On the Twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me… With three children under the age of six, and both my husband and I working full time, I fear a trend where Christmas Eve becomes our last minute chore day. If I can just have the laundry put away, I’ll be okay on Christmas day…. If I can just get those cookies made, the kids will be okay on Christmas day… Well this year I’m rebelling. Instead of focusing on what is still left to do before Christmas, I’m making that to-do list and tossing it out. All that need happen between now and Friday is a trip to the grocery store, and the kids presents getting wrapped. Clean underwear is a bonus this week, so here are twelve things I will not be doing this Christmas week. More importantly, here are twelve things I had planned on having done but will not be stressing about not doing this week.
On the Twelfth day of Christmas… I will not be making a dozen Christmas cookies. Be they chocolate chip, or sugar cookie cut outs, this year Santa’s Christmas cookies can come from a store and I am going to save myself the baking time.
On the Eleventh day of Christmas… I will not be hanging the rest of the Christmas cards that came this week. I’ve run out of miniature clips, I’ve run out of tape. They can sit on the bookshelf until after Christmas.
On the Tenth day of Christmas… I will not be painting ten fingernails with the delightful seasonal Jamberry wraps I have left from last year when I ran out of time to do my nails.
On the Ninth day of Christmas… I will not be worried about the nine times I forgot to move the elf on the blasted shelf this month, after we eventually found him in mid-December that is!
On the Eighth day of Christmas… I will not be finishing the last two years of Christmas scrapbooking (four pages a year, so I have eight still to do) and I will not feel guilty every time I walk past my craft desk and see cards from 2013 sitting there.
On the Seventh day of Christmas… I will not be fretting over a seven course meal. I have my Paxo stuffing and Bisto on hand, I have a beef roast in the fridge. Anything else that we eat is a blessing. After spending the last six years trying to find the perfect breakfast for Christmas morning and balance for Christmas lunch, the kids can eat cookies and milk for breakfast and be all the merrier.
On the Sixth day of Christmas… I will not be watching those last six Christmas movies that I just “have” to watch each year. So Scrooged, It’s a Wonderful Life, Santa Claus The Movie, The Bishop’s Wife, The Muppet Christmas Carol, and Holiday Inn, I’ll see you next year, or maybe in January!
On the Fifth day of Christmas… I will not be putting away those five baskets of laundry. Five people in our house and their clothes are all clean, this is a miracle in itself, they can get put away next week (or not).
On the Fourth day of Christmas… I will not be doing those last four loads of dirty laundry. Okay I lied, there’s always more dirty laundry in a house with three kids in it!
On the Third day of Christmas… I will not be worried about three sets of matching pajamas. Yes I made my new baby a jumper that perfectly matches the reversible Christmas pants I made her brothers. And yes her oldest brother wants to wear his store bought ones instead. So I will not worry about whether they are wearing them in Christmas Eve, and I will not worry about the prefect picture of three perfect pajamed children.
On the Second day of Christmas… I will not stay up late making two more Christmas stockings, for myself and my husband. The kids have them, that’s all that matters. I’ll make ours in February!
On the First day of Christmas… I will not go and see the new Star Wars movie. It was vitally important to see this opening weekend, but I have three kids, one of which is a newborn. It was vitally important to see this before Christmas, but did I mention the three kids. I’ll see the movie eventually, and it will be just as epic after Christmas as I’m told it was before.
Instead I will be doing wonderful things with my family and not worrying about the things left undone. Not getting to my to-do list is nothing new, but not worrying about not getting to it is my Christmas present to me and my family.
What are you going to not worry about on Christmas Eve?
I also will not be worrying about the Christmas pajamas this year.