Checking your Holiday Expectations

With the holidays approaching I think it’s wise if we take a few minutes and do a little heart check on just what  our holiday expectations are this Christmas.

Sometimes I find myself setting very unrealistic expectations.  For example, I want a cleaned and decorated house that looks like it  comes from a Better Homes & Garden magazine.  I want a Martha Stewart handmade Christmas.  I want a Barefoot Contessa meal on my table Christmas day with gorgeous desserts. Some elaborate handmade Christmas cards addressed and in the mail by Dec. 15th.   Oh, and I want beautiful, creative gift wrapped packages. And my elf would be creatively displayed every day to make sure my kids were magically surprised every morning.

But what I really end up with is a dirty house with only half of the decorations put up because I’m so busy I can’t find the time to finish it all.  I get a few handmade gifts done and  the rest are store bought gift cards and my meal might be nice but every day leading up the the Christmas dinner is slapped together or eaten out.  My cards are OK  but don’t live up to the picture I have in my mind and my gifts are thrown into  recycled gift bags. I forgot to do the elf half the time and the kids were sad and disappointed.

What usually happens after this is I’m tired, I’m disillusioned and I feel like a failure!  Which then causes me to beat myself up, which then makes me really grouchy and we know what happens when moms are grouchy right??

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Pinterest and I LOVE looking at all the Blogs linky parties. I LOVE being creative it gives me life!  BUT if I let it take me over the edge then something has to change.
It is so very easy to romanticize the holidays and then we’re so disappointed when it doesn’t work out the way we pictured.

Here are a list of words.  Ask yourself if any of these words determine your actions during the holiday season.

These words mean you have expectations and they are not being met in the way you think they should be. Pay attention to yourself and notice when these words come up in your actions and attitudes. Let them be a reminder that you might be setting yourself up for failure.

This holiday season I want to remember:

What the season “really” is about.

If I do accomplish every single one of my goals it doesn’t make me a better person, it just means I worked myself to the bones .

If I don’t accomplish all my goals I’m not a BAD person.

If I’m accomplishing all my dream wish list, someone or something is probably being neglected.  Either my husband or my kids or me or my house or my Lord.

We can easily get caught up in the hubbub and not even realize what happened to us until the tornado of activity is over and we are in a heap on Jan. 1st.  Let’s be wise!!

I link up to the following Link Parities:

 

Sunday:

My Life’s a Treasure,  I Heart Naptime,Raising Memories, Mommy’s Sweet Confessions, Navy Wife Peters, WT Fab, A Lived in House,The Foley Family, DIY Showoff, Flamingo Toes

 

Monday:

Under the Table and Dreaming, Skip to my Lou, Craft O Maniac,   Keeping it Simple, Creating Really Awesome Free Things, Between Naps on the Porch ,The Girl Creative, Mad in Crafts, I Should Be Mopping the Floor, Serendipity and Spice, Booggieboard Cottage,  Sumo’s Sweet Stuff, Eye Heart, I Gotta Try That, Making the World Cuter, The Dedicated House, Pinkopotamus, Don’t Waste Your Homemaking, The Mrs., Ninth Street Notions, The Gunny Sack, DIY Home Sweet Home, Sew Chatty, Marvelous Messy, What Joy is Mine, The Alabaster Jar, A Proverbs 31 Wife ,Ladybug Blessings

 

 

Tuesday:

Sugar Bee Crafts , The Kurtz Corner, Not Just a Housewife, Claiming our Space, Reasons to Skip the Housework, Tip Junkie, Today’s Creative Blog , Crafty Confessions,  A Bowlful of Lemons, Funky Polkadot Giraffe , Coastal Charm, Krafty Kat, Cornerstone Confessions, Growing Home Blog, Carolyn’s Homework Blog, MercyInk, Timewarp Wife, House on the Way,Blackberry Vine, Adventures of a DIY Mom, New Nostalgia, Hope Studios, Tell Me Tuesday, My Girlish Whims

 

Wednesday:

Lil’Luna, Southern Lovely, Full Circle Creations, New House New Home New Life, In the Old Road, Nutmeg Place,  The DIY Dreamer, Gingersnap Crafts , Seven Thirty Three, Creations by Kara,  Raising Homemakers , Women Living Well  NY Melrose Family, Cheap Crafty Mama, JAQ Studio, Someday Crafts, Practically Functional, Adorned From Above, Cute Everything, White Lights on Wednesday Uncommon Designs, Family Home and Life, DIY Crafty Projects, Simply Kierste, Fine Craft Guild, Sew Much Ado, The Trendy Treehouse, Semi Homemade Mom, Upward Not Inward, Internet Cafe Devotions, Deep Roots at Home, My Daily Walk in His Grace, Sweet Pea Sylvie, The Real Housewives of Rivertown

 

Thursday:

The Thirty Sixth Avenue, House of Hepworths, 52 Mantels, Somewhat Simple, Delightful Order ,Shabby Creek Cottage, Yesterday on Tuesday,  A Glimpse Inside, Live, Laugh, Rowe, Christina’s Adventures, Imparting Grace, Artsy Girl Connection, Saving 4 Six, Embracing Change,, Artsy Fartsy Mama

 

 

Friday:

Craft Junkie Too, Little Becky Homecky, 30 Handmade Days ,The Shabby Nest, Chic on a Shoestring, While He was Napping, Tatertots and Jello, Craftionary, What About Co, Here Comes the Sun  One Artsy Mama, Miss Information, Blissful Bucket List, A Night Owl, See Vanessa Craft, A Delicate Construction, Whipperberry 

 

Saturday:

Six Sister’s Stuff,Bowdabra Blog, Cheerios and Lattes, Funky Junk Interiors, Young and Crafty, Be Different, Act Normal,  Positively Splendid, Serenity You, Too Much Time On My Hands , One Creative Mommy, Fingerprints on the Fridge, It’s Overflowing, Or So She Says, Pinteresting Party, Sew-Licious