My Christmas To-Do List(s)

If you’re anything like me, around this time of year you start to make a to-do list for the upcoming holidays. It probably looks something like this:

• Dig around in attic to find all 27 boxes of Christmas decorations

• Assemble and decorate Christmas tree

• Set up antique nativity scene in location unreachable by children

• Borrow neighbor’s 40-foot ladder to hang icicles

• Check all 300 strands of lights to see which ones work and which ones you saved to cannibalize for spare bulbs

• Dig out secret family recipes for the 34 kinds of cookies requested by various family members; make and freeze dough for frantic last-minute baking

• Purchase two exactly identical Advent calendars and fill with exactly identical candies to avoid sibling wars (goal: December 1; actual: December 7)

• Buy present for family Yankee Swap, appropriate for any age and gender, $10 maximum

• Shop for Christmas outfits for both kids since they already grew out of the ones you bought at last year’s after-Christmas sale

• Plan and shop for Christmas dinner

• Attend Christmas Eve candlelight services; make sure children don’t set hymnals on fire

• Convince children to write letters to Santa in order to determine their must-have presents for the year

• Shop for those must-have toys at 8 different malls

• Hide purchased presents in places inaccessible to children; make sure I remember where these places are

• Go through CD collection and place appropriate Christmas music selection in each car

• Shop for, wrap, pack, and mail gifts to faraway relatives (goal: November 24; actual: December 24)

• Assemble multiple toys for children on Christmas Eve; allow time for disassembling and reassembling in the case the item does not fit through the doorway or is assembled backwards

• Remind husband that every gift on his Amazon Wish List costs either $1800 or $3.50; warn him that coal in his stocking is imminent if situation is not remedied

Making a list like this seems like it should help to eliminate some of the stress of the season. After all, if you’re organized enough, nothing can come up as a last-minute emergency, right? But for me, looking at a list like this just makes me feel overwhelmed and inadequate. How on earth can I get all these things done in the short few weeks between now and Christmas? And what will my family and friends think of me if I DON’T get it all done??

So I decided to make a different Christmas to-do list. This list helps to remind me what Christmas is really about, and what is most important to celebrate.

•  Tell children why the family Christmas decorations are so special; show them photos of my childhood Christmas tree

•  Sing Christmas carols with children while decorating the Christmas tree

•  Set up unbreakable nativity scene for children; help them act out the Christmas story. Allow the sheep to speak in a human voice and do not question Magi named Chase, Marshall, and Sky

•  Invite neighbors over for a cup of coffee and store-bought Christmas cookies

•  Admire the glow of the strings of light on houses throughout my neighborhood

•  Bake sugar cookies with the kids; tell them about baking cookies with my mom when I was their age; allow them to decorate sugar cookies with 33 red hots and half a pound of green sugar per cookie if desired

•  Take turns reading part of the Christmas story every morning when opening the doors on the Advent calendars; talk about what it must have felt like for Mary and Joseph

•  Enjoy listening to family stories at annual family Christmas party, even ones I’ve heard 100 times before

•  Look at photos from last Christmas and marvel at how much the children have grown and changed since last year

•  Add some extra groceries to my cart and donate to local food bank

•  Attend Christmas Eve candlelight services; watch the children’s glowing, candlelit, wonder-filled faces instead of worrying that they’ll set the hymnals on fire

•  Enjoy the delight and wonder of my children’s belief in Santa

•  Let the kids each pick out a toy to donate to Toys for Tots

•  Worry less about the gifts I’m buying and concentrate more on the people I’m buying them for

•  Sit in the living room with a cup of cocoa, soft Christmas music playing, and no lights on except the ones on the Christmas tree and the snow village

•  Pray for faraway relatives; enjoy photos of their holiday preparations

•  Appreciate the hours my parents spent assembling multiple toys for me when I was a child

•   Remind husband and children that they are precious gifts to me

I’m pretty sure those are to-do’s I can get done.