Reclaiming the Wonder

Recently, the Greater Kansas City Mothers of Twins Club asked me to write an article for their newsletter. They feature a blogger from their club every month, and I was excited to be the December blogger! Since many of you aren't in the group, I thought I'd share it here as well. Enjoy!

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Reclaiming the Wonder

Confession: Overall, I don’t like the Christmas season.

In recent years, I’ve found December to be exhausting… and not in a good way. I don’t like the stress of making our families happy with enough get-togethers, the commercialism that is everywhere, the crowded stores, the grouchy customers, and the cold temperatures.

Yep, I’ll go ahead and say it, “Bah humbug.”

Lest you think I’m the female version of the Grinch, please know that I really truly do want to enjoy the Christmas season! I want to look forward to family time, special memories, and quiet evenings at home drinking hot chocolate and watching the snow. But I feel like Christmas as it is today has crushed any semblance of “love, joy, and peace” that I can muster up.

This week, I’ve been thinking back to my childhood and what I remember about Christmas mornings with my parents and five younger siblings. What was it about those Christmas mornings that made them special? I remember Dad blasting the Manheim Steamroller Christmas CD as we all came down the stairs, the special reading of the Christmas story before we did anything else, my siblings all scrambling to sort the presents into piles, and the orange Danish rolls out of a can that my Mom would buy just for Christmas morning because we would beg her for them.

Do you know what I don’t remember? I don’t remember what was in the presents. I remember a few special items over the years: a “grown-up” Bible, an American Girl doll, a dulcimer…but the vast majority of the gifts, I simple don’t recall. It’s not that I’m ungrateful. It’s just that the special family moments of the day seem to have edged out the “stuff” that I was given.

I think a common complaint about the Christmas season is the stress to financially, physically, and emotionally meet every need that commercialism throws at us.

Well I, for one, am not interested in dreading Christmas any longer. This year will be our second Christmas with kids. I don’t want to continue to passively wish the season away, so I’ve decided to actively change my perspective in an effort to reclaim some of the special wonder that has left over the years.  Hopefully, a few changes toward the simple will reduce our stress and increase the joy!

1.      Sean and I are discussing Christmas plans with our respective families early this year. We’ve decided that we want to enjoy part of the day with just our kids, so the morning will be spent at home, just hanging out together. We’ve also decided that instead of trying to do both grandparents’ houses in the same day, we will do our Christmas celebration with them on two separate days. It will be less stressful for us and much less stressful for our kids. Truth: We don’t have to celebrate Christmas on Christmas Day for it to count!

2.      I’m not going to brave the mad rush at the stores to buy gifts. We shopped early by hitting consignment sales for items that the kids might like. We kept it low key (they can only handle so much stuff!) and inexpensive. All of my Christmas shopping and most of their birthday shopping (in February!) was done by September. All I have to do is wrap the gifts with last year’s clearance wrapping paper. Truth: The kids won’t know how much we spent on them, and honestly, they prefer not to wait for us to undo all of the packaging that comes with new toys.

3.      Since we are Christians, we want to make sure that Jesus has a special part of the day…it is His birthday after all! We will still read the Christmas story aloud before we get down to the gifts. As they get older, I look forward to making birthday cards with them, and counting down the days until we can celebrate!  Aren’t homemade memories some of the best kind of memories out there? Truth: Will they understand all of it this year? Probably not. But it is a great tradition to start early!

4.      I love to start new traditions with our family! This year, I’m going to continue with decorating our yearly ornament with special things we did and accomplished, and light luminarias down our driveway. I’m also looking forward to watching a Charlie Brown Christmas, driving around looking at Christmas lights together, and watching the snow fall outside our window as a family. Our December adventures will be spread throughout the month so that we don’t feel the stress of trying to experience it all at the last minute. Truth: Traditions are things that become the markers of the Christmas season. It’s also the special things that kids take with them when they leave home.

5.      And because there are just certain things that mean Christmas to me, you better believe that I will pop open the can of Orange Danish rolls on Christmas morning! Watch out kids! You have no idea what kind of treat you are in for! Truth: Orange Danish rolls are a necessity for a perfect Christmas morning (okay…maybe that’s not a truth, but it’s a darn good opinion!).

My kids are young enough that some memory makers will be on hold for a year or two (think: Christmas cookies!), but I want to make sure that as we establish what Christmas looks like for our household, that we put the emphasis on family, experiences, and the Reason for the Season rather than on all the stuff that has become the norm. Long-term, our kids will remember more about Christmas and be able to look back fondly on family memories if we don’t contribute to the harried, stressful season that it has become.

What are you doing to Reclaim the Wonder for your family?

