I am learning to find balance by making space in our days.
This year I read a few books that I often come back to- Sabbath: Restoring the Sacred Rhythm of Rest by Wayne Muller and Simplicity Parenting by Lisa M. Ross & Kim John Payne. While we rarely make time for a whole day of rest we try to make time in our days and weeks that allow us to just be. I am an extrovert and love to see friends and family and stay busy. I married an introvert (who I love dearly) and am learning the benefits of a slower pace and more reflection and quietness.
The Christmas season is so full of joy and goodness that it's hard to make space. I try to prioritize and spread things out a bit. And I'm learning to let go of some traditions while hold tight to others.
For example, we host a neighborhood caroling party each year. The first year I made invitations, baked countless cookies, prepared chili. Whew! By the time it came I was exhausted! This year I sent out an e-mail to the neighbors and asked them to bring something to share. I hit up Trader Joe's for some appetizers and cookies (much better than the ones I made, by the way!). It was so much easier, I was happier and the neighbors didn't notice one bit.
The next day we bought our tree at the hardware store instead of the beautiful tree farm where we have gone in years past because we were all exhausted from the night before. This left time for the kids me to take long naps and for Bill and I get a workout in.
As my architecture loving hubby always says, "Less is more." And it certainly is true.
So while some days are crazy running around from party to shopping to visiting Santa, I try hard to make sure we have time to listen to Charlie Brown Christmas, eat our store bought cookies and snuggle on the couch, with a fire in the fireplace and a good book in hand.
The lovely Sarah blogs over at minnesota:madre . Thank you so much for sharing your good advice on how to stay balanced during the holidays Sarah. I couldn't agree more with you on the idea of "less is more" when it comes to the planning and the details of the holidays.
* If you are interested in writing a guest blog post on the topic of finding balance during the holidays and/or New Years resolutions please write to me at
birdsonawire (at) hotmail (dot) com and I will give you the details of how it works.
Thank you for this honest and truthful guest post Sarah. I too love how the letting go of things frees up time to be with family and provides time to just relax during the holidays.
ReplyDeleteA great post Sarah. We all have these wonderful ideas about what we will do re decorating and cooking etc. at Christmas time, but after a few years with young ones some things just have to go. I admire you in the way you've worked out a good balance .....it can't be easy to find some peaceful together time with three little ones but it is so important.
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