You are probably saying to yourself that I have lost my mind if I think I can have a Stress-Free Christmas. Well, my mind is still here and we have had several Stress-Free Christmases in the past few years. I thought I would share some of the lessons I have learned to help reduce the stress during our holiday seasons.

READ GOD’S WORD EVERY MORNING

Starting my day with God’s Word seems obvious, but sometimes gets left out. I need to hear from God & speak to God each day so I am strengthened and ready to be the mom He wants me to be. At breakfast, we have family devotions and can start our kids’ day on the right foot as well. Each of the kids know they are to read their Bible when they wake up. Of course, some need a little more reminding than others.

DON’T DO EVERY ACTIVITY THAT COMES ALONG

This seems quite evident, but it took me a decade to apply this. Actually, my marvelous husband helped me learn how to minimize the activity in our lives during the Christmas season.

Back then, I wanted the children to experience everything available during Christmas. Instead, stress and nervousness crept up and finally would explode around Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. (I’m positive that none of you have gone through this before.

WHICH ACTIVITIES DO I CHOOSE

What works for us is to select 1 or 2 Christmas activities to go to outside our home. Other than those 2 activities, most time is spent in our home. This way I'm not harboring stress by bothering my husband to attend one more Christmas activity each week. He is still providing for our family and loving it. Therefore, he is much happier going to a few activities and enjoying being with family and friends at home.

We enjoy having other people in our home, so we take advantage on this. Our kids help in the cleaning and cooking, so our workload is minimized and I feel stressed when our visitors come.

ENJOY YOUR HOME

I will always have more activities for us to do than we have time for. This past Thanksgiving weekend I decided which activities will wait until next year.

REMEMBER: YOU CAN’T DO EVERY THING, EVERY YEAR.

I try to select activities that inspire my children to do something for others, instead of only thinking of themselves during the holiday season. One of the things we used to do is charity work by raising money for a missionary family.  The kids would take orders for pumpkin bread loaves and chocolate chip cookies.  After making and delivering them to their customers, they would pay me back for the ingredients and supplies used. The remaining money was their profit, which was used to buy useful gifts for a missionary family.

This year we hope to have some kids over our house to bake cookies so their moms can do some uninterrupted Christmas shopping. A Christmas card stamping party for the younger kids would make a swell activity.  I’m still thinking on how that will work.

I have some other ideas that are included in Advent, Christmas & Epiphany Celebration Ideas.

MAKE CHRISTMAS YOUR SCHOOL

For those of you who homeschool, lessen some of the formal academics and enjoy these times. As we bake, shop and prepare for Christ’s birthday, we are also doing math and writing and reading with these activities.

At home, we still read aloud each morning and then proceed to work on a Christmas activity. It may be handwork type crafts or other quiet easy to do activity.

DO YOU FEEL STRESSED DURING THE HOLIDAYS? Take a moment right now and prioritize all the activities available to your family. Choose only 1 or 2 activities that the entire family can enjoy and pass on the rest.

Enjoy your family being at home. Have another family over to roast marshmallows and enjoy the fellowship. Most of all, keep your eyes focused on Jesus Christ. Without His love for the world, you would not be celebrating the true reason for Christmas.

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Ephesians 2:8

Kerry Beck desires to offer you her (http://www.christmascelebrationideas.com/article.htm) free Advent activities for your family's Christmas Celebration this season. Her package also includes the helps to (http://www.christmascelebrationideas.com/article.htm) reduce holiday stress.

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