To Do List

A friend of mine on the Cleveland Mommies site that I'm apart of (and you should be too or find your  local site with The Mommies Network) posted this the other day and I instantly fell in love with it. It's an article by Steph Fink

I am a “To Do” list-making lunatic. I’m not kidding. I’ve been known to make lists of the lists that I’ve wanted to write up. While my list-making “skill set” proved valuable to my family when we moved last year, it has been equally unhelpful in distracting me from the real meaning of Christmas. If not on guard, I can checklist the holidays like it's a race to "get through" Or, I can intentionally celebrate Christmas as God intended. So with an honest heart, I drafted an entirely new list, the “To Don’t List”.

-Facebook my friend - call instead!
-Wrap a gift with a rushed-negative heart!
-Eat a Christmas cookie alone, they're always sweeter with a friend!
-Fret over the Christmas letter, family picture and change of address cards. This year I made a joint Christmas greeting/change of address postcard.
-Be rude to the people that are in the Christmas postcard picture while addressing them to go out!
-Allow the person that stole my parking spot (the blinker told you it was mine!) to steal my joy. No, I'll confuse em'...I'll smile and wave like we're old friends (cause we would be if you’d stop stealing my spot!).
-Buy anything that I don't have enough money to.
-Forget the best present ever! No, not the Atari, Cabbage Patch Kid, leg warmers or my Kodak disc camera when I was a child. Jesus! Jesus’ birth, the life that gave me new life, hope and freedom to love the person who stole my parking spot!

This Christmas season, will you draft a new list…a “To Don’t” list, so your “To Do” lists don’t cram out the real reason for the season?

How amazing and TRUE is that article? Like Steph, I make a daily "To Do" list that hangs on the fridge where I see it a million times a day. It can be simple tasks, like remembering to put something in the mailbox, or get Christmas cards done. (which are still sitting in an unopened box). I'm going to do a "To Don't" list today and get it up with my other list.

So whats one thing on your "To Don't" list?

For me it would probably have to be, To Don't think about every little thing that would make this Christmas perfect, but to enjoy every moment with everyone around me. This Christmas is very special for me, Neacel is 3 and is old enough to start learning and understanding the true meaning. I love watching the boys as they get older, but I need to remember to stop and smell the air instead of stressing through it all.