Casual Christmas: 5 Sanity Savers for the Season

Waiting for Christmas can take all month!

     The holidays mean many things to many people.  I shared many of my happy childhood traditions last year in my post Advent-ure.  The holiday time is joyful.  It is also extremely busy.  There are many ways to fill up the month with preparations and parties.

     This year I have a new outlook on the big day.  Would you like to hear it? It is just ONE day.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking the wonder of Christmas.  I'm just saying that I am not going to spend every waking moment hustling to create the perfect day.  For one thing, after all that work I'm sure to be disappointed.  No amount of fanfare on the big day is going to satisfy me after all that labor!  So here is what I am keeping in mind:

1. What is really necessary?  

2. What are my limits?

3. Who can help?

4. What do I want from this holiday?

5. Who am I doing this for?

     One way I plan to reduce stress is to knock baking off the to do list.  I am debating about the cards.  I really like to keep in touch with friends and family.  However if the cute family photo shoot doesn't happen it won't be the end of the world.  

   I am shopping local.  In addition to the lack of travel time, I am supporting a wonderful product Save It Bags. They are a practical gift for all the school lunchers on my list. My kids have fun picking out special fabrics for everyone. 

   I will not head to the mall.  We have wonderful small shops in town.  Whatever I can't find there, such as Legos, I can buy online.  I also have an awesome personal shopper.  She calls me whenever she finds something and picks up for me.  Thanks, you are the best!

   I will reduce decorating.  The tree and manger will be featured.  We will cut a big pine from our yard where we planted them over a decade ago. We will decorate together.  Whatever the family wants to do in one afternoon will be enough.

    I will limit our Christmas activities.  We attend an annual children's party featuring a magician, hayrides, sledding and a visit from Santa.  It is a wonderful event that my family enjoys.  Since the big guy will be there, we don't need to visit him anywhere else in town.

   My mother-in-law pulled together an early Christmas within a few days of being in the hospital.  You may be wondering how and so did I.  She shopped for toys and had a simple dinner of a deli platter and side salads.  Instead of focusing on the big meal hubbub, we were able to appreciate the delight as the children opened gifts and had time to talk over the table.  It was a relaxing Christmas gathering and shouldn't we enjoy our holiday time together?  

Pulling my Hair Out

Try finding two barrettes that match, please!

 
     I'm not sure how one little head has so many hair accessories.  I tried containing them all in my old jewelry box.  That worked for some time and when the lid started to levitate from fullness, I removed all the beads and dress up jewelry to a new container.  Now we have had an influx of new 'dodads with the stocking stuffers and it is time to help sort the jumbled pile into some sort of order.

    First I dumped everything out and sorted by type.  We ended up with headbands, barrettes, and ponytail holders of three varying styles and size.
I had two cute painted tins from a baby shower.  One tin now holds all the barrettes that were floating in the random accessory sea.  I often have requests to match the barrettes to her outfit and that was nearly impossible not to mention time consuming before I sorted the box.

      The second tin I filled with pony tail holders.  I tried to fill it with all of them, but the poofier style popped out and refused to be contained.  My solution was to take two chopsticks and thread the ponytail holders on like a shish kabob.  She had fun helping me with that part.  I had thought the chopsticks would lay horizontally across the box, but they were too long so I crisscrossed them.

   The headbands now reside in a pretty box lid.  The bottom of the box is already in use for little toys and I prefer not to have the lid on it so she can find things and use them.  At the center space of the headbands I housed the ponytail holders with the big bobbles on the ends.  The stretchy headbands are placed beneath the tins.  I tucked the comb at the top and the brush is laid over the headbands.  Voila! Now there are no more headaches when it comes time do the 'do!

This is much better and without a trip to the store!

Advent-ure

   I remember the excitement of waiting for Christmas as a child.  There was the family tromp through the woods to cut down the perfect tree with Dad's red saw, followed by cocoa to defrost everyone.   Once the tree was set up we decorated it while listening to John Denver's Rocky Mountain Christmas.  Decorating cookies was a family event with Mom's Super Shooter pressing out dozens of confections and the kids in charge of sprinkles and the cut up maraschino cherries for the wreath bows.  Christmas Eve meant going to Grandma and Grandpa's house to be with all of the cousins for open house. 

  As a child it seemed so simple and carefree, a magical time of year.  I can hear my Dad and Aunt Janet singing carols around the piano.  It's hard to believe that my parents didn't feel any stress carting us to family parties, baking cookies, wrapping presents, hanging lights, stuffing stockings, and keeping us fidget-free during mass.  If they did, I don't remember them mentioning all the work that goes into the season. I'm glad that I have all the wonderful memories of the Christmas season with my family. 

  One way that kids can count down to Christmas is with an advent calendar.  Instead of using one of the packaged ones with a little treat inside, I decided to add a new holiday tradition to my family.  Each day we try to catch someone doing something nice for others.  When we do we write it on a post-it note and put it on the calendar.  I am calling it a "Kindness Calendar." 

  Both children have their own calendars and are enjoying finding ways to fill them up.  My little one fed the dog and asked, "Is that a kindness?"  I certainly agreed the dog would find it kind to be fed.  I opted for the post-it notes instead of stickers, since my oldest can read and I thought it would be fun for him to see all the helpful things he does in writing, rather than a sticker each day.  There will still be gifts under the tree and stockings stuffed with treats in my house.  With the "Kindness Calendar" my hope is to remind my children to think of others during this special time of  waiting for Christmas to arrive.
 

Sicknic

A sunny breakfast for the sniffly crew.

   When I woke up this morning to the cacophony of coughing and the sniffling symphony I knew it was going to be a sick day.  My first reaction was to park everyone in front of the television in their pajamas.  I had made salsa the previous night and was going to add it to scrambled eggs, but taking my cue from the B.R.A.T diet of Bananas, Rice, Applesauce and Toast I decided to scale back.  I thought a light meal was the way to go instead of forcing their appetite with possible messy consequences.

   I sliced up oranges for their cold fighting vitamin C.  Next I made honey toast. My husband introduced me to this sick day staple.  The first time he suggested I thought it sounded strange, but the honey soothes the throat and it is a comforting food when you don't feel like eating.  I brewed up some Gingerbread Spice tea with no caffeine.  I didn't need cranky people plus caffeine. This helped keep up the fluids and the warm liquid is another throat soother. For dessert (to make sure I wasn't making anyone finish their plate) I served frozen blueberries in applesauce for antioxidants and a soft easy to swallow food. I put it on paper plates and there you have it, a sick day picnic or my new word, sicknic.

   After breakfast I set up a tent in the living room by attaching a play parachute to the curtain rods and over the arms of a chair.  They snuggled in there amongst the pile of blankets and a box of tissues reading books.  The sun streamed in through the window making this a tempting spot to curl up and take a nap.  While I was out of the room, the oldest one decided to cut out paper dolls clothes to help his sister.  Instead of being miserable and sick, their sicknic and tent kept them happy campers.