Enjoy a Holiday

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My boys and I getting our tree. I took it from my son's Instagram.
I hadn't even thought to post one. That loses me Mom of the Year, right?

As you can probably tell by the picture, Christmas is coming!!! If the picture wasn't a big enough hint, I'm sure you've noticed the decorations adorning the streets, the homes, the stores...and you don't need me to remind you that you that the clock is ticking...closer and closer to The Day. I know I feel a bit of panic when I start to think of all the things I need to do to make this an amazing holiday for my family. 

The planning and the work and quickly spin out of control. I have had Christmases where I was still putting out decorations on Christmas Eve. 

That's crazy. 

Christmas Eve should be reserved for cooking and last minute shopping and wrapping. 

It was a real downer to look at Christmas and sigh (the bad, tired kind of sigh). I love Christmas. It's a magical time of year. But I was ruining it with stuff. It was then that I invoked the December 12th rule. Whatever I didn't have set out by December 12th stayed in storage. Eventually, by setting a deadline, I was inadvertently sorting stuff out. I was cherry picking the important stuff to make sure it was getting set out in time. After stuff stayed in the boxes for a few years, I decided it was time to donate them. 

This year, I had all of the decorations I planned to use out by December 1st and not a single person has noticed it didn't take me two weeks and twenty-some boxes to get there. 

Minimize work. Maximize fun.