What I Want This Christmas

I’ve been running a 5-Day Challenge Group since Monday called the Maintain Through The Holidays 5-Day Challenge.

The goal of the challenge is to get women thinking about how they overwhelm themselves from Thanksgiving to Christmas and what  they need to change in order to 1) take the stress and overwhelm out of the holidays, 2) enjoy the holidays, and 3) not pack on the pounds.

Yesterday I had everyone think about their ideal Christmas.

And for the women who put pressure on themselves to do all the Christmas things (which is most of them), I had them think about last Christmas.

I had them think about what their favorite memories were. And then I asked them to think about the things that stressed them out. And I challenged them to eliminate those things from their Christmas to-do lists, and focus on their top 3 priorities.

I did this exercise along with everyone, and I realized that the stuff I want to do with my family over Christmas isn’t really Christmas related.

There are a couple things.

I want to go to Stew Leonard’s and get the tree the day after Thanksgiving and then decorate the tree and put up the outside decorations.

I want to go to the movies on Christmas Eve and get Chinese food like we did last year.

I want to play Christmas charades. We started that a couple years ago and the kids are hilarious. And even though someone usually ends up having a meltdown at some point, we always laugh A LOT and I still want to do it.

And I want to watch a whole bunch of Christmas movies.

The other stuff I want to make sure I do?

It’s the stuff I always say I don’t have time to do.

I’ve told the girls I would have a “sleepover” with them in one of their rooms and I really want to do that.

I want to do a jigsaw puzzle. In fact, I want to establish a jigsaw puzzle area somewhere in the house where there is a puzzle to work on at all times for anyone who just needs some quiet, down time.

I want to play Phase 10 and Scrabble.

And I want to spend at least two days in my pajamas for the whole entire day.

I want to do lots of this:

I want my kids to have mornings like this:

I wanna get outside with my kids and do more of this:

and this:

I don’t need to load up on Christmas crafts or Christmas excursions or Christmas anything.

I really just want to wake up on December 26th feeling like I connected with my family and not feeling like I was just run over by a 18-wheeler.

Things I won’t do?

I won’t do Christmas cards.

I probably won’t bake Christmas cookies. Not this year.

I won’t put things off to the last minute so I’m up at 2 a.m. wrapping presents on Christmas Eve.

And I won’t put pressure on myself to do anything perfectly.

The kids are growing up so fast.

I don’t want to be a psycho bitch who is freaking out over the perfect family picture or the perfect anything, for that matter.

I just want to enjoy my kids while I can.

And I want them to enjoy a relaxed, present, and patient mom.

And that is the best gift I can give not only to my family, but also to myself.