When we were planning out December (yes! we plan), I had some very definitive ideas about what I wanted our sharing time to be like. I was going to share a cute little story about Christmas and hopefully you guys would comment back with your own stories related to what I was talking about. But December hasn’t really gone as planned.
Not that December has gone badly. Not at all. It was been wonderful and fun but very, very full! With Christmas parties, the Christmas program at church, plus Christmas shopping and then regular life stuff, for some reason my four children still require attention and food and clean laundry.
Even here on the blog, we have so much going on. That wasn’t really our original plan but with all our homemade Christmas posts, our Give a Cow t-shirts for World Vision, our new link party and a giveaway thrown in, it’s almost overwhelming!
Does your December feel like it is spinning out of control? I feel like I’m on a train barreling towards January as fast as it can go. And I just can’t seem to get it to slow down enough to get everything done. Not that I am really behind on the stuff that has to get done, it’s more of the stuff that I wanted to get done.
I didn’t do the secret Santa project I wanted to do with the children. We haven’t done our baking and delivering to the older people at church. We hadn’t even finished decorating our Christmas tree until Tuesday! (I know! I know! You are appalled!) We didn’t do the special new advent tradition I wanted to start.
It would be so easy to make myself a giant list and run around like a crazy person the next few days and try to cram all these things that I wanted to get done in along with all the other stuff that still needs to get done around here.
In fact, I’m really tempted to do that right now. It’s not like I could cut these things, right? These were the important things I had planned this month. These were the things that were planned to teach my children the true meaning of Christmas. These were the intentional moments that were to point to the incredible gift of a baby born in a manger. A baby born to save us from our sins.
Somehow these things, these important things, got pushed to the back burner. These things got pushed aside to attend Christmas parties, do laundry, buy Christmas presents, make Christmas cards, etc. And it would be so easy to look at the month as a failure. To look at this season as another wasted opportunity to teach my children valuable lessons.
But I’m not going to do that. I’m going to give myself some grace. I’m not going to beat myself up over wasted opportunities or try and cram them all in this last few days before Christmas.
I’m going to give myself some grace because, after all, Christmas is all about grace. <—— Tweet this
We aren’t perfect. If we were, we wouldn’t have needed Jesus. We needed God’s grace and he sent Jesus. And my children don’t need me to beat myself up over not doing everything I planned. They need the example of grace more!
I want to encourage you to stop what you are doing and give yourself some grace. If you haven’t done everything you planned, it’s okay. If you aren’t doing everything to make a “perfect” Christmas for your family, that’s okay too. And if you’ve been running around like a chicken with it’s head cut off, STOP. Give yourself some grace!
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
How is your December going? Do you need to give yourself some grace? Has it all been perfect so far? (And if it has been perfect come back tomorrow, I have a message for you. It also applies to the rest of us too.) I would love for you to share. After all, it’s not sharing time if I’m the only one talking!
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December definitely feels more out of control than usual. I am usually so strategic in planning our activities, shopping, etc and here I am the week before Christmas writing my Christmas cards.
I still haven’t finished my Christmas cards either!! I asked my husband to pick me up some stamps today. I’m not sure what the problem has been this year but it has sure been crazy!! But I’m allowing it to be okay that not everything got done and enjoy Christmas.
This is a great post! Thank you for sharing 🙂 Sometimes we get caught up in the bustle of getting everything ready for Christmas and we can be too hard on ourselves. We are heading off to visit family in two days so I have been trying to get things done around here, but it’s really okay if not everything gets done!
It’s crazy how we feel we have to do all this stuff and then when it doesn’t all get done nobody misses it! And yet I’m sure I’ll plan to much to get done next Christmas as well!
I love this post. I have purposefully tried not to over extend myself. I man not have the amazing crafts and decorations that the DIY bloggers do but that’s okay. Sure, there have been stressful days but this year I have really been focusing on what each advent candle means. It’s been very grounding. I’ve given up on trying to have a perfect house. My hubby understands that the stage of life we are in doesn’t really allow for a sparking clean home. It is what it is.
We sure don’t have a perfect house either. I’m struggling to just keep the ornaments on the tree! (2 year olds!!) I really need to take your mindset into next Christmas so I can really spend more time focusing on Jesus this time of year.
Well I’ve been pretty much anything but perfect when it comes to Christmas. I’m on the ball with all sorts of other stuff but not Christmas. Oh well, maybe next year.
Oh well is right. I’m pretty sure Christmas will be wonderful at my house and yours without us doing everything perfectly!
December does feel like it’s flying by and I have not gotten things done that I wanted to. But I decided it’s ok and the best idea is to focus on the reason for the season! Came over from the DBB. Thanks for sharing!
I feel the same way. It’s ok not to have finished everything! I probably had WAY too much planned anyways. It’s better to let some things go.
I always take a deep breath at the end of every season and are thankful for my blessing and craziness too! Fortunate in so many ways, sounds like you are too! xoxo San
It does seem like when the event finally get here you can breathe and be thankful. I just want to encourage everyone to not wait so long to give yourself a break. Thanks for visiting!
Great Post. Things do seem to get crazy around the Christmas season. A great reminder to slow down and just enjoy what is around you.
Thank you Bridget. This is a crazy time of year isn’t it? Have to keep reminding myself to slow down and enjoy this time.
You are singing my song! There is so much that I want to do, but don’t do because like you said, for some reason my five children still want to be fed, and have some attention, and have some clean clothes. Well, they may not care about the clean clothes, but they need it! 🙂 Thanks for the reminder that we need to give ourselves grace!
I know I just don’t understand why my kids want dinner every single night!! 😉 Thank you so much for reading and commenting. I really appreciate it.
great reflection!! Christmas is about Jesus and I love the idea of giving ourselves grace in a season filled with SO many things to do! Emily
The to-do list can get completely out of control, can’t it? And I don’t want to lose the message of Jesus in all the business. I’m forgiving myself for where I have failed with this and re-focusing. Thanks you much for taking the time to comment.
This is a great reminder to slow down and focus on what this time of year is really all about. This month has been very challenging but it’s definitely time to slow down and think about family, friends and the reason we are celebrating. Thanks so much for the post, Lucy! Have a merry and happy day!
Thank you Cindy. Sometimes it seems we spend so much time getting ready for something that we don’t actual enjoy it!
I’m feeling pretty good, it’s been a crazy couple of weeks but this weekend I took a three day weekend and am just looking forward to enjoying time with my family and baking. We kept things very simple this year for gifting and it’s made it a lot easier and my shopping is pretty much done. I had planned on having things done much earlier, but that’s just not the way December works, is it!
That is so great Rebecca! I’m glad you have had some time to relax and enjoy family. I plan on doing some of that this weekend!
And yep, December never seems to go according to plan.
Never! I had hoped to have almost everything done by the beginning of the month so I could just focus on family and what’s important. This year has still been great, I’m used to working multiple jobs and a lot more hours this time of year. My job has been such a blessing and has allowed me the opportunity to enjoy the season more. Hope you get to enjoy your time this weekend as well!
I love and respect and should adopt the way you viewed Christmas. We all give ourselves too much pressure in big festival. Me too especial during our Chinese New Year….Thanks for sharing
Yes, We can drive ourselves crazy sometimes can’t we? Need to figure out what’s really important and focus on that. Thanks for stopping by.