The LIST

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Kids drawing the heavenly host!

Wow - I'm getting old, because I find the lead-up to Christmas creates this sense of dread in the pit of my stomach.

Come mid-November, I walk around with a list of "THINGS THAT NEED TO BE DONE" flying through my brain.  I use capital letters because it feels like a capital letter type of list.  Presents are of course on the list.  That's mostly not too hard.  I quite like gifts.  I do find the odd person a bit tricky to buy for though.  You always think that you're finally DONE, but then there's always one person who you haven't bought for.

What else is on the LIST?  Cards, Christmas tree, baking, presents for the teachers (x5 - full-on!), food for family get-togethers etc, etc.

Every year I think that I should make one of those lovely advent calendars with Bible verses for each day.  I do think about it every year.  Nice thought.  It comes and it goes.  Bit of a failure in that area.  But we do have a knitted (not by me) nativity scene which is popular.

The stress of the LIST is compounded by the various, endless end-of-year events that are held too.  I like the end-of-year events but I would enjoy them more if they were spread out over the year.  So that I had one nice night out a week over the year instead of five nights in a row for three weeks!

I've been thinking a lot in the midst of my stress about my list what is Christmas actually meant to be about?  For me, it comes down to remembering that Jesus came to earth to die for me.  It's about celebrating that God loves me and is interested in knowing me.

If that's what it's about,  I don't think I should I feel stressed out every year. But I'm stumped about how to slow down and just sit and be and remember.

BTW  I do actually like giving gifts and being hospitable and doing fun stuff for the kids.  Maybe it's the volume of it all in a short amount of time that is stressful.

Comments

Gina said…
Yuck... it must get ever more busy with kids at school. Luckily we're still in the early stages and don't have a gazillion teachers to think about. And I must confess that I've never, not once, managed to get the Christmas cards out. I've decided that is one 'should' that I'm just striking off the list!

Oh, and my verification word is 'smootify'. What a great word!
November 23, 2009 at 2:42 PM
Jenny said…
Hi Gina - 'smootify' - just makes you feel calm saying it!

I'm realising that in my head I don't actually use the cards to send people Christmas greetings. I mean, it looks like that on paper! But my motivation is to keep in touch with people. So maybe I just need to cut my losses and do something like - "hey, let's make February the month to say hello to everyone".
November 23, 2009 at 7:52 PM
Pip said…
Join us in sending Happy New Year greetings! We mostly don't get around to it before Christmas so that's when it happens - one year I think it even was Feb : )
November 25, 2009 at 10:33 PM
Motherhugger said…
Jen, we don't do gifts to teachers. My sisters are teachers, and they receive so much stuff each year - they try to offload it. I figure my gift to the teachers is that they had my kids in their class all year - that's gift enough!
November 26, 2009 at 2:12 PM
Jenny said…
I guess, Motherhugger, that I just would like to show my appreciation for the teachers who put up with my little gifts all year! Any suggestions of a good way to do that?
November 26, 2009 at 4:13 PM
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