Christmas; The Most Stressful Time of the Year (PB)

 

 

The most wonderful time of the year is quickly approaching again, but with all that Christmas happiness, there is also a lot of stress. It's not uncommon for people to be worried about getting the perfect gift for a family member or friend during Christmas time. Recently my mom and I have been talking about our own Christmas stressors, after this conversation, I decided to share our opinion on different Christmas stressors with you: 

1. The Perfect Gift: 

For many, getting the perfect gift for everyone on Christmas is a must. Some people will even do to extraordinary lengths (of both time and money) to buy someone the PERFECT gift. One thing I confided to my mom is not knowing what to get her for Christmas. She's my mom, after all, she does a lot for our family and I wanted to make sure that she was going to have a great Christmas, and somewhere along the line having a great Christmas depended solely on giving her the perfect gift.  

After I told my mom this, she actually laughed at me. She told me that I had Christmas backwards if I thought gifts had anything to do with having a good Christmas she told me, "Christmas is about spending time with loved ones, not about giving or receiving the perfect or most expensive gift."   

Of course, being the mother that she is, she was completely right. Christmas doesn’t depend on getting gifts at all actually. In our family we do so much for each other all year round that worrying about a great gift for one day out of an enormous waste of time and energy.  

2. The Best Memories: 

My mom said another one of her stresses around this time of year was making the best memories so we would be able to cherish this Christmas forever. After a little bit of thought, my mom and I came to the conclusion that the best memories come when least expected; you can plan something as priceless as the time that our Christmas Eve party fell apart and we had to eat at the Chinese Buffet like they do in the Christmas Story. Although it wasn’t funny then, now its hilarious! And it’s a Christmas dinner we will all cherish! 

 

3. People Pleasing: 

After having this conversation for a while, my mom and I asked my grandma how she felt about Christmas stressors and she said her biggest stressor during this time of the year would be trying to make everyone happy. She said it can be stressful to plan the Christmas Eve party (She still doesn’t find the Chinese Buffet incident of 2008 very funny) while entertaining her brothers, sisters, cousins, nieces, nephews, children and grandchildren. She wants to make it perfect, and she's always afraid to disappoint the family if its not.   

After discussing this for a while, my mom reminded us that family is the most important thing during the Christmas season, and that as long as we have each other, the Christmas party could never be terrible or disappointing. She also reminded us that perfection is impossible, and sometimes we just have to trust that things will work out okay (and that we won't be eating a not-so-traditional Chinese Christmas diner.)  

 

I hope that while reading this you have relived yourself of some of your Christmas stressors and that you can have a very merry, and stress-free holiday season (and that you don’t end up at the Chinese Buffet!)