The most wonderful time of the year. But I don’t love it. Now- don’t hate me. I’m not trying to be the grinch or Scrooge, there’s just some aspects of Christmas that are really stressful for me, making Christmas my least favorite holiday.
Update: I am going to just add my update to the Christmas we just had with 4 young kids.
Related: Why My Family Chooses Not To Celebrate Halloween
1. Expectations
This is the biggest reason that I dislike Christmas. Everyone has expectations of you. Neighbors expect you to decorate your house, family and friends expect you to decorate your interior, and many expect you to give tangible gifts.
At the stage of life we are in right now, decorating isn’t something we are doing much of, inside or out. It’s a lot of effort for little reward and it uses a lot of electricity. We have one string of lights outside of our back door, and I’d like to have one around our front door. I don’t want to spend hours teaching a 2 year old and 10 month old not to touch a tree, so we don’t have a tree this year.
Update: with 4 kids 5 and under for this last Christmas, we ended up decorating a bit inside and out. We had 2 small trees out our front door and a string of lights around it as well. We also had 2 strings of lights up around two windows inside of our house. We set up a small 2 foot tree in a window. My son decided to make “Christmas decorations” that were pieces of paper that said “I love you” and he taped them all over the house.
2. Gifts
It’s not that I’m ungrateful. It’s not that I don’t like to give. Gifts have become the thing for Christmas. The focus is shifted to “what am I going to get” instead of thinking “what was given”. Christmas is supposed to be about celebrating the birth of Jesus to his teenage mother Mary.
On the receiving side I don’t like to get things that aren’t useful. I also don’t like to give things that aren’t useful. The first couple years of our marriage, we tried to give gifts to family and friends that we thought we liked. There were several times that those gifts went completely unused and I know I know- it’s the thought that counts, but I didn’t want my friends to feel the way I felt when I received a gift that I knew wouldn’t go to good use.
I would much prefer to get gifts that are consumable such as home made food. I would rather receive cookies than some cooking gadget. For my kids, I don’t want them to have a million toys. I’m very picky about the toys that my kids get. Things that light up and make noise are not something I can handle. In my opinion, they also aren’t helpful for developing your kids imagination and creativity. Check out this post for some ideas on gifts that are more consumable.
Update: This last Christmas was tough for trying to make sure our kids weren’t just in it for the presents. We either get our kids a small gift each or one larger gift for all of them to share. We had a situation where my oldest was upset with a gift he was given and we had to remind him that it was so thoughtful of the person to think of him. We made bread and butter and cookies to share with friends and family as gifts.
3. Santa
Saint Nicholas isn’t bad. He was a great guy who gave to the poor. But the modern Santa and the EXPECTATIONS that people have about Santa are the problem. People expect you to teach your kids that Santa gives them gifts. They expect you to go get your kids picture taken with a stranger dressed up in a red suit.
I don’t want to teach my kids about Santa. I don’t want to lie to my kids by telling them that “Santa” got them this gift. What is the appeal of going somewhere to force my kids to sit on some strangers lap? (Although, my son is gregarious enough that he probably would give that random Santa a kiss goodbye.)
Update: We have unfortunately kind of skirted around any topic of Santa. We did watch “Klaus” on Netflix this year with the kids. I think next year we need to have a good discussion with our kids about Saint Nicholas and Santa Clause, maybe I’ll write a blog post about that.
4. Traditions
I love the idea of traditions. But I want my own traditions. My husband and I are struggling to find middle ground for what to do around this highly traditional time of year.
The one tradition I have and that is mine is making a gingerbread house. My cousin and I used to do this every year together and I have always loved it. Now I get to share that tradition with my children.
Update: I still feel like we don’t have our own traditions around Christmas. We still make gingerbread houses, although this last year I just bought some kits because my youngest is still a newborn and I wanted less work.
5. The music
I’m a strange person. I like classic Christmas music in spring or the middle of summer or sometimes early fall. But between thanksgiving and Christmas, I’m not a fan of it. Maybe it’s the incessant playing at grocery stores, or on the radio, but something about Christmas music around Christmas time isn’t magical for me.
I also don’t like all the remix’s. Classic Christmas songs were good, why did you have to make it differently?
Update: This last year I wasn’t opposed to the music most of the time. I still don’t like new remix’s and my favorite Christmas songs are “Mary Did You Know”, and “What Child Is This”.
What I Love About Christmas
1. Family
It’s great that everyone is trying to be with family at this time of year. If Christmas was just about spending time with family it might be my favorite holiday.
2. Cookies
I love cookies! And some cookies only happen around Christmas. I love that it’s the one time of year I can bake cookies and hand them out to strangers without anyone questioning why. Check out my chocolate chip cookies, your friends and family are sure to like them.
3. Baby Jesus
It’s wonderful to have a holiday to celebrate when Jesus came to earth as a baby with such a humble beginning.
Update: This year my 2 year old started crying when we were singing away in a manger because baby Jesus didn’t have a bed to sleep in. My kids know the reason for Christmas and that it’s not all about presents. We need to work on explaining Santa to our kids.
How do you feel about Christmas? Is it over commercialized?
