It’s my time of year! My favorite holiday! Christmas time! Move out of the way grumpy grinchy folks, it’s my time to shine. We all know someone who is easily annoyed by the cheerfulness that this glorious holiday season brings. But who are we kidding, 9 times out of 10 they are like this most of the year haha. So, we aren’t going to let their Scrooge attitude affect us. Let’s get Christmas ready!
In order to get Christmas ready, first things first, let’s set the mood! Time to put on the Christmas music and light the holiday scented candles. Fill your home with the aroma of Christmas trees and freshly baked cookies while jamming to Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You.” Go ahead, don’t be ashamed to try and reach that high note… just don’t blow a fuse on the Tree!
Speaking of tree! Let’s talk about decorating! Let’s face it, being a grown up can make the holidays a little more difficult to enjoy. The pressure can be intense. This is why I start decorating in November and do a little at a time. I’m totally the person who has a tree in nearly every room and definitely have a trace of Christmas in every room in the house! I also like to do all the decorating myself to make sure it’s to my liking, so needless to say this can become time consuming. I have my main tree in the living room. I call this my grown-up tree. It is decorated with white lights, traditional colors of red, gold and frosty white ornaments. The tree in my sunroom is a little more colorful. This one I call my fun kid tree (this is the tree I allow the children to help me decorate lol). This one is decorated with white and colorful lights that twinkle in and out. The ornaments are an assortment of different colors, sizes and characters. I also have another full-size tree in my bedroom, this one is decorated with colorful lights and colorful ornaments. I usually never turn this one off because I love to sleep with the warm glow it gives.
Another thing that can get frustrating as a grown up during Christmas is shopping for everyone’s gifts. I’ve come up with a little system that helps me stay organized and prevent the pressure that gift getting and last-minute shopping can bring. To win this battle I only one gift for immediate adult family only (parents and siblings). After all, everyone should understand that the children are priority. I will also make little baskets of goodies and knickknack gifts for them as well. Typically, these little treats will match the receiver’s personality or hobbies. The game changer has been getting all Christmas shopping done in November! This has worked well because all I have to do is wrap gifts and I will do this little by little. This has allowed me to just enjoy Christmas during the entire month of December without the pressure of being a grown up lol.
Now we are getting to the good part, enjoying Christmas! Here are some things I do to enjoy this glorious season and Get Christmas ready!
- Make Coquito! It pretty much the Puerto Rican eggnog! It’s Delicious!
- Get use out of my fire place. Nothing like snuggling up by the crackling fire with a cozy blanket.
- Watch a Christmas movie. Everything from It’s a Wonderful Life to Home Alone.
- Watch/read the Nativity story to remind my son of the true meaning of Christmas! Jesus Christ our Savior was born! Such a great day in history!
- Make and enjoy a nice cup of hot cocoa! Try it with canned Coconut milk for a little extra something.
- Make a gingerbread house, bake cookies and cake.
- 99% of the time I am an introvert, however for some odd reason I don’t mind shopping during all the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season! It just does something exciting to my spirit!
- Going for a drive around to look at all the fun Christmas decorations everyone has displayed while getting Jiggy with it in the car to Christmas music (again… I realize I am going to be judged for that term)
- I always love the first snow fall! It is a pretty fresh clean coat of white! I’ve been known to go out and dance and sing in it.
- Convince my son to keep his room clean longer! After all Santa can’t come if your room is a fire hazard!
- Buy Christmas Pajamas! I have yet to get a onesie for myself, I will work on that this year.
- Have a Christmas party! Or better yet, go to someone else’s (saves you the cleanup)!
- Make snowballs and save them in the freezer! Don’t ask what the purpose of this is, I’ve just done it since I was a kid.
- Attempt to make a decent looking snowman and fail because it’s too cold to keep struggling (lol, at least I tried).
- Scroll through Pinterest and pin decoration and recipe ideas that get you in the holiday spirit.
- Change my phone theme from an Autumn one to a Christmas one.
- Use vacation hours from your job to have a staycation at home! Do nothing but enjoy Christmas things!
Hope this helps you get Christmas ready like it does for me. Enjoy the holiday season, Merry CHRISTmas! Remember God loves you and because His Son Jesus CHRIST was born we get to celebrate this day!
Happy Holidays!
