While there’s a lot of love involved, it undoubtedly takes a lot of hard work to create Christmas magic. This is what you signed up for when being a parent. Often the majority of this responsibility lands on Mums’ shoulders. I’m not saying that Dads don’t do any of the Christmas work, but with many families much of it is done by Mum.
The thinking about what to buy.
Researching the cheapest place to buy it.
Saving money and budgeting to afford all the purchases.
Racing around the shops, or ordering online and then worrying about it not arriving in time.
Helping Father Christmas find the present your child told him they wanted, and then finding out a day before Christmas that they changed their mind and want something else! (Do you know how hard it is to find a Pokémon onesie Christmas Eve?!)
Making sure to buy the ‘special Christmas wrap’, different from the others, that needs to be hidden away so no young eyes see it until Christmas morning.
Also buying gifts for teachers, sports coaches (including group presents involving collecting money from a whole team), Kris Kringle for workmates, staff, neighbours, in-laws, family you see once a year, etc.
Some Mums also buy their own gifts so that they have something to unwrap Christmas morning that they want.
All of this while working, going to a million end of year school events, concerts, award nights, Christmas parties and catch ups etc etc.
This year I enlisted the services of a very helpful elf to run around and buy some of the things on the Christmas list. Ok, so the elf is my 18 year old who can drive. It is the best thing ever when finally your offspring becomes a giver instead of just a receiver at Christmas time. While I was at work during the week she ran around town to find many of the presents we still had on the list and shared the load of finding the perfect gift for each person. At the end of the week she said to me earnestly, “Mum, how did you do it? Seriously, how did you do all of it on your own?
The day has finally come.
She suddenly had the realisation of the sheer amount of work and thought that goes into making Christmas merry and bright. An awareness now of the huge physical and mental load of bringing joy to others. Don’t get me wrong, a whole lot of love pours into making Christmas special, and we choose to do all the work. But it is exhausting. No doubt about it. So I’m here to remind you that one day, all your efforts will be appreciated as you start to hand over the reigns. One day your children will take on the role of joy making. They will understand the enormous effort involved. Another generation will keep the Christmas magic going. Until then, at least take comfort in knowing that we’re all in it together, us Mums and Dads. There is no greater joy than making magic happen.
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