And that's a Christmas Wrap!
So Christmas has come, and gone, for another year.
People might be surprised to know that Christmas has never really been a favourite time of the year for me. And I have no doubt that I'm not alone in that feeling. In fact, Christmas is often a very difficult time for people and sometimes we under-estimate the stress and difficulties it provokes.
Let me clear up my own feelings about Christmas. Christmas doesn't depress me or stress me out too much (doesn't everyone feel a little stress leading up to Christmas?) and I don't have to deal with difficult families or large gatherings and copious amounts of food. On the contrary, Christmas is very quiet for us because the opposite is true. We have very limited family, some through choice and others through distance, so it tends to be a little lonelier and a little sadder as we do miss our family who are not near us. Christmas is just my little family - my hubby and our 2 boys. We eat what we decide which is generally based on 1) the weather, 2) what I can be bothered cooking, and 3) what the boys will or won't eat.
This year the general consensus was a turkey roll (no cooking a large turkey on a 39 degree day here), some Christmas ham (that's what Master 11 calls it and it's about the only time he'll eat it) and salad. Yep - no roast veggies here because no-one really wanted it. I guess that's the beauty of having just the four of us - we don't have to go out of our way to have a traditional Christmas lunch because we have to satisfy the masses. Nope - just us, our turkey roll, ham and salad (which I might add, was enough to feed us for 3 days).
Now I'm not complaining because we had a lovely day. It was hot and we stayed home. We slept on and off while the boys enjoyed their Christmas gifts and occasionally surfaced to eat. We ate Christmas lunch together when we felt like it (which was sometime in the afternoon) and generally had a lovely, restful day. The boys were extremely happy and content and wished for nothing more than to enjoy their gifts without running around all day to various people's houses. I have vivid memories of very upset small children at the end of Christmas day when we'd had to be out all day and they didn't get to play with their gifts. Not so here - though the boys are older and the gifts much different to when they were toddlers!
So you see, I do like Christmas, I just don't get very excited about it and am pretty happy once it's gone. I do make it special and fun for my kids, and I always have, I'm just being honest here. Christmas is different for different people and I'm very conscious at how difficult Christmas can be for a large percentage of our population. I do like a lot of the lead up to Christmas - the carols and the Christmas movies. So I do ENJOY Christmas - I just don't get overly excited as many people do!
People might be surprised to know that Christmas has never really been a favourite time of the year for me. And I have no doubt that I'm not alone in that feeling. In fact, Christmas is often a very difficult time for people and sometimes we under-estimate the stress and difficulties it provokes.
Let me clear up my own feelings about Christmas. Christmas doesn't depress me or stress me out too much (doesn't everyone feel a little stress leading up to Christmas?) and I don't have to deal with difficult families or large gatherings and copious amounts of food. On the contrary, Christmas is very quiet for us because the opposite is true. We have very limited family, some through choice and others through distance, so it tends to be a little lonelier and a little sadder as we do miss our family who are not near us. Christmas is just my little family - my hubby and our 2 boys. We eat what we decide which is generally based on 1) the weather, 2) what I can be bothered cooking, and 3) what the boys will or won't eat.
This year the general consensus was a turkey roll (no cooking a large turkey on a 39 degree day here), some Christmas ham (that's what Master 11 calls it and it's about the only time he'll eat it) and salad. Yep - no roast veggies here because no-one really wanted it. I guess that's the beauty of having just the four of us - we don't have to go out of our way to have a traditional Christmas lunch because we have to satisfy the masses. Nope - just us, our turkey roll, ham and salad (which I might add, was enough to feed us for 3 days).
Now I'm not complaining because we had a lovely day. It was hot and we stayed home. We slept on and off while the boys enjoyed their Christmas gifts and occasionally surfaced to eat. We ate Christmas lunch together when we felt like it (which was sometime in the afternoon) and generally had a lovely, restful day. The boys were extremely happy and content and wished for nothing more than to enjoy their gifts without running around all day to various people's houses. I have vivid memories of very upset small children at the end of Christmas day when we'd had to be out all day and they didn't get to play with their gifts. Not so here - though the boys are older and the gifts much different to when they were toddlers!
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| The boys enjoying their Christmas gifts. |
I'm also really conscious that January can be such a tough time for families. So many families stretch themselves financially beyond what they can afford and pay a huge price when the bills start coming in. Trust me, I get it. So often we watch people around us spending copious amounts on their children and presents are stacked from floor to ceiling and there is a pressure that we are supposed to do the same. But why? We live in a society that says that quantity is important and somehow proves how much we love our children.
As hard as it is, and I've felt the pressure myself, we have to sit back and really take stock of this kind of thinking. It's one day of the year and is there really any point on putting that kind of financial stress on the family for gifts that may well be forgotten in a week? Yet I see it happen and it breaks my heart. I chose not to bow down to this although it was happening around me. And did my children miss out? Heck no. In fact, they did extremely well. Mind you - our pile might have been smaller than some of those around us, but the value was high.
I'm a fan of quality not quantity. But I'm a bigger fan of teaching my children to value what they have, to appreciate what they are given and to look after and work towards what they want. It's a fine balance that we are always trying to achieve. And I will say that although there were people around them who were given 4 time what they were - they never felt it. We have also taught them the value of quality over quantity and not going crazy at Christmas just because one can. And yet, I know they were given much more than many others. Let's always keep that in perspective.
Don't get me wrong about Christmas, I'm a believer so Christmas to me comes with it another story. Christmas is the beginning of one of the greatest love stories of all time. And the beauty of the story of Christ is that it doesn't just begin and end on one day. It goes on and on and on.
But for us, it's a Christmas wrap. We enjoyed it, it was lovely and quiet and we were all very satisfied.
But secretly, between you and me - I'm kind of glad it's over.
Word!
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