Are you stressed yet?

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!   Not only by things around me but by the Facebook posts and comments from friends.  It truly breaks my heart to see and hear young moms stressed about getting everything done in these last few days before Christmas.  A friend of my daughter's posted that she would not be sending out Christmas cards and she was terribly sorry and hoped everyone understood.  (She has three young boys.) REALLY?  If people don't understand they don't have kids and I say, take them off the list!  Better yet, let them babysit so you can get your cards done.  This will be the third year I haven't gotten mine done and my kids are grown!  I have good intentions but life gets in the way.

If  you watch any television you will be reminded once again how everything should be perfect. Today I heard that we should all be wrapping gifts for individual people according to their interests. So, for Parker I should be drawing Spiderman on all his presents.  Zoey's presents should have a Frozen theme.  I did that one year before kids.  Guess what, the gifts were all ripped open and nobody saved the beautiful, clever construction paper applique I had made.  Today, I wrapped gifts and slapped sticky gift tags on each one -  didn't even have bows.  We travel and I am tired of the bows getting squashed.  I can promise you, everyone will love their gifts just as much.

Teacher gifts were always stressful to me.  Will they like it, should I have done more, what is everyone else doing?  If you are thinking, "Oh $^%3, I didn't think about teacher gifts, don't worry about it!   My favorite teacher gifts were the ones children made or picked out.  I still have the ornaments a student made my first year of teaching.  She cut them out herself and they were out of pink and green felt!   Love them.  Then there was the year a child made an 'ornament' for me which was aluminum foil crumpled into a ball.  That was it!  He said he knew I would love it and I did.  My nephew, one year gave his teacher a shoebox full of his favorite things.  She loved it.   My husband always loved when I got baked goods, I don't bake.  If the teacher is any good, she will love whatever it is because she will realize it is sent in love.  Parker made a card for his teacher, I know she will love it, i would.

What is more important than having the perfect tree and getting your cards out is being 'present' with your children.   Read Christmas and other holiday books to them.  Watch a Christmas special on television.  Snuggle up and drink hot chocolate together.  Make some cards or write a letter to a friend.  Facetime with family.

Christmas is a time for family, so enjoy your family.  They will be grown before you know it.  And, trust me, they really aren't into snuggling and drinking hot chocolate with you when they are 20 something.