A Christmas Message for the Frazzled

It’s Christmas time and I’m officially losing it. Anytime anyone brings up how busy they are, how much they have to do, how much money they don’t have and are going to spend anyway...well…I burst into tears. I can relate. I feel the hurt. I want the ride to stop and let me off. But I know it’s not going to stop. It’s going to keep going…and going…faster and faster…until it eventually becomes my own personal holiday tilt-a-whirl, complete with dizziness and nausea.

Women are the worst about this stuff. We smile through the pain of baking and frosting and Christmas program hopping and shopping till our feet--and our bank accounts--are on fire. All the while we’re stressing and panicking and budgeting. We do it all in an effort to simply “get through the holidays.” This phrase has become an overused and sad commentary on the Christmas season. I want that phrase to be banned, and I’m starting with me.

I don’t want to just “get through” the holidays. I want to enjoy them. I want to cherish them. I want to fa-la-la-la-LOVE them. Many of you have known me for a long time. You know how I’ve always felt about Christmas. Some of you were there the year I turned sixteen and my wonderful friends surprised me with a Christmas party for my birthday, complete with carols, a guy dressed as Santa, and a fully decorated tree. My birthday is in October. Get it? I. LOVE. CHRISTMAS. Or at least I used to, once upon a time. I’m trying to rekindle the yuletide flame.

In an effort to try to help my kids get over the notion that Christmas is all about how many presents are under the tree for them, I’m forcing them to take turns each day, as a sort of “25 Days of Christmas” activity, naming something they’re thankful for. That brings us to the purpose of this letter. What I need is to stop for a moment, for my own sanity and therapy, and think about the many, many blessings that are around me every single minute of every single day. Maybe this will help no one but me. If that’s the case, then so be it. But my hope is that it will rub off just a little. I know you’re stressed, too. I can’t possibly be the only one who is tired of Christmas flying past her every year like the obnoxious mom making a beeline for the cash register after having snatched the last Tickle-Me-Elmo off the shelf.

One of the many stressors for me this year was my silly Christmas card poem. If you’ve gotten a card from me in the past, you know I’ve been writing one every year for a while now. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but gee, I know some of you like it and look forward to it because you tell me so. But it’s one time-consuming piece of literature to compose, let me tell you! So in lieu of the annual poem, and in the spirit of the 25 days of Christmas that I’m imposing upon my own children, I’m sharing with you my list of 25 things I’m thankful for this year. They’re listed here. I have to say it was hard to limit it to 25. I have an awful lot to be happy about.

What about you? What are the blessings that are around you every day that perhaps you fail to notice this time of year because you’re so busy wrapping and ordering and cooking and hyperventilating?

I hope the season finds everyone healthy and happy and grateful for the everyday gifts. Merry Christmas!

25 Things I’m thankful for, in no particular order

1. four kids who are with me every day (no sarcasm there)

2. healthy kids

3. healthy me

4. the privilege of working with some of the finest people you'd ever want to meet

5. neighbors who shovel my driveway and put my trash out on trash day and change the high light bulbs and hang my Christmas lights and, and, and…I could go on and on.

6. new tires in winter—the ones I cried about in the fall when I had to spend waaay too much money on them

7. the world's kindest landlords. they mow my lawn, for crying out loud!

8. technology, baby! cell phones, texting, the www...I'm slightly addicted.

9. the wonder of orthodontics

10. the cutest little Charlie Brown Christmas tree we’ve ever had

11. snowball fights with my kids

12. the local supermarket's genius idea to have a guy sitting right inside the entrance playing one Christmas song after another on a crappy electronic keyboard. I love that guy! I start singing as soon as I walk in the door.

13. a marvelous 2009

14. a hair stylist who gives the perfect haircut…and is literally one minute from my house

15. a safe place to leave my little boys every day while I have to go to work even though I’d rather be home with them

16. a really comfy couch

17. a flip-of-the-switch fireplace

18. central air

19. the most incredible mountains just outside my door

20. a mom who raised me right and still doesn’t let me get away with much

21. sisters who live close by who make me laugh and who look out for me

22. three amazing brothers (ok, two are "in-laws", but not really) whom my kids adore and whom I love dearly

23. best friends who changed me by loving me in the way I needed to be loved, whether I appreciated it or not. I treasure you like no others.

24. my vast collection of Christmas socks

25. the knowledge that I have a Savior, Jesus Christ, and that because of Him, I get to keep all of the important stuff on this list forever and ever.