Are You a Christmas Procrastinator?

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If you go to my house right now and open any drawer or closet, you will most likely find a mess.  Some of them might be clean, but not all.  I am naturally a procrastinator.  I work best under pressure!  Fully owning this part of my personality, I approach many areas of my life under duress. I used to approach Christmas in the same frantic manner, until I was challenged to rethink the whole season.

Because the old me would run crazy through Christmas so busy that I could barely hold my breath.  I was terribly rushed through the beauty of this lovely time of year because I was a Christmas Procrastinator.  My time with the Lord suffered, my relationship with my husband and kids suffered, my life was just one blurry mess and then it was over and felt depressed because I never got to “enjoy” it.  Does anyone else feel that way?

Many people encourage us to simplify the holiday, but alas I cannot do that well.  I just love the many traditions and lessons Jesus' birth brings with it. I am a party planner at heart so December is just one big party. So how could I save myself from running into the ground? I was encouraged to begin early and plan well. Today I am here to share that it does work and you can breathe in the midst of Christmas!

Years ago when my children were little, I heard a lesson on "Making Christmas Doable". The speaker gave us a list of ideas on how to plan out the season.  Most of us sat in awe as she introduced her material with throw-up on our shirts and diaper bags filled the brim. She encouraged us to take one or two ideas from the seemingly hundreds of thoughts and implement them. Some of them even start in October! She didn't want to overwhelm us, but instead give us a target to shoot for. So I did! Here is a example of a Christmas checklist from RealSimple.com that is similar.

As I am making my to-do lists, I need to remember my priorities.  First and foremost, I need to spend time thinking about everyone and everything that is important.  For me, I want to spend time daily with God, work out in the morning, spend time with my husband at night and have face-to-face time with my kids.  These are non-negotiables for me every day. So they can’t change during December.  This is why I make a Christmas plan!

What are your priorities during the holiday season?  What can’t you forget or what event can’t you miss?  Plan ahead to know those things.  For God is a God of order as we find in 1st Corinthians and not of confusion.  He lays out his plans in Genesis and references us doing the same in Luke.  So this idea is not mine, it is God’s idea for us to be thinking ahead.

Seizing the season means that you are taking back control of the things that you have control over so that God will be able to interrupt you will HIS plan!  Nothing is worse then for God to have an assignment for you in the BIG PLAN and you or I don’t have time for it!

This lesson reminds me of the Princess Parables newest story, "A Royal Christmas to Remember".  The girls are frantically decorating the castle, but are really missing the reason for Christmas in the first place. Only when the town and castle are captured by evil merauders do they see what they have been missing.  I don't know about you, but I don't want to miss anything this Christmas!

Won't you join me! I have ordered our Christmas cards and bought a couple of presents just this week. My goal is to help you with a plan to tackle this year as best as possible. The real reason is Jesus, not the to do list.  Give ourself attainable goals to insure we are ready and not just flying by the seat of our pants!

How do you "plan" for Christmas?

~Jeanna Young - When Jeanna is not writing, speaking, event planning, or homeschooling, she can be found scrapbooking her life, redecorating her home, loving on her husband, planning fun events for her kids or eating healthy to stay cancer-free!

Christmas Morning Tradition

I blogged briefly about the Christmas scavenger hunt my family does on Christmas morning.  My kids are all excited on Christmas morning to open presents.  We have always waited to open presents.  We first eat breakfast, read the Christmas story and find baby Jesus – not particularly in that order. 

As I am always trying to incorporate Jesus into all things Christmas, it seems fitting to have created a scavenger hunt based on the Christmas story.  This way my kids can read the story of Jesus’s birth while hunting down our baby Jesus to add him to the nativity scene. One Christmas my husband and I stayed in bed and handed them the first clue, just to buy a couple more sleeping moments.

Here is an example of one of our Christmas scavenger hunts.  The clues change each year, but the story stays the same.  The only rules for the kids are that they must go in order and they have to stay together. 

To prepare the scavenger hunt, I print out the clues and cut them into strips. Then I hide them in the right spots being careful to number them so I don’t get confused.  I save the first clue to give to the kids and make sure that at the last clue, baby Jesus is there also.  I instruct the kids to put the baby in the nativity scene and sometimes I hang around and take pictures.

1. Luke 2: 1-3 “In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.  And everyone went to their own town to register." Clue: Caesar was a famous Roman ruler with a salad dressing named after him.  Where do we keep the dressing?
2. Luke 2:3-5 “So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.  He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.” Clue: When Daddy pledged to Mommy, he gave her a ring. Where is the box it came in?
3. Luke 2:6  “While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son.” Clue: If you were a baby in this house, where would you sleep?
4. Luke 2:7 “She (Mary) wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.” Clue: We have a manager we are adding straw to each day.  Where is that manger?
5. Luke 2 8 “And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.” Clue: Daddy has a “field” he tends to day and night.  Where do you water that “field”?
6. Luke 2:9-10 “An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people” Clue:  We have many angels in the house.  Which one has the clue?
7. Luke 2:11-12 “The angel said ‘Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.’” Clue: There is a small town in our house.  The clue is in someone’s house.
8. Luke 2:13 - 15 “Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.’ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.’" Clue:  Find Bethlehem on the globe.
9. Matthew 2: 1-2  “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem  and asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.’” Clue: When we listen to worship music, where are we?
10. Matthew 2:9-10 “After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed”. Clue: There is a lighted star on the house.  Where is it?
11. Matthew 2:11 "On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh." Clue:  If we were going to diffuse Frankincense, where would we do that?
12. Matthew 2:19-20 “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds (and the wise men) returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.” Clue:  What gift does God want us to give from OUR HEARTS?  In what Princess Parables book do we find the treasure box?

Hopefully this inspires you to do a scavenger hunt for Baby Jesus! 

What other fun traditions do you do Christmas morning?

Merry Christmas everyone!

~Jeanna Young

When Jeanna is not writing, speaking, event planning, or homeschooling, she can be found scrapbooking her life, redecorating her home, loving on her husband, planning fun events for her kids or eating healthy to stay cancer-free!