Typically for me Christmas planning starts in late July. I line up Christmas lists, I start looking at dates for events during the winter season and I am prepped with tinsel and ornament grenades.
But this year is going to look a little bit different. Because we’re moving mid-December, much to my dismay, that means no early decorating. 100% of my energy is going to be going towards the move. While I am absolutely okay with this, a small part of me is sad that I won’t get to enjoy the fullness of the Christmas holiday. While holding both of those things together, I am ready to charge the Christmas season with all the jingle bells, glistening lights, and cheesy Hallmark movies I possible can manage.
I’ve put together 3 mindset opportunities that I think are critical to managing a quick Christmas season.
#1 Keep the favorites, ditch the rest.
What are your core Christmas-y things? Is it the tree? The Lights? The stockings? The nativity or nutcrackers? Is it the food or beautifully wrapped presents? No matter what your favorite Christmas decorations are, pick 2 or 3 to maintain your focus on when you have only 10 days to decorate (like me.) Christmas trees and lights are the 2 things that sing glorious songs in my heart, everything else is the harmony. So as we prepare to move, the tree and the lights are most likely going up day 1. Definitely week 1.
#2 Keep up the routine
Atmosphere is really important. The environment is key! But adjusting my expectations of how decked the halls can be in my new home is step 1 for me. Step number 2 is keeping up with all the fun plans that we typically do every year to re-emphasize the Christmas spirit! This means going to the Nutcracker at the Arizona Ballet, walking the paths of Desert Botanical Gardens, driving around to see the light shows on Comstock and even more. While I don’t plan on packing in every day to have something going on, I am keeping the staples true to the season. So even though there are boxes to unpack and walls to decorate, I can still enjoy the Christmas season.
#3 Keep the reason at the forefront
I am one to get wrapped up in the glitter and glitz of the holidays. But at the core of it, we need to remember the “why”. It’s important to return here so even though we can enjoy the commercialism of the season, it doesn’t supersede the actual point of Christmas. The birth of our savior, Jesus Christ, is the reason why Christmas seems like such a party. It is literally a month of a giant birthday party! We should thoroughly enjoy and turn our eyes to what get to celebrate this season for.
Even though there might not be a fully decked out tree or my army of nutcrackers completely set up, we get to celebrate the birth of Jesus and the fulfillment of the prophetic words that led to the undeserving grace that is available to us all.
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6
