Create a Christmas without being “Creative”?
Christmas 2018 came and went and I had a wonderful time celebrating our first Christmas as a family of 3! There was so much food, family and friends to be enjoyed while celebrating Jesus’ birthday that it was magical…
…and as life does, it also gave my son a big dash of RSV and ear infection and myself a small batch of RSV the week before, therefore we were both still sick on Christmas Day.
Yay.
Well, real talk, I thank God he gave me the friends and family he did, because they were the superheroes this Christmas!
They respected our wishes of staying home for the night and day of (normally, my side travels) and even came later on the 25th to help my son open his gifts from them and play with him. Times like these are when I love having an open door policy with those who love us the most.
Want to know what was even BETTER?
I didn’t have to create a single thing, and I didn’t make myself create a single thing. Let me explain…
I LOVE creating gifts, decoration, food, and other surprises specifically for two holidays: Halloween, and Christmas. Something about the planning and the making of all things Holiday-ish while knowing that there are others out there just as or more excited about the same event is just FUN.
It is fun…until planning starts to never end, creating decorations pile up, glitter creeps onto places you didn’t know it could go, and you resemble a sad Christmas tree because you are dehydrated from not making yourself move away from your to-do list.
Mama, it is NOT an attractive look. This is when the lines of “wanting to” and “having to” get blurred and we end up having a full blown creative panic attack on top of mom/wife duties that are slacking too. Confession time: I was SERIOUSLY there mentally and you know what it was over? SPECIAL WRAPPING, PAJAMAS, and DESSERT.
WRAPPING. PAJAMAS. DESSERT.
Never in a million years did I think I’d be that mom, but oh, I was all her.
I’m serious, I panicked because I kept forgetting to make the gift tags, I didn’t think we’d look artsy enough in Christmas photos and as someone who is creative it would “look bad on me”, and i wanted to make 5 different sweets. I spent way too much mental time and time with Amazon during being sick on this thought until I realized I was making it a have to, not a want to.
Do not let your creativity energy be funneled into making something that is going to dampen the spirit your project is about, simply because you get worked up in the details. #hardtruth
To sum it all up, presents were enjoyed immensely with standard name tags. We decided to wear matching shirts and our favorite PJ bottoms that we already had instead, and I think my boys were the most handsomest things I’ve ever seen. Dessert? We made ONE besides cookies for Santa obviously, a Yule log (new tradition!!) and I think we did a pretty good job. Sidenote: find a festive food you’ve never made before and try it. Learning it together was one of my favorite parts of the Christmas!
It is completely possible to creatively enjoy Christmas, Creative, without losing your creativity. #createboundariescreative
Next year, I might remember to order matching Christmas outfits (making a note on my calendar now…) and create everyone’s gifts (another note), but I’m loving the view I had this year and I’m thinking I’ve got a few creative projects to try first with my photos I took — playing with my boy on his first christmas with all his Christmas gifts this year, STRESS, FREE. You’ve got this, Wonder Woman.
Stay Creative,
Satynlee
Satynlee Designs
