Manage Christmas expectations to avoid disappointment

My husband and I had gone on a Christmas shopping date. The dusky sky was dark, the promise of snow heavy in the air. A romantic time with just us two for a whole evening.

A little extra cash padded our spare wallets for the first time in our adult life. It was going to be perfect!

Except, it was just nice.

Nothing was wrong, per se. I just have a lifelong struggle with high expectations.

I want a dreamy, movie set perfect experience when it comes to Christmas.

Instead, my husband was distracted. It made me frustrated. Not perfect, nor part of my fantasy evening. You know what I mean, don’t you?

Avoid unrealistic Christmas expectations

We cheat ourselves with unrealistic ideas. After spending all day preparing a fancy holiday meal, the family comes home (late) and tells us they already ate.

During carefully planned Advent readings, the kid’s eyes glaze over, and even as we try not to doze off.

Picking out a Christmas tree causes a fight with the kids over whose is the best.

We call the in-laws to invite them over, while mentally replaying last year’s disastrous dinner.

Our sister wants to bring her disgusting stuffing, even though we both know ours is better.

We shop with our spouse and ask them their opinion on gifts, and pretend to consider their input, even as we tell them all the reasons our idea is better.

The kids don’t need that, want that, like that…

But just maybe, they would?

When Christmas expectations set us up for gloom

We get too hung up on fantasies of Christmas. Currier and Ives’s paintings never had a mom stomping out of the room in anger.

Norman Rockwell never painted bratty children who destroyed the decorations.

Hey, based on the stories I hear from people? Most expectations rate a bit higher than reality.

If we want an awesome and memorable holiday, let’s ditch the preconceived ideas.

Let’s go with the moment and just enjoy it.

Let’s not work so hard to create memories that set our children up for being adults who also strive to achieve the impossible.

There is too much fun and joy to be had in the simple. The ordinary. The unplanned.

The giving of gifts is not something man invented. God started the giving spree when He gave a gift beyond words, the unspeakable gift of His Son– Robert Flatt