I’m telling you the older I get the less effort I want to put into decorating the inside of my house.  Seriously I haven’t watched HGTV or DIY in years. I gave up on Pinterest years ago and if you catch me in Bed Bath & Beyond or Kirkland’s then you should call for help because something is wrong with me.

(Sidenote I had to stop by a BBB in May and literally got so annoyed and angry I had to leave. I’m just now getting over that experience.)

Let me tell you how lazy I am:

We have Christmas decorations up in our yard, not because I went down to our basement to pull them out of storage. Oh no, these decorations are out because they sat in storage boxes under my carport for 2 years so the kids and I decided to ‘test’ them to see if they worked.  They did so they’re in the yard again.

I used to put up 12 Christmas trees – literally I had a tree in every room, even the bathrooms. Who the heck has time for that?  Now I use a fiber optic tree and let the kids buy new ornaments every year just so I don’t have to go to the basement and get out the old ornaments.

See I told you I’m lazy.

But just because I’m lazy doesn’t mean we have a boring Christmas  I’m not a Grinch, Scrooge or a charity case on a Hallmark movie.

You see getting all the decorations out for basically 24 days of celebrating has become pointless to me.  It’s easier for me to just leave them in storage.

Are my kids deprived of a magical, festive Christmas? No and here’s how I make sure we have a fun time:

  1. They decorate the tree however they want to – They can use their toys, make ornaments, buy ornaments, make paper chains and even create a tree topper.  As long as they’re happy with it, it doesn’t fall over and it’s not a fire hazard, I’m cool with it.
  2. We look at other people’s decorations – I’m not talking about peering into people’s windows to see their stockings hung by the chimney with care. I’m talking about outdoor lights.  We take it seriously, I will search for displays in any city we visit this month just so they can see the displays.  It’s cool that other people aren’t lazy, so we appreciate their efforts.
  3. They come up with a service project – They think of some organization or cause that needs help this time of year and it’s not the Angel Tree – I’m talking about something where they have make a sacrifice to help, either time, money or something.  It’s cool that it changes every year.
  4.  Christmas events – We hit as many Christmas events as we can, including but not limited to: Light shows, in-store events, festivals, crafting events, live nativities and more.  They aren’t lacking in  entertainment or cultural experiences.
  5. Christmas crafts – They make Christmas themed crafts almost every day. Anything from gingerbread houses, painting ornaments to making paper chains or cutting snowflakes.  I’ve got the supplies, I pitch an idea their way and they get busy,or not. If they don’t want to make anything, I’m cool with that too.

 

3 Types of Moms:

  1. Mrs. Claus — You’re all in for Christmas, you’re like the younger Christie that put up a ton of trees, bought Christmas shirts for everyone, and on and on and on — this lazy mom salutes you. Keep it up, others admire you but don’t stress yourself out trying to top yourself.  It’s really not worth making everyone miserable, especially yourself. Know your limits.
  2. Mother Parker — You’re the mom on ‘A Christmas Story’ Super chill.  Don’t worry that your kids think you’re not paying attention or ignoring their Christmas wishes.  Just be cool and go do stuff.  I’m a fan of experiences over things.  Plus you can tell the kids to be thankful you’re not making them clean the house to put up a tree or a leg lamp.
  3. Kate McCallister — Stressed out to the max. Girl you gotta stop thinking you left the kids somewhere, quit trying to get the perfect photo for Christmas and your stinking gift wrapping doesn’t have to look perfect.  At the end of ‘Home Alone’, Kate figured out everything usually works out fine.

No matter where you are on the Christmas mom list, lazy, crafty, over achiever whatever, the one thing you should remember is there are people in this world that celebrate Christmas and have no idea why.  If you’re a Christian, it’s your job to tell them why Christmas is celebrated and it has nothing to do with how great or bad our houses appear.  Don’t be lazy when it comes to telling others about Jesus!

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