Christmas "Didn't"

We had a wonderful holiday! I hope you did as well, my little imaginary friends in the box! It was all I could have asked for. White with lots of crazy snow, good food, good family, happiness, my dad resolved to not complain about his aches & pains for a day which was very refreshing! (I'm not sure if he realizes how hard it is for all of us to hear continually. It brings us down along with him. I know he's in pain and things can look grim but I also know that outlook is important. A break from the downers was very welcome for us all!)

This year I made some changes which I think helped me enjoy the holiday.

I didn't send cards. I didn't stress over getting a good picture, addressing them, paying for them, paying for postage... blah blah blah. I never had the time and I just let it slide right off the to do list. Maybe next year I'll send them again but this year it wasn't happening without some serious stress.

I didn't worry about gifts as much. We told our families that we couldn't afford gifts this year. We had our party which is expensive and a lot of work. I also put a lot of effort into making special stamped notecards for some family members. Those were my limit. I put effort and time and care into what we did do. I let it go that that was enough. I knew that the kids and I put our hearts into things and if the recipients didn't fully appreciate it, then they were the ones missing out.

I didn't go shopping on Black Friday. I had to work. I kept things in perspective that money is very very tight and if I wanted to get my family some gifts then I had to exercise a lot of self control. There was not one bit of online shopping either. We haven't used a credit card in months so we don't get trapped in a debt nightmare (any worse than we already are but that's mostly business bills we're under). All the "best deal of the season" emails went unread and were deleted immediately. No deal was good enough for me to jeopardize my family. No "thing" that anyone would just love to have was worth it.

I didn't feel guilty. I accepted the gifts that were given to me graciously. The only one I feel slightly guilty about is from SMA. He spoils me. I know he can't afford the lengths he goes to for me and my family. But he does it every damn year and makes me feel bad. He spent on me what I spent on my own husband. And he's so freaking hard to buy for that I feel bad we don't reciprocate equally. I think he knows that our efforts are how we do though. We picked him up (too snowy for him to drive his little car) so he didn't spend the day alone and he spent the entire day and evening with our family. He called his mom & sent a text to his girlfriend. But other than that, I didn't feel guilty when others made the choices they did. We told everyone, no gifts this year, just for the kids. If they chose to do more, then that was their choice!

I also let go of some of my control with the kids. If they wanted something open that has 10,000 tiny pieces, whatever. We'll deal with it later. Can I add that I am not a fan of Pixos? Yeah, 10,000+ tiny pieces. Save me and my vacuum.

I hope everyone felt as good about this year as I did. I really did feel much free-er this year with letting go of some of the pressure. I also realized even more the value of a true gift.

Happy Holidays!!!