Holiday memories! We parents (especially the homeschooling ones) want our children to have perfect holidays and only great memories. Those of us with Type A personalities and perfectionistic tendencies may even obsess over this. Unfortunately, I am one of those parents but have learned the hard way that memories happen no matter how hard we try to make them perfect.
When my kids were young, I thought we needed to bake cookies to have a great Christmas. What good homeschooling mom would buy store bought cookies for her children! Well, I am a very good cook and not a great baker. So every year I would buy the stuff to make cookies. I had visions of us baking cookies and drinking hot chocolate with Christmas music in the background. And you know what, most years those cookies did not get baked and I would end up buying cookies and feel bad about myself. I am happy to report that my children are well adjusted adults and were not scarred for life because I did not always bake cookies.
My kids remember me burning candles and cooking for them and they don’t care that I didn’t bake cookies every year. They remember decorating the tree and the fact that when they were little we would decorate the front with the nice ornaments and would either make paper ornaments for the back or did without. (Who sees the back anyway!) They remember the love that went into what we did and the time we spent together, not the perfection!
So moms, relax and enjoy the holidays. Let the memories come, they always do. And if our holiday plans are not perfect no one cares but us.
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Great exhortation! Baking is the one thing I’m pretty good about doing, yet I’ve spent years feeling guilty for not coming up with creative craft ideas. Silly, yes? If we simply work within our individual gifts and talents, our holidays will be filled with memories-in-the-making without the self-flogging. Sounds much nicer to me! Blessings to you– 🙂