Using your traditions as a guide for a stress-free holiday season

Tradition is a guide and not a jailer. – W Somerset Maugham

It’s just 4 days until Christmas.  Are you ready?  Do you have all your baking done?  Do you have all your presents wrapped?  Do you have your menu planned and ingredients shopped for?  Do you have your Christmas cards out in the mail?  Oh boy, the traditional list of things to do or have done by now is long.  Are you feeling stressed to make sure you get it all done?

As I sit here, gearing up for the day.  I wonder, am I ready?  Now that I’m 50, I’ve gotten over the stress of feeling that I have to do everything according to tradition. There’s a different feel for me as the big day approaches.   Still the feeling of Christmas, but not the stress.  Going with minimal decorations, minimal gifts, minimal meal planning and a simple Christmas photo collage sent weeks ago has been stress-free.  I finished up wrapping gifts yesterday. 

Baking...it hadn’t even occurred to me to do cookies this year...perhaps in the back of my mind I know don’t need the calories anyhow?!  Yesterday in a moment of realization that I had forgotten to bake, I decided to see if I could solicited my oldest to do some baking of cookies!  She was excited to do so.   Ah…the old baking tradition created while she was growing up lives on in her! 

There you have it…I guess I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.  Frankly, the lack of trying to do the old traditions is stress-free and refreshing.  I sure hope it doesn’t mean I’ve become a curmudgeon or Scrooge…!  Nah…it is because our kids are grown and not living under the same roof.  It's a perfect time to modify traditions.

Really??  It's okay, it’s not so bad.  We no longer have to hide the gifts.  Thinking back, that tradition ended when they hit the teen years!  It was definitely more cost effective to let them pick out most of their gifts.  Then they liked them and didn’t just keep them, tags still on until the next summer’s thrift sale came around to discard.  This year, that tradition carried on.  They picked out their minimal gifts during our traditional Black Friday shopping trip.  Leaving me with the creative option of wrapping them differently so they can’t remember what it was they picked out weeks ago.  

It isn’t about the gifts though it’s more about being together.  That tradition is the one I treasure the most.  

It is okay to give yourself permission to use your traditions as a guide, don’t be jailed by them.  Use them to shake it up a bit.  Remembering back to the stressful years, it was because I had the feeling I had to do everything just right and do it the same way as the year before.  I felt as though I couldn't help my kids create memories unless we did the tradition the right way. 

In retrospect, I think their anticipation of what was to be, whether according to tradition or not, was what I nurtured and allowed to change as they grew up.  I'm pretty sure they hold some traditions in their heart that they'll always do, and I'm positive they will modify them knowing it is okay to do so.

In the end, it’s about love and being together that mean the most.  You can’t wrap that up in a package! You can relax, enjoy each other’s company, and create the moments you’ll treasure for years to come. 

Thanks for stopping by!  May you use your traditions as a guide.  Enjoy them and enjoy your time together!  

PS –  50 Clicks photo session on 200 ISO & Christmas lights blurred in the background.  Last year, I stumbled upon a website that shared how to blur the Christmas lights in the background.  It’s simply setting your ISO to 200 in manual mode and the rest of the room with bright lights turned on.  The result is fun.  To me it looks like you’ve taken a picture in the dark.  

My Antique Elf on the Shelf - I remember this tradition,
wasn't around so much when my kids were
growing up.  I still bring him out each year.  I love
his little hand painted face and faded outfit.

Oops...moved, the technique requires a steady
camera, and this is what happens when you move.

The little ceramic snow couple were always
set out as decorations as I was growing up.  Again, I moved!

Getting closer to the look I was trying to capture.

The first little snowman family I bought for our
home when our kids were little.

Aw...fond memories of family!

And here you go...the blur, the lighting,
and the placement of the snowman in the frame -
just what I was trying to create.
It reminds me...Let it Snow!  A little bit of
snow on Christmas is a tradition I'll never tire of!