Are you doing Christmas for the "kids"? Really?
Today I'm talking about expectations around Christmas.
Hands up if you had wonderful Christmases as a child?
My family Christmases were pretty damn good. My father often had to work, so that meant that we sometimes got to have Christmas dinner at the hotel where he was the manager and the FOOD! So exciting. Our Christmases weren't really about getting the family together as that wasn't always possible but we loved them anyway.
That's the thing. The kids will love it anyway.
Last year Christmas was a breeze because my lovely sister in law got married that day - as you do in Japan! So we had a slap up meal and all the alcohol we wanted, all taken care of! The kids got presents and we had a great celebration. There was karaoke and cake.
Then this year I had the rude awakening to the fact that I'm in charge of Christmas again!
I've done the whole desperately try to recreate Christmas as I so fondly remember it from my childhood. What I didn't notice or realise then but I do know now, is that my mother never had such a great Christmas.
So this year I sat down with my family and I asked them what they would like for Christmas dinner this year. They are 3 and 6 so really don't know much about what they are missing out on and we do live in Japan, but their answers were:
"We want sushi!"
"We want a(n overpriced) cake from 7-11!"
That was the sum total of their wishes for Christmas Dinner. SO I realised:
NOBODY except me expects a roasted turkey/ham with all the trimmings and deserts I don't have the time or inclination to make!! Nobody cares! They want SUSHI!
So we are ordering home delivery sushi from the best shop in town and we are getting a cake from the 7-11 and we will be happy to be together and the kids will remember (hopefully) their wonderful Christmas with a relaxed and happy mother who actually enjoyed Christmas herself.
So my challenge to you this year is: What can you let go of from your Christmas preparations to make the "Silly Season", just fun?
This year I will be:
-Ordering our Christmas dinner online
- Letting the kids decorate the tree, it will be quite ugly but THEY will love it anyway.
- Buying a few presents for my children only. Sorry everyone else in the world but in return you can not buy me a present, I really don't mind. Less stuff is best.
-Saving the Christmas eating extravaganza for Christmas DAY. Not the whole of November, December and into January. That way it's special and I will come out the other side feeling great.
Let me know your plans for having more fun and less crazy this Christmas!