What I expected to happen at Christmas didn’t happen. My expectations had ruined the holiday. There was no joy or peace as we gave thanks and celebrated Christ’s birth.
Instead, I ran out of time and energy, wanting to stay away from people. I got so stressed through the Holidays that I didn’t want to celebrate Christmas.
Then I remembered that Jesus is the Prince of Peace, and He came to o give us peace
And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.
~John 14:27
6 Expectations That Will Ruin Your Holidays
- Buy more gifts than you can afford
We created a budget and planned how much money we’d spend for the Holidays without going into debt. Limiting the number of gifts and the amount of traveling let us stay within our budget.
- Make all of your favorite holiday dishes and treats
We each picked our favorite treat and set aside one Saturday for baking. We made some favorites for Thanksgiving or New Year’s to spread the work and enjoyment.
- Spend days decorating the whole house inside and out
We picked one Saturday and divided the work into what we could do in one day. My husband and sons took care of the tree and outside decorations while I took care of the inside.
- Believe taking care of yourself can wait until after the holidays
Limiting the number of activities outside the house gave us enough rest. We decided what was the most important and didn’t attend everything at church or friends’ homes.
- Think there’s no time to spend alone time with your husband
Over the years, we figured out ways to squeeze dates into each week. I’ve captured several of these ideas in Holiday Dates. (Link for blog) Taking the simple things we usually do, we turned them into a date. (Email – link directly to the eBook as they are already on the list)
- Feel obligated to visit both sides of the family each Christmas
We visited one family each year, or they came to our place at Christmas. As empty nesters, we saw the extended family at Thanksgiving and had dinner with our whole family on a Saturday.
