What Do You Want to Remember About Christmas 2022?

As Christmas is almost here, I can’t help but feel nostalgic about Christmases past and hopeful about what my kids will remember about their childhood Christmases with us.  It’s easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of this season (or really all year round), but I encourage you to take a beat and think about what you want this season of life to look like.

What do you want to remember about the holiday season of 2022? Next year as November is coming up, will you pause and look back on the holidays of 2022? What will you remember? Stress? Illness? Joy? Fun? Fatigue? Spending too much money? Perhaps next year is too soon- it’s still too close to really reflect. Let’s go 5 years in the future. How old will your kids be in 5 years? Notice I did NOT ask how old you’ll be in 5 years. That’s because we are aging like a fine wine, right? Anyway, 5 years from now- what do you think you’ll remember about this Christmas of 2022? Stress? Illness? Joy? Fun? Fatigue? Spending too much money? With the rose-colored glasses of distance helping you out, what parts of the holiday season will remain in your memory?

What about for your children? As they get older, what traditions will they cling to each holiday season? What will the ask to keep doing long after you think they’re probably too old for it? Will they choose to spend time with family as they become teens and young adults? Will they remember their Christmases fondly from childhood? 

It is a busy time of year, but we can take a moment to reflect on how we are spending time with our kids over the holidays. We can be intentional with what we do to ensure meaningful memories are made.

The good news is that we have time still to choose what we want the next few weeks to look like. We get to choose what kinds of memories we are making as a family.

What do you want this season to be about for your family? Think about it for a minute. Talk to your spouse or partner about it. Do you have the same ideals? If not- talk about them.

The holidays can be busy, stressful, grief-filled, and any other difficult combination of emotions. But the thing you DO have control over is HOW you choose to spend your time as a family. So choose what is important to your family this holiday season. Be intentional about it. And when you slip off track, that’s okay. You can try again tomorrow to reset those intentions and get back to making the memories you choose to make this season.

And more good news- we are all in for being more intentional parents in 2023. Stay tuned for more on that after Christmas!