidays. The kids still love the thrill of RADAR but we have started making healthier breads - I have a pretty braided loaf we fashion into a wreath and we deliver those. If we make candy--and it's not much--it's for us.
We have a rule-on Christmas day the only gifts exchanged are homemade, re-gifted, thrift shop, or under $5.00. I hate that feeling of material excess on a day that should be the most spiritual time of all. During the week between Christmas and New Years the kids get 1 shared gift a day. Usually games or clean videos they've expressedan interest in or something for a developing hobby. These gifts encourage time spent together during a time previously felt as ant-climactic. We all really look forward to that week when most of us hunker down at home anyway. If we go out at all it's the day after Christmas to take advantage of the sales for our week-long Christmas. Normally, though, I collect all year long when I see something that would "fit" the criteria. We have found we spend so much less and the pace is not so frenzied. For the adult kids and their families, we do family gifts-usually baskets. A couple of years ago I wrapped keepsake items I have been hording for each of them since they were babies and marked "from the ghost of Christmas past" on the boxes. Those were the best things opened that year. Josh actually cried when he saw I'd saved his stuffed puppy from his first Christmas. He slept with that thing till he was 10 or 11. One year I made family cookbooks for the adult kids. They regularly ask me to add pages to their books. (they are on rings that open up) And we've given food storage starter kits to the kids, too.
Christmas eve we have a Bethlehem supper. We light frankincense, and have a meal of lentil soup,pita bread, pomegranates, fruit ,dates, fish,--you get the idea. We eat on the floor by candle-light. We have yet to find Israeli music--I need to get on that. We usually have the missionaries over on this night. I love the change from the rich foods that are the norm.
We also have an advent calender with scriptures about the Savior and his mission on each night for the month of December. And we schedule Christmas movie nights so we don't get the "can I watch a movie" hammered all month long.
Guess that's about it. I am glad you sent out this email--I need to get out my book and look at it. After Christmas I always write down what I would change for next year so I need to review that before it gets any later.
Love you, girl!
Tina