FocusOnTheFamily

A simple Christmas

Written by Karen H. Whiting

Krisann Blair, a Christmas organizer (helps families organize holiday tasks), says, “It’s easy to get caught up in what everyone else thinks you should be doing for Christmas.” She encourages parents not only to survive holiday stress but also to simplify and focus on the true meaning of Christmas.
De-stress the holidays

Krisann takes the stress out of gift giving for relatives. She comes up with a theme for each of her children. For her son’s theme of trains, relatives bought additional train cars, a conductor hat and train village accessories. For her daughter’s theme of a kitchen, relatives chose play food, cookware and an apron.
Here’s what other parents have done to help de-stress their holidays:

• “Keep up on rest,” advises Marci. “Don’t feel guilty for taking care of yourself.”
• Kathy shops sales all year and keeps track of what she buys for people. She also addresses cards when she has time throughout the year and uses easy recipes, such as three-minute fudge: Mix one bag of good quality chocolate chips and one can of sweetened condensed milk. Microwave on high for three minutes. Stir. Add nuts if desired. Dump into a foil-lined pan and place in the fridge to chill.

Simplify the season

Krisann says it’s important for parents to understand they don’t have control over everything. Bad weather, sickness and heavy workloads limit time to shop, decorate and socialize. Parents should accept those limits and focus on what they can do. After the holidays, they can decide what worked and what they want to change the following year.
Here are a few tips from other parents to simplify your Christmas season:

• Sandy sets holiday quotas. Jesus received three gifts, so she limits gifts to three per child. Sandy spends only one day baking and keeps easy traditions, such as cutting down a tree the day after Thanksgiving and enjoying a sleigh ride.
• Virginia and Diron spend Christmas mornings at home with their own family. Then they alternate all other major holidays between families.
• Professional organizer and author Sandra Felton of Messies Anonymous has many ideas for simplifying the holidays: using gift bags instead of wrapping gifts, and alternating decorations each year instead of putting everything out. She suggests planning a potluck (instead of cooking for a crowd) and having children make room for new gifts by giving away old toys and clothes before the holiday

Focus on Jesus

Krisann encourages parents to accept that life is not perfect – it’s more important to rejoice in Jesus than to have an ideal-looking celebration. She gives her children a gift on each Sunday during Advent to celebrate the season – new clothes that are needed for the month’s festivities, an ornament, a Nativity set piece, a Christmas book or movie.

• Jacqueline plays music and sings carols with her sons throughout the holidays.
• Marie has her kids treat Christmas shopping as a scavenger hunt, where they try to spot Christian symbols. The activity keeps them focused on the true meaning of Christmas and takes their minds off of everything on display.
  

From Focus on Your Child’s Discovery Years, November 2007. Published by Focus on the Family*. © 2007 Focus on the Family. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. Used by permission. *U.S.A.

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