6 Stressful Christmas Traditions Your Family Can Stop Doing This Year

The last three years of the pandemic made parents realize one essential thing - the difference between what matters and what doesn't.

Pandemic parenting has taught parents that family, work-life balance, and most of the time, coffee, are what really matters, and what does not are those small and simple things that become complicated as they are considered big deals.

Using the pandemic parenting approach this holiday season, it is the best time to re-evaluate some of the Christmas traditions that have given the family, especially the parents, a lot of stress.

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Natalie Stechyson of Today's Parent is encouraging parents who have started dreading and resenting the holiday season due to overwhelming work to have the courage to cut off and be free from all these Christmas traditions that, in the long run, do not matter, except if these traditions make the entire family happy.

1. Decorating as early as November.

Stechyson can vividly recall how in the "glory days of '80s parenting," they only get to decorate the Christmas tree on Christmas eve. Most importantly, she does not remember suffering for decorating it that late. Thus, she reminds parents not to be pressured into putting up the tree immediately after all the Halloween decorations have been stored away just so they would not be labeled as "Officially Failed As A 2020s Parent Whose Sole Job Is To Provide Constant Joy." There is no competition here.

2. Photoshoot of the family with matching pajamas.

Parents need to stop doing it "for the Gram" - racing other parents online to nab that pajama set with Christmas prints and forcing the entire family to have a photo shoot at the Christmas tree on Christmas eve. Think about this first before purchasing another set of pajamas - will it really be worth it?

3. Sending out family Christmas cards.

Sending out Christmas cards is a beautiful, time-old tradition. However, booking mini Christmas photo sessions months in advance, spending too much on the family's festive outfit, and then ordering and creating hundreds of personalized Christmas cards that will add up to the total cost is not worth it. A simple Christmas card will do.

"Why do we do this to ourselves? Who made family photo cards mandatory? I love every photo card I receive from friends and family. But if you decide not to bother this year, I will not judge you. I will applaud you," Stechyson exclaimed.

4. Creating keepsake gifts.

Parents need not make keepsake gifts for others just because they now have kids. But if they want to, the gifts do not need to be "complex to be meaningful."

5. Elf on the Shelf schemes.

Instead of stressing out creating elaborate elf schemes for 24 days, Stechyson suggests moving the elf around. She noted that the forefathers intended to move the elf from place to place.

She reminds parents to "not set the bar high." However, if they want to do more, she recommends stocking up on cheap dollar-store goodies and letting the elf surprise the kids with Santa stickers and crappy stuffies.

6. The traditional dinner.

Stechyson would not deny that this last one is "really a break from tradition." However, she asks the parents who exactly is asking them to cook a whole turkey dinner from scratch every year. Go ahead and think about it, and one will realize that no one is asking or demanding it.

This year, if parents are done with all the cooking and preparation, if they would rather spend Christmas Day relaxing with the entire family, exchanging gifts or sipping hot chocolate while "A Christmas Story" is on the TV, then they should permit themselves to do exactly what they want.

Parents can do away with the traditional dinner, which consumes time and money altogether. A simple dinner, whether with home-cooked turkey or take-outs, is going to be awesome if it means less stress and more core memories created. Because at the end of the day, that is the point of the holiday season, celebrating with the family and giving each other beautiful and fun memories they would always hold in their hearts as Christmas gifts.

Ultimately, there is nothing wrong with having Christmas traditions. They can make the holiday season special and memorable. However, when these traditions and expectations already feel like a burden to the parents, there is no point in doing them. Do not do it if it is just one more thing that needs to get done, Ruth Soukup of Living Well Spending Well emphasized.

Soukup also shared 4 traditions worth keeping:

Bringing cookies to Christmas Eve's first responders.
Unwrapping and playing new family games with everyone.
Dutch Babies on Christmas morning.
Home Alone is playing on the TV, and then all other Christmas movies.