Christmas is coming, and some are struggling with that
I sat with a group of women the other day and they shared their plans for Christmas. Some of them dreaded the days ahead. There are a lot of expectations and family struggles that crop up during this time.
This was a reality for me years ago too, and I determined that I wanted things to be different for my own grown children.
A year ago I wrote a blog post titled, “How not to make your grown kids hate Christmas.” The response nearly broke our server. We had well over 50,000 people visit on one day, and then another 50,000 visited in the days after. It was shared with over 100,000 others on social media.
Do you what that told me?
This is a conversation we need to have. Every single year.
[ctt template=”11″ link=”0qn13″ via=”yes” ]How not to make your grown kids hate Christmas, part 2. We want more than perfect pics; we want good memories. #livingfreetogether #Christmas [/ctt]
So, here we are
It’s just a week away from Christmas. I hope you’ll read the original post, but I’d love to share a Part 2 with you today.
This is for that woman who has all kinds of expectations for Christmas, and yet you fear it won’t work out like you hope. You want Christmas to be good for your grown children, but you aren’t sure what to do.
Starting tomorrow, I want to challenge each of us to shift the focus from what Christmas “should” be to what it can be.
Something new. Something flexible. Something fun. Something good.
It begins with asking others what they love about Christmas, and being open to celebrating in a new way or weaving it in with your traditions. (You might love it, if not you get points for being flexible.)
It’s spending time loving others through serving, and loving God by spending time with him. It’s releasing the need to have perfect pictures, or perfect anything.
I made a printable just for you. Put it somewhere where no one else will see it. This is between you and God. For the next five days, do these things. Let me know how it goes. I’ll be doing it with you. I’ll be praying for you.
Merry almost Christmas, friend.
Suzie
Related resources
If you loved today’s topic, you might love these too.
How to Make Your Grown Kids Not Hate Christmas – Part 1
Finding joy in an imperfect Christmas
Praying through resentment to rediscover Christmas
Printable
Download today’s graphic, 5 days to Christmas Printable. It’s your free gift!
Wonderful subject, close to many hearts. I for one accept the challenge to incorporate new traditions. This seems to be met with some opposition from grown children.
I have decided to order huge sub sandwiches with all the fixin’s This year. We gather on Christmas Eve and I would rather spend the day playing family games than cooking and cleaning up.
Now that I have teenage grandchildren everyone is more open to charades,etc.
As you mentioned, we need to let God guide! Have a wonderful Christmas!
I have a large family and on top of that my parents, myself and my sister are all divorced which mean we have a LOT of schedules to work around!!! It has been difficult to say the least and I’ve been hurt by comments about my divorce playing a part in ruining our traditional gathering times. My kids are all living on their own now, and though they aren’t yet married i have already vowed to them to be flexible when it comes to holiday scheduling. I pray I can stick to that when the grandbabies start arriving haha! I love these 5 tips, definitely going to try this out and save for future Christmases!
Oh I love this practical advice and the encouraging suggestions for each day. Just remembering not to put everything all on one day is helping me breathe more easily. My daughter’s gift, which I ordered on Amazon last Thursday, only because they told me I’d get it last Saturday, has still not arrived. I’ve gotten 3 delay notices, and now today that I no longer have time to go out and look for it, they let me know it’ll be here the 27!!! But it’s not about one day. Pinned this several places to share!
Love, love, love this and I couldn’t agree more. Thank you for your insight and pointing to what is truly important.