The title of this post could just as easily been "Letting Myself Go." I may be the only person in my family's weight loss contest who is actually gaining weight. I don't do well with "diets." The word alone puts me into a sweat.But actually I'm talking about letting go of the guilt and stress of the holiday season. I just realized it is December 10th and every night I work like a dog and stress about all the things I need to do to get ready for Christmas. I used to read articles in magazines about how to limit your stress around the holidays and I couldn't believe people would stress about shopping and baking, etc. It's supposed to be fun!
Now I get it. I won't bore you with my "to do" list but I will tell you after a "come to Jesus" with my husband tonight, it just got a lot shorter. I have to be realistic that with a high maintenance baby and two other kids, stuff just isn't going to be perfect and awesome all the time. There has been one major thing that I have been putting off and I just decided tonight to let it go. It ain't gonna happen and that's okay.
I want to enjoy the rest of the month. I'm done being frantic. I love wrapping gifts (I love the smell of wrapping paper!) I love baking when it's not in a frenzy to get the goodies on a plate to a neighbor! I love seeing the lights at Temple Square when it's not with the youth group and one more thing to cross off my list. So my goal is to slow down, not worry so much about buying people the perfect gift (sorry!) or what I'm wearing to various functions and actually enjoy the season. I'm going to spend more time thinking about my Saviour and what the season is really about--celebrating His birth and His life! Oh, and I'm going to read this about the true meaning of Christmas by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. It is awesome. Be prepared to cry.
9 comments:
I just had my own come to Jesus moment tonight. And the result is no neighbor/ no friends gifts.
And that talk by JRH is my favorite of all talks... ever... in the world.
I so agree. This year is my first year not caring what I am getting people. Of course I love them and want to be nice but thinking of gifts for 20 people is hard. I am going simple and it feels good! I want to enjoy it all and stop stressing. Good luck! We can do it! Thanks for the talk link I am going to go read it.
Good for you!!
And DON'T worry about the weight either. It fluctuates, that's life. No need to stop eating Oreos, especially at such a critical time as the Holidays. :)
Plus you Warner women are perfect, and you can't get better than perfect!
I am sick of ignoring my kids while I bake or wrap or work on Christmas cards. And I am not even attempting anything big or special at all! The one thing I have finally realized is that staying up super late does not work for me. Being tired and irritable does not make for merriness or productivity. So I am making two priorities: (1) sleep, and (2) play with my kids. If Tyler's home teachees don't get gifts, so be it.
I want to know the big project you ditched!
Amen...I feel like December is a gigantic marathon. Why! I've got to slow down. Thanks for the reminder!
I use to run myself ragged all December long trying to make everything perfect. Then I realized that I was the only one in the world that knew if everything was perfect or not. Christmas would still come, my kids would always get gifts, and no one was the wiser that I had worked myself into a lather to make it happen. I had to let go a little too. Not easy to do, but definintely worth it.
i hear ya sista! thanks for the reminder :) i'm definitely letting go this year.
Oh, I could have written this post. I had the same meeting with myself a couple days ago. I shortened my list and feel so much better! I also made myself spend time this week doing some of the stuff I don't love and getting it done so the next 14 days can just be fun!
Oh, I could have written this post. I had the same meeting with myself a couple days ago. I shortened my list and feel so much better! I also made myself spend time this week doing some of the stuff I don't love and getting it done so the next 14 days can just be fun!
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