It's crunch time. Christmas is less than a week away and for some people the thought of that evokes a battery of emotions, not all of them Jolly. Let's face it, the holidays can create a lot of stress and anxiety. There is a lot to get done. Decorating, shopping, wrapping, baking, Christmas cards, mailing packages, parties and so on. Our lists can rival those of Santa himself.
This Christmas my list was no different than most, it was long and time consuming, not to mention expensive. When I started thinking about completing all the tasks listed there, I'll be honest, I felt more like the Grinch than Cindy Lou Who. I did not like feeling that way, something had to change. My priorities, my perspective, my expectations, my attitude or maybe a little bit of all of those things.
I decided to evaluate all of the things that threatened to interfere with how I wanted to celebrate Christmas this year. For each entry on my list I asked myself the same questions:
Why am I doing this? Is it maintaining a tradition or keeping an obligation. Doing the same something just because you always have, isn't enough. Is it meaningful and intentional or are you just going through the motions?
Who am I doing it for? Is it just for me? Am I forcing others to conform to meet my expectations? Is it something they enjoy and would they do it on their own?
Is it necessary? Would it be missed if I scratched it off the list? Would it diminish the holiday experience for anyone?
Does it add stress or bring joy? If the answer is add stress it has got to go. Bring on the Joy!
The conclusion was this, the items that stayed on my list are the traditions worth continuing that mean as much to others as they do to me. The necessities (boys have got to eat!) and things that add joy to our celebration. Everything else was taken off completely or scaled back to some degree. The new list is more manageable. It has lessened my stress and allowed me to enjoy the duties I still have to get done. More importantly, it has given me the time to focus on what Christmas is really about.
I hope that you too can delete a few things off your list, eliminate stress, seek more joy and have a very Merry Christmas.
I love the speech Linus gives in A Charlie Brown Christmas. I think it is a perfect illustration for what I have written about here. Linus got it right! Watch his speech below.
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