The Pressure to Have a Perfect Christmas
The perfect amount of Christmas gifts, the perfect Elf on the Shelf spots, the perfect Christmas meal, perfect amount of advent activities, Pinterest worthy decorations, etc, etc, etc. It goes on an on and makes you think you are lacking in some way.
Why does it seem like there is so much pressure to have a perfect Christmas? We can blame social media but I think it is probably something that has been going on forever. Social media just makes it worse. We want to get Christmas right. We want everything to work well. We don’t want our children to be ungrateful and we want them to understand the true meaning of the day. We want them to experience the magic and make good memories. We don’t want to mess things up.
For some reason we have convinced ourselves that there is only one way to accomplish all that. That we should be doing what our neighbor is or we could be ruining Christmas for our family. Hogwash!
We all come into our marriages with a holiday background. A certain way of doing things. It could be very different from our spouse’s way of doing things. I remember our first married Christmas. My family all took turns with the presents. When my Grandpa was alive he would take his time on purpose just to be funny. So it was a total shock to me to be sitting with my in-laws and see the free for all present opening session. I was lost in a sea of a different way of doing Christmas.
Over the years we have developed our own way of celebrating the holiday. In a lot of ways it does look like the way it did when I grew up. Part of this is because my husband is usually gone when it is time to prepare for Christmas and has even missed Christmas with us a few years. I have just done what I have enjoyed and wanted to do with my own kids.
When I think about traditions and what we will do, I am not worried about them being perfect. I don’t care if my decorations are not Pinterest worthy or that my kids get more than three gifts. I don’t feel like I have to pick between Santa or Jesus. We do both just like my mom did. I try not to rush and plan too much but I also know that is because of my personality. Other people thrive on that.
I want Christmas to be special and full of good memories for my kids but I believe there are so many different ways to do this.
So if you are stressing about achieving the perfect Christmas, stop. Take a step back and think about what is important to you and your family. Continue old traditions and start new ones. Have fun with it and remember that Christmas is a wonderful time and no one should make you feel like you just aren’t doing it right.
What are your favorite Christmas traditions? Do you feel the pressure to have a perfect Christmas?
Last Updated on November 27, 2015 by Julie Provost
I’ve never felt the urge to have a perfect anything. Perfection is boring to me. I just like to have fun 🙂
A tradition we have is to open on gift on Christmas Eve!
Having fun is the best way to go!
TOGETHERNESS! Really and truly, especially after having done this military lifestyle for a few hours. If I can wake up with my family and everybody enjoys each other’s company all day, then my Christmas is perfect. This year I’ve spent more time planning games to play together then the menu. 🙂
Yes for sure! I love games too!
I feel absolutely no pressure to have a perfect Yule/xmas. I literally couldn’t care less what others do. I do it my way, because that’s the best (and as far as I’m concerned only) way to do it ;p
That being said I do incorporate traditions my husband likes such as the Julbuck and opening at least some presents on Xmas eve. But he’s the only one who has any say on what we do for xmas.