holidays

Fall and winter are by far my favorite seasons, and they seem so idealistic to me as a native Texan. People make fun of me for busting out my sweaters at the idea of a cold snap, which actually isn’t cold here in Texas at all. But there is something quite magical about the changes in the weather; slight or distinct depending on where you reside. It brings so many elements of change and expectancy. We know what’s coming, and as mothers, our hearts yearn for the obvious laid out chances of making memories and cultivating a holiday heritage for our homeschool families. We can envision all the picture perfect moments with hot cocoa, decorating pumpkins or Christmas cookies and all the precious time we will have to cherish our family. But I have to admit to you in years past I have not been intentional enough in the area of creating a holiday heritage. What ends up happening is this: I have all these ideas and excitement about what I can and will do. However, the months fly by like some whirlwind, and I end up looking back on the holidays wondering what happened? Has that happened to any of you? Then I am left with a horrible feeling of mommy guilt that I can’t shake until I negotiate with myself about how next year will be the year. Right? Next year I will be so prepared, we will do it all, and I will have that peaceful advent filled with precious memories. It was a cycle for a few years that I repeated until I realized that I could be in control of my family’s holiday destiny. So I took my holidays back, and I want to help you do the same if this has ever happened to you. It’s not too late to create a plan that you can keep to! Let’s create peaceful holiday plans for our families this year; we can create our ideal holiday routine with a few timely tips. Don’t let the holidays pass you by and leave you wondering how did you not have better control over your planning? 1. List Your Holidays First, make a quick note or list of the most important priority events or activities you want to accomplish over the holidays. I usually plan this from October through the 1st week of January. For example my list usually contains , baking cookies, pumpkin patch, baking particular family recipes with my daughter, putting up the tree as a family, advent plans, Christmas lights, lots of hot cocoa, watching our favorite Christmas movies, reading the bible story of the birth of Christ, decorating pumpkins, creating our Thankful tree and a few other things. But the idea is to jot them down, so we see exactly what we want to accomplish beforehand. Careful not to overdo it, be realistic about what we know we can handle and still feel enjoyment and peace. 2. Adjust Your Schedule Second, we have to know that this will all require intentionality on our parts. We can make this happen with a bit of intentionality. We may need to lax up on our school plans some days, or for us, we school year round so that we can take the entire month of December off for advent activities. Adjust your school schedule accordingly, and know that we can move lessons around but we don’t want to look back on our holidays with regret that we didn’t embrace it fully. 3. Add Your Holiday Plans to Your Calendar Lastly, go right to your planner or calendar and place these items on days when you realistically think they can be done. We have to make way for these important tasks with our family, so you may want to be careful about what you say yes to over the course of your holiday period so that we can not only be intentional but place our families above all other commitments if we can. I have found if I put it on the calendar I am more likely to get it done. We aren’t scheduling our family time, but think of it more like we are clearing a space or time that will be specifically for making these memories we want to create. This topic is so important to me as a mom and family planner. I want to create a holiday heritage for my children to look back on and share with their families. I hope they can carry on some of our same traditions; I hope they see the passion I had for cultivating special moments in the regular and mundane parts of our lives. I pray that they will enjoy their childhood holidays and have their own special memories of our lives together. We have to capture some of this and bottle it up while we can mommas! I hope I sparked some ideas or inspiration to be intentional and creative with your holiday heritage plans.