I’m not nearly as stressed out as I should be.

I haven’t baked a single Christmas cookie yet. I haven’t made C’s teachers their gifts yet. I haven’t visited the grocery store to pick up ingredients for the Christmas Eve hosting we’ll be doing. No Christmas cards went out this year. The Nativity set has not even been removed from the storage room. And it looks like at least one Christmas gift (ordered weeks ago, by the way) will not make it here in time.

And, oh yeah, Christmas is in three days.

Normally, I’d be a mess at this point. The perfectionist in me would have taken over. I’d be feeling guilty over all the things that are simply not going to get done, and my stomach would be knotted over all the things that I’m going to really, really, really try to get done in the next couple days.

But for some reason, I’m resigned. At peace, even.

Yes, I’m going to try to get a lot done. I have plans to bake, and a grocery store visit lined up for tonight. This afternoon has “Make Teacher Stuff” written across it in my planner.

But the things that don’t get done? They’re just not going to get done. And I’m okay with that.

I’ve been taking care of a sick preschooler this week, nursing my own illness, and trying to focus on the things that really matter.

Jesus’ Birth.

Love.

Family.

The cookies, the dusting, the cards, even the gifts…they’re nice things, but just not critical.

I don’t know exactly why I’m so okay with the state of things, when normally I would be “not so okay.” Even Chad knows what my typical reaction would be. He started to tell me the other day how I should not get stressed out and worried and uptight about all the things that “should” get done…and I told him that I really wasn’t stressed out — and I meant it.

Whatever the reason, I’m thankful to be feeling this sense of peace in the middle of a crazy season. And I hope you are feeling some of it too.

So it turns out that I actually did jinx myself in that post about white elephant gift exchanges.

The party we attended last Friday was delightful. Good food, laughter…all the essential ingredients for a happy gathering. But the white elephant exchange?

It was rough, my friends.

First of all, the pickings were slim. There were just not a lot of highly-desired items to pursue. Oh wait, there was the candy dish that came with some chocolate. In retrospect, I should have nabbed that prize instead of being “adventurous” and “daring” and choosing to open a still-wrapped gift.

But no. I decided to take a chance, live on the edge, trust my instincts, go for the gold, be a risk-taker.

And do you know what it got me?

Do you have any idea what it got me?

This is what it got me, dear readers:

No, your eyes are not deceiving you. My risk-taking was rewarded with a lovely, hand-painted, ceramic dolphin duo.

I kid you not.

It had some sentimental value for the original owners. They painted it together while lounging around in Cancun on a honeymoon trip. And if I’m honest, I’ll admit that they did a much, much better job than Chad and I would do if we ever decided to co-paint a ceramic item.

(Which I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t. Because the results would be hideous. And we’d have to give the product away at the first available white elephant exchange. Or possibly sooner.)

But despite the sweet backstory and the impressive painting skills, I’m pretty sure it’s not going to score me a fortune on eBay. So it’s sitting on our bookshelf for now. Where I allow it to inspire me to try harder at my next gift exchange.

However, all was not lost. Though I didn’t hit the jackpot in the gift department, I did hit the jackpot in another key area. Here’s the story:

L(4) will be participating in a Christmas program at preschool this Friday. On our first day back from Disney World, I found out that he’s going to be one of the three kings, and that I would need to prepare a “simple costume.”

Only I don’t do costumes. I never touched a sewing machine prior to 2010 and I am most definitely not a creative or crafty type of mom.

Still. It’s for my little boy.

So I decided that I would acquire a pattern, pick up some fabric, and try to sew an excruciatingly simple tunic-type thing, accompanied by a cape-like thing…in some kind of kingly-type colors.

If it came out poorly, Plan B was a draped and pinned sheet or throw.

But then.

Then, at our small group’s Christmas party, I happened to be complaining about discussing this upcoming sewing project, when my friend Linda told me her son had been a king in a Christmas program at the same preschool and that she still had the costume that her aunt had sewn for him and that I could use it for L!

And this is not an excruciatingly simple costume that she’s lending us. I most definitely could not have sewn something like this. It’s very fancy and kinglike and incorporates colors and textures and adornments that would not have occurred to me.

This, my friends — this generosity, this turn of events, this realization that I would not have to attempt to sew a costume this week and most likely end up in tears and consuming far too much chocolate — this is treasure.

