Christmastime is here. It’s the season of perpetual hope, of good cheer, of joy and gifts and love. It’s the season when we celebrate any number of holidays, gather with family and friends, spend more money on gifts than our Mint accounts would like, and run around town to do things like visiting the old man in a red suit with a white beard.
As a mom, I realized when my oldest was younger that it loses some of the magic when you’re the one responsible for creating said magic. Sometimes it loses the magic by virtue of trying to teach your kids to appreciate the things you enjoy, like taking turns opening gifts instead of having a free-for-all or stopping to look in wonder at the lights on houses around the neighborhood.
This season is the one I simultaneously love and dread the most each year.
You know the words to the song, right? “He’s making a list, checking it twice, gonna find out who’s naughty or nice.” Well, let me just say that the writers were wrong. If anyone’s making a list, it’s mom. We’re the ones making out lists, and it’s not just lists of which child goes on the naughty or nice list, though if we’re honest, most of us could categorize our children and their friends on one of those lists if asked.
No, we’re making the lists and checking them, sometimes half a dozen times. There’s the gift wish list for the kids, the wish list we send out to inquiring family and friends while hoping no one duplicates gifts, the menu for each and every party and gathering we have to attend or host, the list of all the things we want to see and do to create the magic of the season for our families. Some of us have Christmas card lists and addresses sorted to send out, lists of charitable organizations we’re going to donate to or provide gifts for, all the local neighborhoods that have the best Christmas lights to drive through after dark, the last-minute Santa visits we can head to with our kids for a dose of “better be good” medicine.
Christmas is a busy, busy time of the year.
For working moms, there’s the added need to create holiday magic after working hours. Some of you are trying to finish end-of-year projects. You’re trying to get all your to-do lists finished before the kids are out of school for the holidays and you can wrap up your work to enjoy whatever time off you’ve got scheduled.
I’ve got a list of holiday cookies to bake that’s a mile long, and I’ve been baking off and on most of the month. There are presents to wrap, stocking stuffers to buy (and hide away), recipes to dig out for the coming family events. There’s just so much going on it feels like my brain is on the fritz. Even trying to come up with a topic to write about for my blog post today was an exercise in frustration as I spent a week wracking my brain to decide what I could touch on that meant something to me.
And so, here it is: Mom, consider this your permission to take a break. Seriously.
Take a break from the extra stress of the season. Step away from your magical plans for a bit and relax. Do something that gives you joy or just something that helps your mind to unwind from the constant need to be on.
For a lot of us, we’re on all the time. It’s especially true if you have small children. We’re up in the middle of the night caring for young ones and then awake early to get our school-aged kids ready to go. We’re burning the candle at both ends, and sometimes we’re up in the night just worrying about the next thing we need to complete or that task that didn’t get done.
Whether you’re reading this first thing after a short night of sleep and struggling to get things ready for the day or you’re taking a moment after a busy night of getting kids finally to bed, I want you to know it’s okay to take a break. It’s okay to unplug for a bit. Don’t stay up late wrapping the presents. Go soak in the tub with a good book or binge watch that show you love. Take a little time to reset. When you come back, you’ll be a little more rested and able to help make the magic happen even while you tackle all the other things going on in your day.
