an intentional Christmas.
Every year around Christmas, I get stressed out. The budget for Christmas presents, the Christmas lights that always seem to never be working, the kids being out of school, all the networking and holiday events and Christmas parties, the questionable food choices.
It’s not season for stress.
It’s the season to celebrate the birth of our savior - the most joyous of all things!
Now and going forward, I’m excited to do better modeling this peace + joy in the Christmas season for my children… so here’s a bit of an outline of some of my best practices (and things I want to implement going forward! It’s all about that upleveling.)
Advent calendars. Do you do them? The kids each made a garland out of paper rings this year, and I’ve been reading from an advent calendar our church gave us each morning. Basically, keeping it simple for us. Katie at Raising Kingdom Warriors also has these sensory bible devotionals you can print from her website, and also released this fun advent garland you print out and then cut and make that has a name of Jesus for each day. I love seeing my kids relationship with Jesus grow!
Budgeting: Every year, I tend to do a little bit better, but going forward, creating a Christmas fund where I save a certain amount each month or paycheck makes SO much sense! This way, I don’t let myself forget about Christmas. It is at the same time each year, anyways. It’s not like it can sneak up on us ;) It’s like giving myself permission to spend money, which is super exciting, because I love spending money, hehe.
Streamlining my calendar: Often, because I’m running a business and love to grow it, I’ll say yes to ALL THE THINGS around this time of year. Taking a good, hard look at it and taking a few off my calendar things can make so much sense. I talk a little bit more about this in this insta post (give me a follow if you aren’t already!).
Our tree is fake, and since our kids are still relatively young and break everything, all our ornaments are fabric or metal. The last couple years, I went to Target after Christmas and snagged a few discounted ornaments. This way, the kids get to decorate (and re-decorate, and decorate again) the tree all by themselves. Eventually, I know I’ll get more picky about this… but maybe then I’ll have two trees and give myself one to decorate and keep all the kids ornaments and their little fake tree for them to decorate.
We don’t go anywhere Christmas morning. I don’t expect my family to go anywhere Christmas morning, but my house is open to anyone who wants to come over for breakfast and pressies! Which, they usually do. There’s something about children opening gifts that is magnetic.
We diffuse essential oils that will help us pretend like we’re in the mountains in the snow instead of in South Florida, like Holiday Joy or Siberian Fir and Grapefruit or Holiday Peace. Diffusing these uplifting oils helps get us into the Christmas spirit!
I prep a delicious breakfast the day before, preferably NOT full of sugar. Usually that means a few different frittatas or a breakfast casserole. There are 9 different paleo breakfast casserole recipes here that have me feeling super hungry! For those who like sweet, this is my absolute favorite paleo banana bread recipe! I also love having the fixings for delicious coffee (love me some Oceana coffee; they’re local to me.)
Have lunch or an early dinner ready (this casserole I made recently and is not only inexpensive, but packed with veggies, you can sub gluten free pasta, and I love my pork sausage from ButcherBox - that link gets you $30 off your first box). Add a big salad and these crispy brussels with aioli and it’s a meal! I like to sub my doTERRA lemon essential oil when it calls for lemon in the brussels and salad dressings.
Take a nap, be lazy, don’t think you have to tackle the 20 unfinished house projects or have your house super clean on Christmas morning. With family and kids around, it’s inevitably destroyed anyways.
And lastly - ENJOY the time with your family and be grateful for the goodness and abundance that is already around you, even if you have to dig deep to find it.
I pray you have a blessed Christmas!
P.S. Are you ready to get started with your own box of essential oils? I have a few time slots open before Christmas to hop on the phone, or check out annabordner.com/the-community to learn how to get started.