Christmas Magic For Us

[SparkleNana]

I am STILL thinking about adding as much Christmas Magic as possible.... for US! The Christmas Magicians!

For me.... it starts with peace. Personal peace. If I am frazzled and tired..... there is NO magic for ANYBODY! My mood spoils it for everyone else! (And, of course, being frazzled spoils it for me too!)

So... peace is the first thing.

So what destroys "peace" for me?

Being overwhelmed. Having too much to do... so I am rushed and exhausted. Not having enough money for what I feel "absolutely must" be done! I could probably write a book about this.

What do you think?

AND.... I think that the more I do before Christmas..... even in March..... the more chance I have of having "peace" at Christmas. Bonus: probably more peace during the year too.

And... it is NOT about having all the presents wrapped by Thanksgiving.... although that is very very nice. I'll write more later about what it IS about!

What do YOU think? Perhaps we can inspire each other!

 

[luludou]

I agree Sparklenana.. which is why I'm trying to declutter & make my crafts early... so that when the time comes I'll have more time to enjoy the season.

 

[sweetpumkinpye]

I think that there are several ways to have a peaceful and relaxed Christmas and I learned most of them through the people here at MHH. I had never done Rudy days before I joined here and now with 12 days set aside throughout the year specifically for planning I get much more done and I am very organized. Because I am organized there is no last minute panic or forgetting to do things. I actually have more TIME now to create Christmas magic..last year we started a Christmas Eve movie night tradition. This also extends to outside of the home, I now have more time to focus on giving to others by donating to gift giving trees and local charities.

Because I am more organized I am much more relaxed and can sit and enjoy the season without worrying about little things. A relaxed mother leads to a much nicer atmosphere around the house. Christmas magic is always there but sometimes you have to work at it. The last few years for me have been truly wonderful, magical Christmasses and I can't wait to see what Christmas 2010 brings to our family.

 

[Minta]

Agreed.....
I have 2 issues that will stress me out
1. Not having the house completely cleaned and organized BEFORE we decorate. This results in not decorating as much as I would like and then I feel let down. DH and I were just discussing this over the weekend. Talking about how we want to decorate the inside this year. I want more lights and garland through out the house. We are going to create our own plan and to what will get done during what weekends from summer up until Thanksgiving.

2. We have changed OUR plans to accomidate someone's plans. Well not any more. We have already discussed places we want to go to starting in November and have selected dates for these events. If someone else plans something on those dates we will be sending our regrets.

 

[sweetpumkinpye]

MINTA I agree with what you are saying about changing plans to suit others. We always have our scheduled events, decorating the house first Saturday of the month and a family BBQ the 2nd weekend of the month. I ALWAYS help my mum on Christmas eve.
These things are precious events to our family I have done these things for close to 20 years and will not change them. I am at the stage where if people want to see us they have to work around us. It sounds selfish but it is not, our family time is very important to us.

 

[Minta]

MINTA I agree with what you are saying about changing plans to suit others. We always have our scheduled events, decorating the house first Saturday of the month and a family BBQ the 2nd weekend of the month. I ALWAYS help my mum on Christmas eve.
These things are precious events to our family I have done these things for close to 20 years and will not change them. I am at the stage where if people want to see us they have to work around us. It sounds selfish but it is not, our family time is very important to us.

Yes family time is very imporant....funny that some our of isuses are with other family members who scheduled things last minute and expect us to drop what we are doing to be there. To our fault we have done that in the past but not anymore. Both DH and I are very set and in total agreement over this. This year we are doing the things we want to do with our kids. We have a few places we want to take the kids too which will be all day events and we are looking forward to them.

 

[Belles]

~SparkleNana, I especially agree with you regarding not having the money to do everything I want to causes stress; and yes I know as well as anyone that it's not all about the gifts, but when you have hearts as big as we do here and love to give, then it does become important. I personally love to have enough to bake for all my neighbors and co worker and that too becomes expensive. If I would learn to act on my feelings during the year, I could have the peace I need at Christmas. I can't tell you how many times during the year, I'll come across something and KNOW that I should go ahead and pick it up and talk myself out of it. Just to end up regreting it down the road. That is the first thing I'm going to work on this year!

 

[Kim Loves Snow]

Thanks, SparkleNana. This topic really made me think about what does destroy my peace. For me it's not planning out my time right. I wait too long to wrap gifts for one thing and then it really becomes a chore instead of fun (I love wrapping under normal circumstances!).

Thankfully my family does not stress me out too bad. Now that we have DH's family in the mix we'll see how that goes. Last year we refused to go anywhere for Thanksgiving and Christmas because of our wedding. I doubt we can get away with that two years in a row! I think the one thing that we are sure about is the years we have the kids for Christmas we will be at home on Christmas day. Both sets of parents are three hours away in different directions so if they want to come to us that will be fine.

