Have you just been checking off the boxes and going through the motions this season? I mean, in our house we track the gifts with a spreadsheet for goodness sakes- so I am right there with ya! The tree is up – check! The cookies are made- check! The kid’s snow boots are out of the storage bins- check!
Let me share something SO important with you this fourteen-days-left-to-Christmas Monday!
Your kids are not checking boxes! They are soaking up each and every memory! They are in the moment, enjoying the magic, and loving the excitement your spreadsheets and checklists and chores are providing.
I know you are tired. I know you need a break. I know there isn’t enough money or time or resources. But your kids don’t know that. (Most of the time anyway, or at least not your little ones)
So let them be little!
Put the grumbling attitude and thoughts aside. Really try to enjoy (with intention) all of the moments you are working so hard to complete and prep for this Holiday season. Go out of your way to lighten someone else’s workload or list!
(It will make you happier, I promise)
I can tell you this- when I look back on the past Christmas Eves and Mornings (since having children anyway) I am a little overwhelmed with the daunting task of making the magic happen. I know I will be up- well past any sane hour to be awake, I will be coming and going with sore arms to stock up under our tree, my bank account will be begging to be balanced again, and my house will be covered in wrapping paper and those little twist-ies from the back of children’s toys.
My kids don’t see that. And they don’t really feel it either, at least not in the way we do as adults. And there will be a time in their lives for that I am sure- but it’s not now.
So let them be little.
Yes teach them the values they need to be good human beings like the value of a dollar, and a strong work ethic, and to help others- but make sure you teach them this one as well…
Choose JOY. Life will give you all kinds of reasons not to. All we have is here and now. And sometimes all you need for an attitude adjustment is to choose a different attitude.
And you know the best way to teach them that?
Show them.
Life on Cloud Ten 