Planning Christmas 2

With Christmas comes the inevitable long break.  This year, Baby will spend some time with my husband and then a few days with just me, and the three of us will then spend the rest of the holidays together, popping out to see family over the holiday season.  We would like him to have some proper rest as it has been a long term and he has been very busy at school. The aim would be to allow him to get bored- to just relax and do whatever he wants, whenever he wants. It is just as important to stop and assimilate the things that have happened to us, as it is to keep accumulating experiences.   So this Christmas would be rest time, time to take stock and think about how to move forward.

I talked a little about Christmas presents for Baby in my previous post of this series.  For me, Christmas is actually never far from my mind.  I am not a terribly imaginative person and find it difficult to choose presents for people.  To help with this, I take notes when I hear family and friends talk about things that they liked, or if we have had an experience together that I think they might want a memento of. The notes are kept on my phone, or as lists on various online shops.  Adopting this strategy, I am never out of ideas for something to give at Christmas; most of the time I have more than enough options.  I like the thought that has to go into it, the care that is taken over the selection.  Although it means that I am in fact thinking about Christmas all year round, I don't have the stress of last minute Christmas shopping.  A shopping period is marked out in my calendar, I make some final decisions and then the purchases and that is that.  It feels good to know that the gifts are thought out, and there is a great sense of joy in the giving.

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