How are your Christmas preparations coming along It's officially 6 sleeps until the big day and I'm not sure I'm as prepared as I should be this year 🎅
This month seems to have flown by so quickly. I am also going through and cleaning and decluttering the house, which I do every year before Christmas to make way for new toys as well as to have a nice fresh start to the New Year. I've had 3 sick kids for the past week as well, and my youngest daughter wants to just sit and snuggle and get her back patted when unwell, so things generally have to wait until everyone is in bed before I can get much done.
But all is not lost!
What is done:
🎄 We all have a Christmas shirt to wear on the day. 🎄 All presents are bought. Except some of my Dad's favourite chocolate which I will pick up today. 🎄 The Christmas Goodies Box is full to the brim.
🎄 The kids bedrooms have been purged, cleaned and are ready for the next round of stuff they will receive.
Things that need to be done:
🎅 Baking. So far I have done about zero Christmas baking. This will begin this afternoon with the Gingerbread Houses. 🎅 Wrapping of gifts. My eldest daughter has been sitting up with me of a night time and we are getting a few things wrapped each night, but have only scratched the surface of what needs to be done. 🎅 The trailer needs to be emptied. It's almost full from my clean out and needs to go to the dump.
🎅 Christmas Day is at my parents home this year and we all need to sit down with a cuppa and work out who is doing what. I think I am on sweets duty and will also make some salads to bring. The third picture is the Vanilla, peppermint and choc chip icecream cake that I made 2 years ago. 🎅 Photos under the Christmas Tree. I get everyone to put on their Christmas shirt and do a little photo shoot with the kids sitting around the tree. It generally takes forever and there's a lot of bribery with chocolate to keep them interested and to try and get a couple of nice shots of all the kids looking at the camera and smiling at once. Last year I literally took 120 photos to get 2 nice ones lol. 🎅 Groceries. These will be done at some stage today, with more fruit bought on Sunday.
There is no shame in being an imperfect mess. Instagram used to be a place to post in-the-moment snaps without a care in the world, but is now so slick and polished, I question my own self-worth and ability every time I scroll through my feed.
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For example, here is yet ANOTHER shot of my one-eared wonder, looking much the same as it did a few weeks ago. 😩 Sigh… you guys, I have NO trouble beginning and completing 80% of a project. But that final 10% Bahhhh… it’s EXCRUCIATING. That’s when the alarm bells go off, and I throw a million tasks and excuses in the way to get me the heck outta there! Just imagine a long-distance runner slowing down 100m from the finish line and then FREAKING OUT and suddenly changing course down another track - it makes no sense!! 🤦🏻♀️
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Apparently, this is a normal part of the creation process, but it’s so rare for anybody to admit it, much less talk about it. Project Envy is real! Every time I see someone post a completed shawl or toy that they whipped in a few days, I’m like, “…HOW!”
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I’m sharing this because I’m perfectly fine with admitting that I don’t have it all together. And... it’s kinda funny how we let a free photo-sharing app on our phones have so much power over us.
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That’s why it’s so important to remind ourselves of the REAL race we are running. To remind ourselves of WHO we are, and what we are doing on this planet.
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“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1-2)
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If you resonate with this, then YES, we are soul sisters!! Let’s both get our heads right by keeping our eyes on Jesus, and our feet running the race WITH ENDURANCE ✊🏃🏻♀️
