Today I am going to be talking about Christmas. And yes, I realize that it isn’t even Thanksgiving yet, but I’m hoping that maybe this post can be encouraging to some of you before the hustle and bustle of the season sets in and you still have time…instead of when you’re in the throes of holiday chaos. I’m going to tell you a little bit about me and Christmas and our sort of “messy” history and how we’re learning to play nice.
Before I had kids, I was a bit of a Christmas hater. I mean, I liked the idea of Christmas, but all the stress and commercialism and family bickering? Not so much. But then, we had Fern and like a light switch, something flipped in me when the time came to celebrate her very first Christmas. Maybe it was all Pinterest-perfect photos I was seeing in my Instagram feed, but whatever the case, I suddenly felt the need to make Christmas as magical as humanly possible (no matter that she was only 11-month-old and wasn’t going to remember or even care the tiniest bit about any of it).
I made an advent calendar, decorated every surface of my house in twinkle lights and evergreen swags, and scheduled every possible activity that was even remotely Christmassy on our calendar. Pictures with Santa? Check! Christmas cookie baking? Check! Zoo lights? Check! MUST DO ALL THE CHRISTMAS THINGS!!!!
It all started off being fun, but after awhile started to feel kind of overwhelming. But, I’m not a quitter, so I pushed on, I persevered (and maybe made my husband a tiny bit crazy in the process). We would make these magical memories or die trying! But then, on Christmas Eve, it all came crashing down around me.
Long story short, our plans for Christmas Eve didn’t work out. It wasn’t a big deal in retrospect, but for some reason it made something in me snap. I completely fell apart and had a complete and absolute meltdown. In my mind Christmas had been completely and utterly RUINED. There was no coming back. I bawled my eyes out and freaked out like a crazy person as I stomped around from room to room, taking down any and all decorations. I was determined to wipe every sign of Christmas from our home and went even further, telling my family that Christmas was cancelled. No decorations, no special breakfast, no presents. DONE.
I successfully managed to completely ignore Christmas until around 11:00 AM the next day, but in the end my husband had a come-to-Jesus moment with me and we ended up celebrating…albeit in a house with an ornament-less tree…but celebrating nonetheless.
Since then, I’ve learned that Christmas magic isn’t about going to all the events, or buying all the gifts or baking all the things. Creating Christmas magic is about picking and choosing the things that are most important and letting go of the rest.
I have a few special foods that I really like making myself, but the rest? That’s what Trader Joe’s seasonal foods are for. DIY’ing gifts? It can be fun and I’ve done it in the past, but I have three young kids right now, so thank goodness for Etsy…or better yet, Amazon Prime. And all of those cute Christmas decor projects? Well, I’m outsourcing those too. See Exhibit A:
After buying fabric and setting out to make my own set of stockings for the past two years, I realized it just wasn’t gonna happen. Thankfully, Holly of The Ginger Cotton Shop makes super cute stockings (and a slew of other pretty things), and she finally made all of my Christmas stocking dreams come true – complete with the prettiest personalized name stitching that is a million times cooler than anything I ever could’ve come up with.
So now step 1 of “Project Make Christmas More Magical Without Doing a Ton of Extra Work” has been completed. And I can fill these stockings with little oranges and things I Amazon Prime and it will be lovely and will leave me with time for more important things. Like eating popcorn and drinking cocoa while cozying up on the couch with my kids and watching The Grinch, because that’s where the real Christmas magic is.
If you’re in the market for cute and coordinated family Christmas stockings too, The Ginger Cotton Shop has a ton of lovely options and is offering 15% off your order through Friday (11/18) using the code: THELITTLETHINGS15. Enjoy!
xo
Lauren
*This post was not sponsored, but I did receive these stocking c/o The Ginger Cotton Shop. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
What a very honest account! I too was a bit of a Christmas hater before I had my daughter 12 years ago now! Since having Chloe I always tried to make every Christmas better than the last and definalty a do list as long as my arm. I planned all the food, made lists upon list for gifts and after a while found that even with all my planning I didn’t end up enjoying my self as much as I hoped.
That’s when about 4 years ago I literally let go, instead of planning everything I took everything as it came. Food, well I have a great partner who does all the grocery shopping every week for our little family and I give him free reign, what ever he brought home I would prepare and cook, presents again I would wrap and get under the tree. It really helped me out with future Christmases, not agonising over whether we would have everything and just enjoying the season for what it is.
Great post Lauren, hope you have a happy and blessed season with your family : )
@Faye – I love that! I’m so glad you learned to let go to really enjoy the holiday season. It is seriously SO hard to do, but it makes it so much better. Hope you have a magical and restful Christmas with your family! xo
Those stocking are so cute! The holidays can be so much fun but also super stressful. Sometimes keeping it simple makes the whole season a lot more enjoyable!