Care to enter to win over $300 before Christmas? CLICK HERE
Today is December the 9th... THE NINTH! Folks, I'm not ready for Christmas. Not by a long shot. Are you? I found myself the other night wishing December was over because of all the stresses... for real? I wished the birth month of Jesus to go quicker? Ugh. Kelly needs to take a chill pill ;)
So, I thought I'd blog about the 12 Stresses of Christmas. Can you relate to any of them?
(There will be one posted each day for the next 12 days :) )
The first stress of Christmas that really gets to me... not having enough Mon-ey...
Image courtesy of ponsulak / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
1. Money Money is my biggest stress around the holidays. I have 3 small kids (7,5, and 2). I want them to have a good Christmas so I, of course, spend too much on them. I don't know why... they would be just as happy with a box than the $200 thing that goes in it (I should be taking advantage of that right now ;) )
Money is a big issues normally anyway. I believe I've read that most marriages end because of fights over money. I can understand that. Even with both of us working (my husband and I), it's hard during Christmas. Wouldn't it be nice if the banks/collection agencies/utilities would let us have December off?
December (and January) has always been a tight month for us. We aren't the best budget-ers (hence why we both work and still have trouble with money... sigh. I applaud all of you who can make it work on one income!). It's enough to make you want the month to hurry up and get over with...
That's not the way to think about this time of the year. Christmas (as all the movies like to tell us) is a magical time. And it is. It's the time when we remember/celebrate Jesus's birthday and let's us remember that he was just a tiny baby-- a baby born to die so we can go to Heaven.
How do you deal with money stress this time of the year? Are you a budget-er or a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants-er? Do you have any great money saving tips for Christmas?
How about talking about the true meaning of Christmas and not the presents? Like someone told me yesterday, God had his son born in a barn-- He didn't go all out and buy him $1000 of Bethlehem's best toys-- and HE was JESUS.
Do you have any stresses for Christmas? List them in comments and see if they make the top 12 list :)
~Kelly
Lord, help us please be diligent, responsible, and careful with our money this holiday season. Not stingy where we don't want to spend any or give to charity, but careful that we only spend what you've given us. In Jesus's name I pray, Amen.