Prepare for a Lovely Christmas

This post is not necessarily about preparedness, at least not in the traditional way.  Consider it a suggestion on how to prepare to have a lovely holiday season.  With the holidays on us in full force with all the cooking and shopping and decorating and wrapping and mistletoe kissing and Christmas carol singing and everything that goes into the holiday to make it special, I’d like to encourage you to slow down, take a deep breath, and simplify.   It’s easy to get caught up in the minutia of the holiday season so that you lose sight of the joy it should bring.  We’d all like to have a Norman Rockwell Christmas, with a golden turkey on the table and presents in coordinating wrappings with puffy ribbons under the perfectly decorated Christmas tree and everyone smiling and peaceful in their Sunday best, but the truth is, that’s just a myth.  It is a commercial message that enriches retailers and impoverishes the soul of the parent who just can’t measure up to it.   Elizabeth Scott, MS, calls this kind of thinking Holiday Perfectionism.  Here is what she has to say in a great article: “Holiday perfectionism is one of the main causes of holiday stress… But whether it’s due to the impossible standards of holiday bliss sold to us by various marketing campaigns, to the exaggerated memories of holiday greatness that we’re trying to match (or outdo) from our own childhoods, or simply our regular-life perfectionism carried over and applied to the holidays, holiday perfectionism is all too common” (Scott, 2009) Read the rest of her suggestions for de-stressing here.

The truth is, for a busy parent, preparing for Christmas can be like adding a 20-hour-a-week job into an already packed schedule.   You can have a joyful season and not feel like tearing your hair out every day, but it takes some prioritizing, some planning ahead, and some letting go of the impossible Norman Rockwell ideal.  (Not that I don’t love Norman Rockwell!  For a bit of visual nostalgia, watch this YouTube video created by  bestbonjon with music by Bach about Norman Rockwell’s Christmas paintings or see it below. 

One of my favorite Christmas stories is How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss.   If you don’t own the book (and you should--it’s a GREAT addition to any Holiday book collection), you can find the text for the story at this fun website for children  . The line I like is when the Whos in Whoville are singing even though the Grinch stole all the trappings of Christmas:

The Grinch by Dr. Seuss, photo Google images

“And the Grinch, with his grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow,
Stood puzzling and puzzling: "How could it be so?
It came without ribbons! It came without tags!
"It came without packages, boxes or bags!"
And he puzzled three hours, `till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before!
"Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store.
"Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!"” (Seuss)

Christmas is and should be a “little bit more”.  Good luck in simplifying and finding the true joy. 

Norman Rockwell Christmas Pictures uploaded by bestbonjon 2010
 

Works Cited

Scott, E. (2009, December 07). Holiday Perfectionism. Retrieved November 25, 2011r, from about.com: http://stress.about.com/od/holidaysurvivalguide/a/holiday_perfectionism.htm

Seuss, D. (n.d.). How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Retrieved November 25, 2011, from Xmas Fun.com: http://xmasfun.com/stories/Grinch/Text.asp.