It's a Christmas miracle: Setting moms FREE!

Here we are. The season is upon us. The Big Show. Game-time. All systems go. I'm talking about Christmas. This is the time of year where our mom-game is most on display. We've entered the major league. Everyone can see how on-point your organizational ability is and how dedicated you are. You got five hours of sleep last night? Girl, I got TWO. I was putting the finishing touches on the life-size gingerbread house we made in our front yard for the neighbors to walk through. There aren't enough rolling-eyes emojis in the world to convey what fellow moms can put each other through during the Christmas season. I'm officially calling a time-out. We need to meet at the table for a bit of a powwow. It's time to get some things out there so moms everywhere can breathe a little easier in these final days leading up to D-Day.

1. Create Christmas for your family at YOUR level of gifting

I have friends who can make their home look like a true winter wonderland. Their Christmas trees are ornate and whimsical. The house smells of gingerbread and peppermint. Twinkling lights adorn all the surfaces and, somewhere, the velvety pipes of Michael Buble croon. To be in these type of homes is pure magic. If you're at all like me, you don't actually want to go back to your own house. You want to stay nestled in this cocoon of Christmas bliss. My stockings aren't exactly hung with care. More like tacked to a free space on the wall. All of our holiday cards from loved ones are in a stack on the dining table, quickly getting covered in food grime from little hands. Our tree is wedged into a sad little corner and the only pipes in our home are the ones of irate siblings, ready to take each other out over who found the elf first. (I cannot EVEN get into the elf. Let's all just agree that after this year, we mass-kidnap all the elves and send 'em where the sun don't shine.)

All this to say, some moms enjoy making their home a place of Christmas magic. They're good at it and they relish in the task of decorating. Making my place a cottage of Christmas wonder isn't high on the priority list and, frankly, isn't all that fun for me. Some moms are the killer gift-givers and get a thrill from finding the perfect gift for each loved one. And the mailman. And their hairdresser. And their local barista. Kudos to theses moms. Target gift cards from me! I'm making it rain plastic! All I'm saying is that we each have our own area of gifting when it comes to spreading holiday cheer. We don't have to nail every single aspect of the holidays. Focus on what is actually fun and enjoyable to you and let the rest fall to the wayside. At the end of the day, who is going to call up their BFF and rat you out because you didn't send Christmas cards this year? Not a one, because every mom is too tired to remember who did what by the time it's all said and done. See what I'm getting at? Stay in your own lane and do you. Focus on the part of Christmas you find fun and praise your fellow moms for their giftings.

2. Speaking of Christmas cards...

I love 'em. I think it's so fun to peek into my mailbox every day and find notes of cheer from all corners of the map. I appreciate the time and energy it takes to take the picture, make the cards, address the cards, and stand in purgatory to buy the stamps. Christmas cards. They're a whole thing. But am I going to shoot you a curt text without ANY smiling emojis if I don't receive a card from you this year? Heck-to-the-no, girl. I get it. Life doesn't care if it's time to make Christmas cards. Life is gonna keep on doing life. Kids get sick. Moms work hard. Kids get grouchy. Moms get tired. Kids throw fits. Moms need drinks. If even the thought of making cards sucks the wind out of your sails, give yourself grace and say, "Not this year". I give you full permission.

My favorite way to do Christmas cards has been working for us the past few years. We call my sister-in-law over, with her fancy camera, and she gets a few shots of us in our own front yard. Or even my mom's backyard after Thanksgiving dinner. This year one of my kids had on sweat pants. The other kid didn't even have her hair brushed and I spied chocolate stains on her shirt after the cards were made. We did the pictures during half-time so my husband wouldn't miss any of the Cowboys game because I'm nothing if not a savvy wife. Don't mess with the Cowboys game. Family pictures blow. No one enjoys them. Your hair is inevitably going to riot and you have to have the sweat stains under your arms photo-shopped. Just NO. I refuse to let something like getting a semi-decent picture of the four of us ruin an afternoon. We take pictures the way it is convenient for us. You can make collages of your family's year and bust out all those pictures you've got stored on your phone. You can take pictures in the comfort of your own home...in the living room or kitchen were you and your family do real life. It doesn't have to be such a miserable experience! Or, again, just don't do cards. Use that extra time for wine. You're welcome.

3. Kids aren't on Pinterest

Can I get an AMEN?!? Your children do not know about all the DIY goodies, the tricks, the hacks, the rabbit trail of holiday horrors that are available to us on Pinterest. They have no time for peeking at our pins. So can I say that what they don't know, won't hurt 'em! They don't need to know all the ways the elf can cause mischief in your home. They don't need to see the fifty-six recipes for Christmas cookies you won't bake. (Store-bought sugar cookie dough is life to me, FYI.) I can't say it enough. Stay in your lane and do the things that are fun and meaningful to you. Your kids will be none the wiser. And simple can often win out.

One of my absolute favorite memories is actually a Valentine's one, but I hope you get the point here. When I was a kid, my dad was a preacher and my mom stayed at home. Those particular callings didn't lend themselves to loads of extra cash laying around or fancy holidays. But my mom always made a point to make the big days special. One year, instead of going out for a Valentine's dinner that would've been completely well-deserved, my mom included us kids in the meal. She took a multi-colored heart bed sheet and used it as a table cloth on our dining room table. She lit candles and made an amazing dinner of grilled shrimp and pasta. I still look back with such tenderness for what that old sheet represented. My mom wanted to include her kids. She made us feel loved with the effort she put in to a simple dinner. I have this incredibly sweet memory that I now use as a guide for showing love to my kids on holidays. It's about the intention and my heart for my little crew. Pinterest is certainly helpful and has bailed me out plenty of times when I just don't know what's for dinner. But it is not what I consult when it comes to creating holiday memories and I refuse to feel any kind of angst for all the ideas I won't use. If something as ordinary as a bed sheet can create magic for me, I know I can do the same for my people.

So there you have it. You have been freed from the Christmas to-do's that you just don't like to do. Make Christmas cards. Or don't. I know you've still got love for me and my family. And put down the Pinterest. Show your kids love in your own way. It doesn't have to be manufactured from what other people tell you to do. You know your kids best. Now go! I set you free to sit by your tree and drink that spiked eggnog in peace. If you get any side-eyes from a fellow mom, send her my way. I'll set her straight.