How to Eliminate Overwhelm & Create the Christmas You Want

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How do you eliminate overwhelm and really have the Christmas you want?

We moms want to create a wonderful Christmas experience for our families and create a lovely atmosphere in our home. Yet sometimes Christmastime can be a little overwhelming with all the things that need to be done, and we can be left feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, and not nearly as fulfilled as we would like to be.

I’ve pondered over this situation a lot lately and have a few ideas that might help. My favorite tactic for handling this situation is to purposely create what I want to have happen before it happens. It seems simple, but it’s all too easy to not be purposeful about it.

I’ll walk you through a method I use to purposely create my Christmas mentally and emotionally, as well as create it physically.

 

Create the Christmas you want – What do want to have happen?

1) Your Personal Creation of What You Want Your Christmas Season to Be Like

• How do you want to see your Christmas season unfold?
• How do you want to feel during the season?
• How do you want to feel about it after it’s all over?

Did you know you can create the answers you want to these questions?

I know that for me, too often I get so busy and end up going with the flow of things, trying my best to make things go the best they can. But when I actually take the time beforehand to create how I would like things to go before they happen, it makes a world of difference in having things turn out better!

Let me try to explain what I mean. There’s a saying that says, “If you think you can, you can. If you think you can’t, you can’t.”

We can go into the Christmas season full of good hopes, but still have thoughts running through our minds like, “Christmas is so stressful. I hope it’s not so stressful this year,” or “I absolutely hate Christmas shopping,” or “I can’t wait until xyz is over, then I can relax and enjoy the season”… You can probably think of something along these lines that runs through your mind at Christmastime. (If not, 5 stars for you!)

Whether we realize it or not, those kinds of thoughts actually continue to create more of what you don’t like. In other words:

• If you think Christmas is stressful, it is.
• If you think, “I hate Christmas shopping” then you do hate it.
• If you think, “I can relax when this is over” then you won’t relax until it is over…

I know, it may sound over simplistic, but it’s true. And it can kind of bite to realize that we can and do create much of our reality.

What if things could be better?

What if before you got into the full swing of things, what if you sat down and pondered for a while about how you would really like Christmas to be? What if you let yourself dream of how it could be and if you could come to some conclusions that really resonated with your heart?

What if before and during the season, thoughts ran through your head like,

• “I love this time of year.”
• “I feel so peaceful and on top of things.”
• “I’m good at getting the shopping done.”
• “I’m so grateful for the fun busyness of things, I can do this.” etc.

Yes, you can really create how you want your Christmas season to be.

I’ve created a free printable that you can download below that will help walk you through some steps of getting rid of what you don’t want, and create what you do want.

If you want a really great experience, set aside some time for yourself where you feel super cozy and where no one is going to interrupt you for a while. Better yet, ask the family to not bother you for a half hour to an hour if you can do that! Maybe even turn on some soft Christmas music and make yourself a cup of hot chocolate! 🙂

The first page of the printable is for you to write about anything you haven’t loved about Christmases past, and the second page is for you to write about how you want Christmas to be. It’s really important to identify some specifics in these areas.

The third and fourth pages have some great questions that will help you get into some specifics. You’ll love the answers you come up with here.

And for those of you who want to take it a step further, I’ve included a couple of lined pages where you can write the narrative of how your Christmas will unfold before it even happens. You’ll want to write it as though it had already happened.  Such as,

“This Christmas was really wonderful. I’m so grateful for the tremendous peace I felt throughout the season. And I was so blessed to share that peace with my family. Things of the past that used to irritate me were not even an issue this year. Instead, I enjoyed pretty much all of it and have come away from it all feeling so renewed and strengthened.

“I really did get to take time and make gingerbread cookies with my kids. And I felt peaceful and happy while doing it. We had Christmas music playing softly in the background, and time just simply didn’t even seem to exist. I absolutely loved seeing their happy smiles and feeling the glow of our deep connections. It was a fun mess to make and it was all so worth it.

“I was so on top of things and was able to get my shopping done early and it was actually quite fun! I had such clarity of thought for what I really wanted to get for others, things that really meant a lot to them and made them happy. … We were able to simplify our activities and we did the things that mattered the most. …”

I would encourage you to let your hair down and really get into a creative mode. LET the stressful things go, and CHOOSE the beautiful things.  You will love what you come up with!! Then let yourself revel in it and enjoy it. Really allow yourself to feel the peace that you will experience then, now. This is really powerful!

>> Download the free printables below<<

Then, after you’ve done your own personal creation of what you want Christmas to be like, it will be time to get your family’s input and begin casting the vision.

And just a note – It’s really important to do your personal creation before gathering the family together to do the next part. Your preparations of how you want things to be can really influence your family and give direction to the group as you plan things together.

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2) Your Family’s Creation of How You All Want the Christmas Season to Be Like

Now that you’ve done your own personal creation of how you want the season to unfold, it’s time to get your family’s input and get them on board to your vision!

What does your family want December to be like, and how can you all get on the same page to actually create what you want?

One thing that really helps to calm the ‘busyness’ of December is to gather your family together sometime in November, or whenever feels best to you, and ask them to come prepared knowing what things they have going on in December so you can all sit and compile everyone’s calendar into one. You may already do something like this weekly or what have you, but this exercise has a further purpose that we’ll get to in a minute. It helps to have a calendar for the full month of December handy so you can fill in the entire month for everyone to see.

>> Download the free printables below<<

This helps everyone to visually see how busy the month can be, with recitals, parties, performances, etc.

Then talk with your family about how they have felt Christmas has been in the past, what they like about it, and what they don’t. Work to create a safe atmosphere for this discussion so everyone can feel free to be completely open.

Then share with them that you recently went through an exercise where you determined what you wanted to improve about Christmas, and had some great thoughts about how you’d love for it to be. This is where you get to practice casting the vision for your family!

Be open to hearing your family’s suggestions, and work together to create a master vision of how you all would like things to be. When everyone has had a say, they are all much more likely to be on board with the whole thing. And they also are way more likely to help bring this great new vision to pass. What a great thing!

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I know how valuable it is to actually come away from the season feeling like it went really well, and that it filled our hearts and our family’s hearts with joy and happiness. Where we really felt the True Spirit of Christmas. After all, that’s what it’s all about.

Here are two thoughts to leave you with, to give you hope and direction as you plan things out:

“Let the peace of God rule in your hearts.” (Colossians 3:15)

“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14:27)

So, are you ready to create the Christmas you want? Here are the free printables to help you do it!

 

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