Once upon a time our family used to run from holiday event to holiday event.

We had to see the lights downtown. Uptown. Out of town.

We had to have cocoa with Santa, Rudolph and the Grinch, all at different venues and times. Then, some local brainiac decided this would be a fabulous time of year for a tea party with Elsa. Grrrrr.

There was ice skating here, cookie making there and ornament creating everywhere.

By the end of it all, I was ready to be done. Christmas had become a time of exhaustion, not joy.

And I knew I wasn't alone when my friend posted on his over-zealous for the holiday wife's Facebook page this sentiment: "Not to be a grinch, but I really hate Christmas. All it is, is work."

Yes.

Double and triple, yes.

So, we decided this year, to dial back Christmas. And it has been joyous.

We waited until the second week, my goodness, I know, the SECOND week of December, to get a Christmas tree. It took us three days to get it fully decorated.

I haven't made a single Christmas cookie yet. I know, I am killing some of you. Instead, we have made three kinds of, may I say, absolutely hilarious, Star Wars themed cookies.

And it was fun. They weren't perfect. Some of them looked kind of gross, but I wasn't worried about having so many dozen, for so many bags, to go to so many people. We just baked. 

We'll make some homemade ornaments, next week, when we get around to it. If we get around to it.

And the Christmas cards, they've been purchased, I have the stamps, but no one's world will collapse if our card arrives on December 26 or, dare I say it, January 1. In fact, we bought cards that say, "Happy  New Year" instead of "Merry Christmas" to allow for some wiggle room.

We stopped stressing over Christmas. We stopped worrying about Christmas.

And, it still came.

Our kids are excited. Our house is warm and cozy and joyful. We've had just as much fun and made just as many memories this year attending two events as opposed to years previous when we were out every single night.

And most importantly, none of us are ready for it to be over.

Relax. Enjoy your holiday. It makes it so much sweeter.