As I am starting to feel some mild stress at the fact that I have visited multiple stores looking for a particular gift, and will be doing the same today (in cold, blowing-snow Michigan weather), I am starting to feel my Christmas Spirit wane. I have to say, I have been feeling particularly wonderful this holiday season, much better than recent years past. And now it is getting to me.

Yes, I do truly understand the reason we celebrate Christmas, and there will be even more emphasis on it this year for my girls. I don’t want them to ever lose sight of the reason we have this holiday. Dessert for Christmas dinner this year? A birthday cake and ice cream for Jesus. I can take them to church three times a week and tell them the story of Christmas over and over, but if it isn’t sinking in, it isn’t sinking in. I think this will help them.

So do I give up looking for this one gift? No. I want to get this gift because this person will enjoy and appreciate it, nothing more, nothing less.

So I feel today is the day I finish all of my Christmas shopping, so I can enjoy the rest of the Christmas season for the reasons I am supposed to, and not be focused on something else.

Do you have a particular thing that stresses you out at Christmas? How do you deal with it?