There are 10 days left until Christmas Eve. It’s time to set aside that list of 100 Pinterest ideas for the “best Christmas ever” and face reality. Having the best Christmas ever means being present. It doesn’t mean Mom (okay, I’m being a bit sexist here but based on my social media feeds, the majority – a HUGE majority – of the work seems to fall to Mom) running herself ragged. These simple hacks to make Christmas easier will keep the holidays festive while giving Mom time to actually enjoy them.
Simple Hacks to Make Christmas Easier
Simplify. I’ll say it again. Simplify.
Take some shortcuts. Bigger and better isn’t what Christmas is all about. For my family, Christmas is all about celebrating Jesus’ birthday and spending family time together. What is most important to you? Put your energy there and eliminate the rest. Pull out that long, long list of holiday To Do’s and start deleting things from it.
Get your groceries delivered with a service like Instacart. Make a list and order online. Let someone else do the work of shopping and delivering it to you. Have your family on hand for when it’s delivered and enlist their help to put it all away.
Or take it another step and forget the groceries. Order your side dishes or even entire meals from local restaurants or services like Supperworks. With Supperworks, you can go and assemble your meals or have them do it for you. They even offer delivery now!
Order baked goods from a local bakery. You can still make up those holiday treat trays. Or if you want to have the fun of baking cookies together, buy pre-made cookie dough. They have it in every grocery store or be on the lookout for fundraisers where they sell buckets of cookie dough to keep in your freezer.
Order gifts online. Amazon Prime is my best friend. Walmart and other stores also offer online shopping and most have free shipping with a minimum order.
Pick and choose the shortcuts that work for you!
Forget gift wrapping. Use gift bags. Wrapping takes just a few minutes and you can reuse the bags year after year.
Use paper plates. Buy some with Christmas designs on them and it feels festive instead of cheap.
If you’re having a Christmas party or attending any potlucks, order some charcuterie trays from your local grocery store. Stop trying to go overboard by making some elaborate appetizers when you don’t have the time.
Hire a housekeeper. You don’t have to get them to come in on an ongoing basis but a one-time cleaning can take the pre-Christmas cleanup off your plate and leave you time for other things.
Plan a make-ahead breakfast for Christmas Day. There are so many out there to choose from, whether you want one that’s more quiche-like such as this breakfast strata or a French toast bake or even this Eggs Benedict casserole.
If there’s one thing that being in a serious car accident taught me, it’s that we over-complicate our lives.
Don’t get me wrong – if you LOVE and want to make time for holiday baking, do it! But women especially tend to feel responsible for making every little moment of Christmas magical by doing all the work themselves. The magic isn’t in the every single minute detail. It is in the joy of sharing the holiday together.
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