Did you notice that the very second Halloween was over the holiday mayhem was already in progress? I suppose it makes sense because Thanksgiving is as early as it can possibly be. And, well, once that’s over, IT’S ALREADY CHRISTMAS. “Black Friday” even starts on Thursday. Seriously.
While I’d love to share my tips about keeping it all together, that’s not happening this year. Since Whitney confessed she doesn’t want to buy her kids special holiday clothes, I thought I’d tell you a few of my Good Enough Christmas confessions.
- I always forget how we do Santa Claus from one year to the next. Does he wrap stuff? Does he only give one thing? Does he buy the one thing that the parents would never give? Yeah, that sounds good.
- Now I remember, Santa doesn’t wrap fancy. He uses plain brown paper that comes as protective stuffing from our online holiday shopping. We save any pretty paper for presents from us, because we deserve the credit. Or something.
- I color-code my kids. Yes, I do this with socks but also wrapping paper. Therefore, I don’t have to label the packages to know who they’re for, and my kids can’t shake the gifts early.
- Gingerbread houses are adorable, but it really bugs me to build them. I think I’m too uptight for that kind of fun. Last year, I asked the babysitter to do it with my sons. Win win. I do, however, like smashing it and eating the village.
- I’m a sucker for matching holiday jammies. I have loved the super expensive jammies in the past and have bought them for the next year on December 26. Since I forgot to do this last year, I bought some cheap holiday longjohns from Old Navy and called it Good Enough.
- Babies can skip Christmas. Call me a scrooge, but my newborns do better when they nap through the chaos. They eat less wrapping paper and ribbon that way too. In fact, with all the joyous family gift-giving, I don’t even buy the baby a present.
- I only cook or bake what I like. I am quite content to buy prepared Thanksgiving or Christmas meals from Whole Foods and just cook the stuffing or sweet potato pie to make myself happy. My sons may eat a ton or literally NOTHING so why stress myself out cooking for them?
- I prefer other people’s decorations. I love a sparkly Christmas tree and put one up regardless of other family member’s interest, but in recent years, I have become even more excited to drive around to other people’s homes like the decorated streets in Alameda. It’s so much less effort. And electricity!
- I stuff my own stocking. Not exclusively, but I have come to accept that my husband is much less stressed if he doesn’t have to come up with little trinkets for me. I have been known to buy other presents for myself to put under the tree, but that has been awkward.
- Photos last forever so I force them. I don’t care if they’re feeling festive, my children will be subjected to numerous forced photo opps. I’ll pile them all in the yellow chair and snap the pictures ’til they’re cute. I’ll also try to get a snapshot of the kids pointing at the stockings. And at least one of me.
Whitney told me that she cut up last year’s holiday cards — you know the part that says Happy Holidays or Tis the Season — and uses the card stock scrap as gift tags. Clever girl.
Hopefully, my true confessions give you permission to be the perfectly imperfect parent you are this holiday season. I’d love to hear any cheats of yours in the comments!!
Great idea on the gingerbread house/babysitter activity. I’ve never made a gingerbread house, but I always stress over sticking my kid and babysitter in front of a movie with a box of pizza every time I leave. My babysitter and kid could have a blast with gingerbread, and I could allow him to eat candy while not in my presence, because otherwise his house would be decorated with dried fruit or Annie’s bunnies. I’m uptight, and I KNOW it ; )
I’m so glad you skip presents for babies! We didn’t buy anything for my son for his first OR second Christmas (he got so much stuff from everyone else…).
This year, we’re only buying one or two small things for the baby, and this is only because our older son wants to know what baby F is getting for Christmas!
@Susan, I’m so uptight… “don’t eat the candy!” or wanting the house to be perfectly aligned when it does not matter. I annoy myself.
@Katy, last year the baby got pacifiers in his stocking.
I almost captioned that photo with all the stuff that’s wrong with it, but removed that gibberish because it’s still a cute photo. Who cares that big brother is missing, the hand is too close to the face, and the diaper is showing? They’re adorbs and that’s what counts.
The photo is adorable! With a 4 year old and a baby due January 31 (but threatening to come much sooner), the questions from the 4 year old have been “Will he be born before Christmas?” “Can I give him a Christmas present even if he’s not born?”
So I guess we might be on the other end with giving presents while still in utero!;)
My god… All I am working on now is just getting my house clean for the Holidays!!!
http://oururbanplayground.com/?p=801
It is going well. Dining room was tackled yesterday.
My kids have sooooo much STUFF. I am just overwhelmed with how much stuff they have. I was talking to a mom over the weekend and what she does is buy just a little to be opened on the morning for instant gratification but then what she gets are activities to do together.
I think I would rather buy Trapeze lessons at Trapeze Arts in Oakland for my 8 year old than American Girl Doll stuff, ya know what I mean??!!!
ps. The photo is perfection
@Jen, It’s good to hear that. Sad, but good. The clutter is oppressive.
I love all of these. And totally needed the reminder about getting in the picture – I was going through photos today, and it’s makes it look like I only showed up about 3 days in the past 9 months. Crazy!
Thanks @Megan. I am always the one taking the pictures. Except for Halloween since my husband didn’t dress up, I made him photograph me with the kids and I love those pics.
My holiday cheat is a special notebook with all the things you were talking about. I keep letters to Santa, a copy of the family letter we send out and gift lists. It also has a section for family traditions. This section keeps info on how Santa works as well as favorite holiday foods and special services our family does for others. I also have lists of special books and movies we like to watch at the holidays as well. This helps me remember so I don’t feel overwhelmed. We pick what is best for the year and try not to overdo! Plus it is a great record for the kids and answers all their questions!
@Marlena, That notebook is a great idea. I’ll have to try it.
As for encouraging my children to give away their toys, I’m not proud of how it happens at my house; I’m finding that its much easier to talk about it and to do it when they’re not home than to actually get them to go through with it. I also found that since we have a much younger sibling, there are some toys that they’d be willing to get rid of that I want to keep for baby (example toddler puzzles and Mr. Potato Head). We’ll keep working on it though.
Oh and I forgot to say, for those overwhelmed by stuff, we go through all the toys before Christmas and I have them decide what they want to get rid of. They are pretty good at it. If you have a kid who keeps everything make a five item limit to have to give away. It teaches them and helps the clutter.