That’s Christmas To Me

Aw, Christmas. 

Is it joyful, or is it the absolute worst thing we do to ourselves? I never really know. I’m all over the place, personally. One minute I’m like “Lights! Smells! Sounds! It’s all so lovely!” and the next minute I’m wanting to return every gift I’ve purchased and hide in my house with my blinds closed until the new year. Christmas is both magical and challenging. 

Last week was probably the most stressful week of the season, and now that it’s over, I hope we can coast and enjoy the holiday spirit a bit more. I am quite nervous for my kids to be out of school for winter break, though, so I’m trying to gear up so it isn’t completely miserable for us all. 

Christmas looks a little different in our family from year to year. We have traditions and rituals that we enjoy, but as the Christmas Coordinator, I try to be mindful of our energy levels and life phases. I’ve learned that it’s okay to do an elaborate, festive Christmas if that’s what feels right and matches our level of ambition. But it’s also okay to simplify and cut stuff out when we’re tired or overwhelmed, or when the timing’s just not right. If that means skipping a tradition, that is just fine! Traditions are meant to be enjoyed, not endured or forced.

Here’s what Christmas looks like for us so far this year:

Gift Wrap

I’m wrapping presents over time, and I’m using (mostly) wrapping paper. Last year I used drawstring plastic bags for lots of our gifts, and they were a life saver. 

Last year my priority was keeping things quick and easy. This year I’m more focused on using up what we have, so this year I’m wrapping stuff with paper we’ve had for a long time. 

I get overwhelmed with wrapping presents and I don’t really enjoy doing it, so I try to get it done early. I am also taking advantage of my girls and making them wrap each other’s presents. They could easily be backstabbing me and telling each other what they’re getting, but my sister and I used to do the same thing, so it’s just part of the Christmas experience, in my opinion. 

Cards

Didn’t do them. I enjoy sending and receiving Christmas cards, but postage has gotten so expensive, so it’s something we’ve let fall by the wayside. 

Parties

We’ve been to two work parties and two family parties. Daisy hosted a Dance Ensemble party at our house. We missed our ward (church) party and have had to decline a couple of invitations from friends. 

Family Party #1

Family Party #2:

Programs

This is where it’s hard to scale back because you can’t just skip your kids’ performances. This past week we had:

Monday - Zoe’s in-studio dance program (our dance studio rotates between doing a big Christmas recital and having in-class performances)

Tuesday - Daisy’s dance department concert the high school (she had a solo!)

Wednesday - Zoe’s dance department concert at the junior high (we had to miss this one because it was also Scotty’s work party) but don’t worry because…

Thursday - the second night of Zoe’s dance department concert at the junior high, but ALSO Eva’s in-studio dance presentation AND Daisy’s in-studio dance presentation 

Friday - Daisy performed at two basketball half-times (and this was also the night of the Dance Ensemble party at our house)

Saturday - no performances! Just a community service project, our ward Christmas party, a family Christmas party, my work party, and a partridge in a pear tree.

Shopping

This year I did a very small amount of Christmas shopping in September and October, but most of my shopping has been done in November and December, and most of it has been online.

The Budget

We always have a Christmas budget, and I always keep track of what I spend at Christmas and stay within a set amount. This year, I’ve bought whatever I feel like whenever I feel like it. I’ve gone completely rogue! I have no idea if there is proper balance and fairness between kids. Since I’ve been keeping up on the wrapping, and I haven’t kept a list of what I’ve bought, I’ll be just a surprised on Christmas morning as everyone else! 

Oh, I bought you 25 gifts and three are duplicates? Oops!

Trees

Traditionally we decorate two Christmas trees. The upstairs tree is more formal, and it’s my tree. 

The downstairs tree showcases our collection of sentimental ornaments and is more informal (in fact, I bought this tree from the thrift store for $15). I let my kids decorate the basement tree. It currently looks like this:

Half the ornaments are backwards or upside down, someone draped the boughs in toilet paper over the weekend, and there’s an off-center troll on top.

Family Gifts

We draw names for our family gifts (this year I have Eva). We weren’t sure how to handle the “son in Puerto Rico” situation, but after talking to Nicky, we included him in the exchange. Daisy drew his name, and we got his gift mailed. Nicky drew Zoe’s name, and we bought a gift for her on his behalf. 

Missionary Christmas

Speaking of Nicky, this Christmas gives us the unique experience of having a child on a mission during the holidays. When Nicky was called to Puerto Rico, I assumed that we wouldn’t be sending him very many packages because it would cost a fortune. I didn’t know that, because Puerto Rico is a US territory, we would have the perks of the US Postal Service (in most cases). So we’ve been able to mail lots of stuff. It gets to Puerto Rico in 3-5 days. The problem is, it goes to the mission office and stays there for weeks. But we can deal with that. 

So for Christmas, I wrapped 25 little gifts so Nicky can open one each day. It’s nothing frivolous - a pack of gum, a stick of deodorant, a box of mac and cheese, and the like. It was fun to find all the stuff for his gifts, and I wrote a silly note or pun (mostly scripture related) for each one. 

The mission president sent out an email to the parents asking us not to send elaborate gifts to our missionaries. I had already sent our Christmas package, so I was glad I’d kept things simple and practical. 

Lights

This is one area where we have never been consistent. Sometimes we put lights on the house, sometimes we don’t. For the past few years we haven’t done any lights, but this year, Scotty installed permanent lighting on our house, and it is his pride and joy! 

Hopefully they stand the test of time. I’m not sure what to expect as far as annual maintenance. 

(The lights have motion, so in person they look a little less like we’re repping some kind of futbol team).

Another thing we sometimes do (and sometimes don’t) is put our Charlie Brown photo booth out in the yard. We skipped last year, and we might skip this year too because it’s kind of buried in the garage.

Christmas Jammies

We’ve never done them, but our kids have often been given pajamas from their grandparents.

Movies

Christmas movies are Scotty’s thing. He’ll be like, “Do you want to watch Home Alone with us?” and I’ll be like, “No! I just watched that eight years ago. It’s too soon.”  So if there’s any Christmas movie viewing during the season, it’s Scotty’s realm. Sometimes I’ll sit in the room and work on other things. In fact, on this very night, I wrote in my journal while Scotty and the girls watched Spirited.

Neighbor Gifts

They’re loaded in a box and ready to deliver. I’ve never minded doing neighbor gifts. Sometimes I do homemade jam, but for the past two years we haven’t had enough raspberries. This year we are… wait a minute… sneaky neighbors! I’m not telling you. You’ll have to wait. 

Ornaments 

Everyone gets to pick an ornament every year to add to our collection. I have mixed feelings about this tradition because my kids have picked some really stupid ornaments. The point is to choose an ornament that either commemorates something you experienced that year or represents something you love. So, go figure, I have to stare at this stick of butter that dominates the tree each year. It would be one thing if my kid were a butter enthusiast, but he’s not. He just randomly picked a stick of butter that year. 

Generous George

One of our traditions is to have Generous George (which you can read about here) making his way through our home. 

That post was written five years ago, and I’ll have you know that my kids still haven’t mastered the tradition of Generous George. They fight over him, short change each other with service, and misplace Generous George all month long. In fact, GG has been sitting right here unclaimed for several days, and over the weekend, I threatened to throw him away. So the spirit of. Christmas is strong in this house.

How’s that for a thorough rundown of our Christmas?