I think another thing that can destroy my peace is not sharing what is in my head. I have visions for how I want things to look, how I hope things happen and what I'd like to do but if I don't share those with DH and others than how can I expect them to know what is important to me so we can plan the season together?

Using Rudy Days is helpful to me too. Certainly lots to think about!

 

[Minta]

So hard to be happy during the holidays, sometimes... I get so caught up in things that I miss what is happening. I need to learn how to "stop and smell the roses" so to speak.

My thing is if I don't do all of the baking I want to do, I'm totally bummed. I bake and make loads of candies to give as gifts. If I have to miss any of that, I'm sad...

I could not have described that any better. I love to bake too and love to give out baskets of baked goodies especially since I know the baskets are well received and looked forward too. Something I am going to try this year starting in Nov is measuring out all the dry ingredients for my cookies, cakes and breads and placing them in sealable storage bags and labeling them. This way all I have to do is add the wet ingredients. I figured that would help me save on time and it give me and the kids a fun project to do together.

 

[AnnieClaus]

I so love this post. I have been thinking about the week of Christmas a lot.

Why? Because that is the week of the year I feel the most burned out and tired.
And I almost always get a cold. The worst part is I start to look forward to Christmas being over instead of actually enjoying the most wonderful week of the year.

So, I am going to really think about how to change this and ENJOY!!! and feel IN PEACE!

I do think our Wrapping parties throughout the fall will help!

Annie

 

[Minta]

Minta.... you truly are a "Mistletoe Marvel." That is pure genius.

Remind me of that come October/November. I could do so much of that....

What things do you bake?

I do:

banana/chocolate chip bread
pumpkin bread
cranberry bread (my fave)
lots of cookies
lots of candies

This is our standard baking list for the Christmas:
Applesauce bread
Orange Cranberry Bread
Pumpkin Bread
Fruit Cake
Mud Squares

Cookies:
Choc Chip
Choc chewy Peanutbutter chip
Spritz
Cut out sugar
Molasses
Choc with vanilla chips
Peanut butter Blossoms
Peanut butter cup


Some years I will make more - depends on if I have the time

 

[Minta]

~LL~ If I get time this weekend I'll get the recipe to you.

 

[sweetpumkinpye]

Just reading your baking list makes me want to go off my diet LOL. We are a little different over here, we bake gingerbread, fruit mince pies, foundation biscuits, rolled and cut, fruit cake, and some sweets. we are not so big on cookies and breads. Maybe it is the English influence or maybe because it is hot we don't bake as much. But I love the sounds of all that baking YUM

 

[Eaglesax]

We all have so much in common! I guess that's why we all love what we do and this board. My biggest issue every year is timing....each year is a little improved on the last with things getting done earlier. I've started my own system that's a combination between flylady & S.H.E. methods to keep the house maintained. I find the index card system works well to keep me on track. I've even added Christmas related things to my card system. With that said, I hope to be even a little better this year allowing me to enjoy more. Another issue is forgiving myself if EVERYTHING doesn't get done....I don't ever remember a time others even noticing...

 

[sweetpumkinpye]

Eaglesax, isn't it funny how much pressure we put on ourselves. It is like we have this idea in our heads how Christmas should be and if it is not exactly like that then it is wrong. We get upset if we forgot something, or things didn't go exactly to plan. What I am learning though is other people also have an idea in their heads as to how Christmas should be.
There will never be a perfect Christmas to all members of a family. The only thing we can do is do our best and enjoy what we have.

 

[Minta]

~LL~ - I got this recipe from my mother in law.

Applesauce Cake

1/2 c shortening
2 c sugar
1 egg
2 cups applesauce (regular or chunky) * I prefer the chunky
2 tsp baking soda
3 c flour
2 tsp cinnamon
pinch salt
1/2 c raisins - optional
1/2 walnuts - optional

Cream together shortening, sugar and egg. Place applesauce in pan and heat on the stove, once heated add baking soda and mix well, add to the sugar mixture. Mix in flour, cinnamon and salt. Finally add raisins and walnuts, mix well. Pour into greased bunt pan bake or 2 loaf pans and bake at 350 for 1 hour 15 minutes

 

[Eaglesax]

Minta, sounds good. I'll have to try it

 

[housewife2]

sounds good. wil have to try it

 

[SparkleNana]

Okay. We are talking Christmas Magic here. Which is very, VERY powerful magic.... for us!

As you know, our family had one of the BEST Christmas celebrations EVER... during the last week. It was a time for our family to be together. I don't think anybody else was thinking about Christmas magic..... except for me and for you -- our MHh Family! Cool, hu?

Christmas Magic CAN help us during all the times of real life drudgery and travails. We keep it alive in our hearts. More later.