When Did I Become a Holiday Hypocrite?

Holiday Hypocrite

This all started on my birthday, back in August. Every year I ask for the same cake (original-style DQ ice cream cake), and almost every year I don’t get it, and I get little upset (“little” is subjective!). This year my birthday happened to fall on Meet-the-Teacher night, which means that it was well after 8:00 P.M. when I had a little tantrum about the cake. This led to a discussion about the disappointment that comes during every gift-giving holiday, when the gifts don’t live up to the expectations.

My husband pointed out that Christmas was the worst—and I don’t mean for the kids. We have so many expectations about making the day perfect and full of memories that it ends up being more stressful than joyful. So, we had a serious discussion about how to omit expectations so that we can all just enjoy the day. I should be clear here: this was about my husband and me. Our kids are great at Christmas. We give them each three gifts, and they’ve never once been anything but super excited. That being said, my husband and I decided that we will try a gift-free Christmas this year. We are going to find something fun to do—an experience—that will make the day fun for everyone.

We explained this idea to our children, and they were not impressed. There was some weeping and wailing, but in the end, they ended up coming around. In fact, they’ve been telling their friends how Christmas this year is going to be about adventure and not presents (we still haven’t figured out the adventure, but I am looking forward to not buying the presents).

Then it happened. Last week was the first holiday shopping event of the season. It was the Junior League of San Antonio’s Holiday Olé Market. I go every year, and this year was no different…except that I had no gifts to buy. How great to go without worrying about blowing my budget—except I still saw a lot of stuff that I wanted to buy…for myself! Apparently I’m fine with not buying gifts for my husband and kids, but I have a problem with not buying gifts for myself! Everything I saw, I wanted to buy, and I ended up buying quite a bit of it! I have no excuse; I’m just a bad mom that way. I want my kids to appreciate that holidays aren’t about the stuff, and I want my husband to be able to truly enjoy a holiday without the pressure of buying me the perfect present, but I still want to enjoy the perfect present!

Now that I’m actually writing this all out, I realize how pathetic I seem, but that’s the nature of the hypocrite. Maybe there’s a self-help group out there for me, but until I find it, you’ll find me at the Olé Market picking out gifts for myself!

Sarah
Sarah is originally from the east coast of Canada and moved to San Antonio from Salt Lake City 6 years ago for her husband’s job. They have 6 children: Samuel (9), William (7), Benjamin (5), Afton Rose (4), Charles (2), and a baby girl that was born on July 1st. She’s a busy stay at home mom, and she loves her job! She loves entertaining and cooking and spending time with friends and family. She’s also come to fully embrace the family road trip! You can read more about Sarah and her family over at Frankly Entertaining.

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