I’ll take the gift of a borrowed costume over a white elephant victory any day.

Don’t worry, I didn’t forget! Okay, well perhaps it briefly slipped my mind. But I remembered before the day was done!

The winner of the book, Little Star, is Diana Mack, as determined by the ever-helpful random.org.

Congratulations, Diana!

It’s been years since I participated in a white elephant gift exchange.

Here’s the thing: I‘m really awesome at using these exchanges for my personal benefit. Or perhaps I just have good luck.

I managed to wrangle a much-needed paper-shredder one year. Another time, I scored a brand new panini press that a bachelor had no inclination to use. All this while off-loading ugly pot-holders, old and mostly-broken appliances, and decor items received as gifts that never saw the light of day.

Apparently, I have a knack for white elephant exchanges.

And I probably just jinxed myself.

Chad and I are going to a Christmas party tonight and there will be a white elephant gift exchange. We’re not entirely sure what to expect as we’ve never done an exchange with this group of people. Will there be a hidden treasure that I can cleverly acquire? Or will all the offerings be as undesirable as the items we’re bringing?

There’s no way to know.

And what are we bringing, you ask? Well, I can’t tell you. Because a few members of the group might happen upon this blog post before the party tonight.

I will tell you some of the items we decided not to take, though: a bent and useless bicycle wheel; a Play-doh ice cream set that L loves but that I hate because it is a bear to clean; a collection of single socks that have lost their mates; a boardgame that nobody has heard of and that is incredibly boring.

No, all those things will stay at our house until some undisclosed future date.

The items we’re taking tonight are actually usable, but they’ve outlived their usefulness at our house. In the right hands, however, I’m pretty sure they could be treasures.

We’ll see if I find a treasure in return.

So. We left for Disney World the Monday after Thanksgiving and we got back home this past Sunday.

I am just now getting around to blogging. And it’s Wednesday.

I’ve learned that it takes me three full days to unpack, do laundry, fold laundry, put laundry away, restore suitcases to their storage locations, figure out what do with souvenirs, and attempt to re-acclimate to real life after a one-week vacation.

And oh, by the way, Christmas is only 2.5 weeks away.

When planning our trip to Disney World, I took only a few things into consideration:

• Impact on kids’ school — particularly C and his homework.
• Crowd levels at Disney World.

Originally, we were going to go over Christmas vacation, making schoolwork a non-issue. But then some friends told me that we would spend our entire vacation standing in line, and well, that didn’t sound like any fun. So I had to get more creative.

I read that the week after Thanksgiving week usually sees a significant drop in Disney crowds. That sounded good. And then I realized that C could spend all of Thanksgiving break doing his homework ahead of time, and then just skip school for a week to enjoy sunshine, rides, and relaxation.  He thought it sounded like a good plan, I thought it sounded like a good plan…and so we went with it.

[I know some people think taking your kid out of school for a week to go on vacation is a bad idea. I'm sometimes one of those people. But sometimes I'm not. And since I ran the plan by C's teachers and they didn't have a problem with it, and since we do not make a habit of skipping weeks of school, I figured it would be worth it and not a horrible thing.]

Our trip was wonderful. I may blog more about it in future posts, and if you have any questions about planning or executing a Disney World vacation, please feel free to ask and I’ll do my best to answer (even though I’m certainly not an expert).

L loved meeting all the characters, especially Mickey.

C liked the different attractions at the parks — the rides, the countries in Epcot, etc.

And Chad and I had lots of fun ourselves, while also enjoying the happiness our kids were experiencing.

:::

But one thing I didn’t really think about when planning our trip was how I would feel when we returned home with less than three weeks until Christmas.

The answer, I think, is “overwhelmed.”

There are parties to attend; gifts to purchase; gifts to wrap; a house to decorate; baked goods to, er, bake; school programs to attend; family members to host; and a whole lot of miscellaneous things to accomplish in the next couple weeks.

Frankly, I don’t see it all happening. But I’ve decided I’ll do what I can and let the rest go. I might not do tons of baking this year. We might not be sending out Christmas cards (just this one time). But I’m determined to not stress about it.

If I feel the stress creeping up, I’ll just turn up the volume of the Christmas music, or retreat to my bedroom to read today’s reading in Immanuel.