Moms: Make It A Merry Christmas For YOU and Your Family
Christmas can and should be a special time that the whole family looks forward to enjoying together. It#146;s what will keep your children coming back. If this isn#146;t the case, its time for you to change things this year. The first thing to change is YOUR attitude. It#146;s sets the tone for the rest of your family. So, create a tradition that you and the whole family will enjoy. If there#146;s nothing you can do about the dinner menu at your mother-in-laws with relatives you can#146;t stand -- there are still ways to weave in fun. This year make yours one that everyone will warmly remember. Here#146;s how:
Embrace the holiday: Decorate your house if you haven#146;t already. These do not have to be elaborate purchases. Some of the best are homemade. Have your children get intimately involved with the process. Talk about it at the dinner table. Ask them for suggestions. Follow through with a few. Choose a couple of things they can do all on their own --
and let go!
You can rearrange them later, when they are out of the house. The only thing you want them to remember#133;is being with you and your words of encouragement. Otherwise, they#146;ll never want to do it again.
Turn the dreaded event (if it is one) into a delight: Life is what YOU make it. Here are some tips: Get a new outfit. Do your hair differently. Polish your nails. Focus your attention on those you enjoy. Bring a new activity, dessert or pictures to share.
Remember -- it#146;s more than a one-day holiday: You can#146;t blame a bad holiday on one day out of the season. Half a day is typically dedicated to the Christmas celebration. The other days you can and should fill with fun activities for the whole family. These will be the times your family will remember. Put aside at least one hour each day for a family activity. Here are suggestions:
Make a special breakfast one morning.
Go on a hike.
Go Christmas shopping
Play in the snow.
Rent a movie everyone can watch.
One night, set the dinner table in a different room, or in a way that you don#146;t normally.
Decorate Christmas cookies.
Play a board game or cards together.
Make hot apple cider
Suggest family activities that YOU enjoy. If you don#146;t enjoy them, know one else will either. When you are happy, everyone is happy. No matter how hard you try and hide it, your children will sense your displeasure. And the chance for it becoming a tradition will be slim to none.
Have your husband choose a family activity #150; one that he enjoys. If the activity your husband chooses is something you really don#146;t enjoy, encourage him to take the children. Stay home and pamper yourself while they are gone. Take a bath. Read. Listen to music. Take a walk. Call a friend or relative. Before they return, set out a simple surprise for them to find!
Reduce stress by planning ahead: The weekend before, make sure your children#146;s Christmas dinner clothes are clean#133;and still fit. Then, set them aside so that you don#146;t have to hunt for the parts all over again at the last minute. If the #147;feast#148; is at your house, do everything that could possibly be done ahead of time -- the weekend prior.
Simplify; Don#146;t try to make everything perfect. If you do, you#146;ll make everyone --including yourself, miserable. This is the biggest trap even the best of mothers fall into. Do everything you can NOT to #147;lose it#148; because if you do, you#146;ll lose everything you hoped to accomplish.
Turn tasks into treats; If you are responsible for Christmas dinner, enlist the help of the whole family. With the proper approach, this too can turn into a fun family tradition. First, give everyone fair warning: #147;Tomorrow we#146;re going to begin to prepare Christmas dinner.#148; Then, plan a family reward that follows. #147;We#146;re going to spend the next hour preparing for Christmas dinner, so that we can all sit down together and watch the movie we rented.#148; Everyone should have a chore. Let them choose one to call their own. #147;Who wants to chop celery?#148; Even the littlest of hands should have a task #150; breaking the ends off the beans, for example, or folding napkins in half. Again, it doesn#146;t have to be perfect. Fix it later. If there is an argument about who gets which chore, let them settle it. Simply say #147;You two decide, or do them both together.#148; These times together invite conversation and are an invaluable investment in the future.
We have so much to be thankful for, don#146;t let the mundane tasks of maintaining a house inhibit you from appreciating it. Don#146;t let the challenges of childrearing numb your feelings and blind you from seeing the #147;good#148; in your children. Celebrate every day! Merry Christmas! #150;Ann Brazil, creator of the award-winning TimeOut Tot, The Behavior Coach (
www.timeouttot.com
) To learn more about Ann and TimeOut Tot, go to
www.timeouttot.com
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