Recently, the Greater Kansas City Mothers of Twins Club asked me to write an article for their newsletter. They feature a blogger from their club every month, and I was excited to be the December blogger! Since many of you aren't in the group, I thought I'd share it here as well. Enjoy!

****************************************************************************************** 

Reclaiming the Wonder

Confession: Overall, I don’t like the Christmas season.

In recent years, I’ve found December to be exhausting… and not in a good way. I don’t like the stress of making our families happy with enough get-togethers, the commercialism that is everywhere, the crowded stores, the grouchy customers, and the cold temperatures.

Yep, I’ll go ahead and say it, “Bah humbug.”

Lest you think I’m the female version of the Grinch, please know that I really truly do want to enjoy the Christmas season! I want to look forward to family time, special memories, and quiet evenings at home drinking hot chocolate and watching the snow. But I feel like Christmas as it is today has crushed any semblance of “love, joy, and peace” that I can muster up.

This week, I’ve been thinking back to my childhood and what I remember about Christmas mornings with my parents and five younger siblings. What was it about those Christmas mornings that made them special? I remember Dad blasting the Manheim Steamroller Christmas CD as we all came down the stairs, the special reading of the Christmas story before we did anything else, my siblings all scrambling to sort the presents into piles, and the orange Danish rolls out of a can that my Mom would buy just for Christmas morning because we would beg her for them.

Do you know what I don’t remember? I don’t remember what was in the presents. I remember a few special items over the years: a “grown-up” Bible, an American Girl doll, a dulcimer…but the vast majority of the gifts, I simple don’t recall. It’s not that I’m ungrateful. It’s just that the special family moments of the day seem to have edged out the “stuff” that I was given.

I think a common complaint about the Christmas season is the stress to financially, physically, and emotionally meet every need that commercialism throws at us.

Well I, for one, am not interested in dreading Christmas any longer. This year will be our second Christmas with kids. I don’t want to continue to passively wish the season away, so I’ve decided to actively change my perspective in an effort to reclaim some of the special wonder that has left over the years.  Hopefully, a few changes toward the simple will reduce our stress and increase the joy!

1.      Sean and I are discussing Christmas plans with our respective families early this year. We’ve decided that we want to enjoy part of the day with just our kids, so the morning will be spent at home, just hanging out together. We’ve also decided that instead of trying to do both grandparents’ houses in the same day, we will do our Christmas celebration with them on two separate days. It will be less stressful for us and much less stressful for our kids. Truth: We don’t have to celebrate Christmas on Christmas Day for it to count!

2.      I’m not going to brave the mad rush at the stores to buy gifts. We shopped early by hitting consignment sales for items that the kids might like. We kept it low key (they can only handle so much stuff!) and inexpensive. All of my Christmas shopping and most of their birthday shopping (in February!) was done by September. All I have to do is wrap the gifts with last year’s clearance wrapping paper. Truth: The kids won’t know how much we spent on them, and honestly, they prefer not to wait for us to undo all of the packaging that comes with new toys.

3.      Since we are Christians, we want to make sure that Jesus has a special part of the day…it is His birthday after all! We will still read the Christmas story aloud before we get down to the gifts. As they get older, I look forward to making birthday cards with them, and counting down the days until we can celebrate!  Aren’t homemade memories some of the best kind of memories out there? Truth: Will they understand all of it this year? Probably not. But it is a great tradition to start early!

4.      I love to start new traditions with our family! This year, I’m going to continue with decorating our yearly ornament with special things we did and accomplished, and light luminarias down our driveway. I’m also looking forward to watching a Charlie Brown Christmas, driving around looking at Christmas lights together, and watching the snow fall outside our window as a family. Our December adventures will be spread throughout the month so that we don’t feel the stress of trying to experience it all at the last minute. Truth: Traditions are things that become the markers of the Christmas season. It’s also the special things that kids take with them when they leave home.

5.      And because there are just certain things that mean Christmas to me, you better believe that I will pop open the can of Orange Danish rolls on Christmas morning! Watch out kids! You have no idea what kind of treat you are in for! Truth: Orange Danish rolls are a necessity for a perfect Christmas morning (okay…maybe that’s not a truth, but it’s a darn good opinion!).

My kids are young enough that some memory makers will be on hold for a year or two (think: Christmas cookies!), but I want to make sure that as we establish what Christmas looks like for our household, that we put the emphasis on family, experiences, and the Reason for the Season rather than on all the stuff that has become the norm. Long-term, our kids will remember more about Christmas and be able to look back fondly on family memories if we don’t contribute to the harried, stressful season that it has become.

What are you doing to Reclaim the Wonder for your family?