To Mom, From Mom: A Guide to Christmas Cheer
Every year, I feel like Christmas just sneaks up on me like a highly efficient, glitter covered burglar.
It could be because I live in Texas where I was wearing shorts and flip flops and debating a dip in the pool a couple of weeks ago. Now? It’s sweater weather and some days even more layers than that. My hands and feet are chronically cold and I can’t tell if it’s menopause . . . or just December.
I feel like there should be some transitional part of the year where it’s not too cold and not too hot. Something that falls somewhere in between. We could call it . . . “Fall.” Does Mother Nature have a Suggestion Box? If so, I’m throwing this one in right behind the one demanding that youth summer baseball officially becomes an indoor sport.
It’s December. Freezing and gloomy weather abounds. It can get a bit depressing. Thankfully, there is an annual activity this time each year that prevents moms everywhere from just hibernating somewhere until Spring: Christmas.
Yes, Christmas. This wonderful holiday lifts the spirit of each and every family member but no one more so than the beloved matriarch of the family. And that’s a good thing because the success of the holiday rests entirely on her shoulders. You know the drill:
- It’s Mom who wrangles the family to trim the tree (occasionally with a little help from others who primarily need a quick selfie decorating a single highly visible branch).
- It’s Mom who writes and sends the Christmas cards (because if Dad writes them it might end up looking like a ransom note).
- It is Mom who purchases all the presents, wraps all the presents, organizes, cooks, and serves Christmas dinner.
- Afterwards, it is Mom who throws away the equivalent of three full dumpsters worth of torn wrapping paper, sticky boys, and flattened boxes.
- A few days later, it is Mom who lovingly removes the trimming from the tree. If it’s an artificial tree, Mom carefully disassembles it and moves it to its permanent storage place. If it’s a real tree, she drags the shedding beast out to the curb and spends the next several weeks vacuuming up pine needles that have somehow migrated throughout the house.
Does that feel like a great holiday, or what?!!!
Let’s be honest. This can all feel a little overwhelming. Some mothers deal with the stress by injecting lots of Christmas spirits (e.g., Bailey’s spiked eggnog) into their seasonal routine. That provides some immediate gratification but becomes problematic as the festive pounds start to add up. I personally have found a helpful (and calorie controlled) shopping strategy for creating Christmas cheer.
It’s easy. I have adopted the 2:1 Ratio of Joy. I buy two gifts for myself for every one present I purchase for someone else. I mentioned this to another mom confessed that does this as well, but she just purchases and puts away whatever she’s bought. I take it one step further and this is where I think I’ve hit the merriment motherlode. I carefully wrap all the gifts to myself in fabulous Christmas paper with a beautiful card that says, “To Monica, From Monica.” Since as “Mom” I also sub in for Santa Claus on Christmas morning handing out all the presents, no one notices. They’re busy staring at their own mountain of gifts, wondering if they got everything they asked for.
Opening these gifts to myself on Christmas morning is a highlight. I can’t help thinking to myself, “That Monica gives me the best presents! How does she always know exactly what I want?” That’s not to say that other members of my family don’t give me wonderful gifts. They do. I just know that whenever I open a gift to myself, I’m guaranteed to like it.
That’s my strategy for adding a little Christmas cheer to the holiday.
What’s yours?