As the holiday season is in full swing, and has a tendency to overwhelm us all! I thought I would share a few things that I do to help everything seem more manageable alongside the regular responsibilities of this wife & mother of 3! I find that it is about organizing myself, my home and my time but even more… my perspective!
I read on a friend’s Facebook page…
How true is that! and I would argue we are even more guilty of this over holidays and other special occasions. Remember when you walk in someone’s home that is beautifully decorated and filled with the yummy smells of seasonal food on the stove, this is their highlight reel. There were hours of hard work and frazzled times of balancing children, life and the holidays in that home just like yours. You just don’t see everyone’s frazzled, you see their highlights. When we start to think our reality should look like our friend’s and neighbor’s highlight reel, we are way too hard on ourselves. This can so quickly suck the Joy out of our Christmas!
A couple of months ago I read another great piece from the editor of Real Simple magazine.
Sometimes we drive ourselves crazy trying to make our homes look like a Martha Stewart Magazine, serving food worthy of Paula Dean’s kitchen, all on a Walmart budget with children running through our kitchen 100 miles an hour! I know I’m guilty of this! I’m not so frustrated with myself when I realize my work can only be 2 of these 3… that’s as good as I’m realistically going to get. It may be cheap and beautiful, but that’s going to mean I put some serious time into it. Or, it can be fast (easy) and pretty, but that’s gonna cost me some dough!
For me, the challenge is creating the holiday experiences I desire for my family and friends without taking away from the joy of the season for myself. I want to enjoy my children and the new traditions we are forming together, which is really hard to do if I get overwhelm by to my do list as I attempt to fulfill unrealistic expectations. I feel like each year gets a little easier, maybe because I’m learning and maybe because my kids are getting older.
Throughout this week I’m going to do several small posts. Some will be things I do to help me enjoy my reality and not be frustrated by the expectations I create from other people’s highlight reels. Other posts will be about things I’ve done that were good, fast or cheap – but not all 3!! And I’ll tell you some things I do just to manage it all and keep my JOY!