I am doing the holidays a little different this year. Right before Thanksgiving I started to feel that anxious but hard to figure out why feeling in my belly. I think my body was reacting to the social media images and magazine covers of beautiful, but unattainable Christmas scenes and emails and catalogs with Black Friday deals before my brain caught up. My holiday excitement was getting stifled before they even hit. I wanted to find a way to make it feel good and not get lost in unnecessary stress that I usually get swept up in. So I gave myself the gift of a new holiday promise to guide me through: If it doesn’t feel good then it’s not aligned with my holiday cheer, therefore I won’t do it. I have been having the BEST holiday season sticking to my new guideline. Here’s what’s been going on.

I let Thanksgiving have its day. I enjoyed every last bit of Thanksgiving without thinking once about Christmas and December and the holiday craziness that would be upon us.

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No Christmas cards this year. I love receiving all of the cards with cute faces and families and updates on them and usually I love sending them too. This year I had very little motivation to get cards out so I listened to that instead of just powering through just to do it. I am sure after this break I will be excited to send out cards again next year.

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No ornaments on the tree. We have a 20 month old. That would have been a fool’s errand. Instead we put the ornaments in glass containers around the house and it looks quite nice. I also told him the tree was hot and not to touch. Worked like a charm!

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We skipped Chase’s holiday concert that his aftercare puts on that he sings a total of one song at. To get there would have been a logistical puzzle I didn’t have the brain power to sort out on a weeknight. This one took some will to not feel like a slacker mom. I worked hard to not spend the typical few days of guilt and bad mom vibes and moved on.

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I didn't search for perfect gifts. Gift giving has always been hard for me. I spend so much time trying to come up with the most thoughtful, unique gift that it turns super stressful and then I end up picking out something stupid. My rule this year has been to buy the first thing that comes to mind when I think of the person and pull the trigger right away. I am really excited about what I came up without overthinking and found joy in the process.

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I have been saying yes to plans. Usually I feel so stressed out this time of year I don’t like to add more activities. Under my new rule I am pretty calm and prepared this year that I have been having an awesome time being social and celebrating the season.

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Finding opportunities for giving. Much like gift giving, finding ways to donate and volunteer was way overthought. I have been really lucky to work at a company with it's own Giving and Doing department. It's allowed me to volunteer at a women's shelter and buy gifts for those in need. I also am having Chase pick out toys and come with me to donate at local nonprofit for kids in need.

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And lastly, I am trying really hard to stay in a place of gratitude and presence and love to stay focused on what really matters all days of the year. I think led me dream up and hold on to my new vision for our holidays.

Happy Holidays!!