A parents’ guide to braving the holidays

Christmas is an exhausting time for everyone, but there should be a cash reward for people who get through the holidays with babies and young children.

Don’t get me wrong — it’s really fun to read Christmas stories, set out milk and cookies for Santa, and open gifts with little kids on Christmas morning. It’s just all of the parts in between that can make you want to curl up in a ball until January.

The visiting, partying, and travelling gets in the way of naptime and delays bedtime, and a child’s carefully-constructed routine gets buried under heaps of wrapping paper, secret juice-boxes, and chocolate wrappers.

Here are a few things to keep in mind over the next week …

Thou Shalt Grudgingly Accept a Few Days of Sleeplessness:

Sleep is rough right now, even though we all need it more than ever. There’s an abundance of sugar (energy bombs), chocolate (kiddie espressos), grandparents (enablers), presents (packaged adrenaline), and special get-togethers (nap crushers). Top it off with the fact that you may be sleeping in close quarters at a grandparents’ house, and you’ve got a recipe for tears (yours).

We’re still talking about Christmas Eve of 2012, when our daughter kept us up all night long, until my sister and I eventually got about two hours’ sleep sprawled on the living room carpet. “It can’t be like THAT Christmas! We can’t go through that again!” we keep saying to each other. But, of course, it might be. You just never know with little kids, and that’s what makes them so frustrating … uh, delightful?

Thou Shalt Not Get Your Children Everything Under the Sun:

It’s true that, at two and four, my kids are too young to really “get” TV commercials or understand that the WishBook contains pages of potential gifts. The rule in our house is that you can ask Santa for one item, and it can’t be anything huge (read: expensive) because he is bringing toys to kids all over the world.

The rest of their gifts come from me and my husband, and we follow this mantra: “Something you want, something you need, something to play with, something to read, and a new pair of jammies for Christmas Eve.” One gift from Santa, three gifts from us, one book, one pair of jammies, DONE.

Of course, sometimes their “play with” gift is an expensive toy (we basically own a portion of the Playmobil corporation), so then the remaining gifts (“want” and “need”) are smaller items, like art supplies and clothes. When they’re teenagers, I imagine the “want” will be a space-age motion-activated phone or something, but we’ll still stick to our gift system. Everyone loves to get a toy at Christmas, even sulky teenagers who think they are too cool.

Thou Shalt Be Merry:

Yes, it’s a chaotic time of year, with people to visit, meals and appetizers to prepare, and gifts to buy, wrap, and deliver. But it’s also a really amazing, magical time of year, and it’s over far too quickly.

When you’re dealing with those over-sugared, over-stimulated, overtired kids, keep reminding yourself that it’s only for a few days. During the first week of January, when everything’s back to normal, you’ll miss those Christmas-y days when everyone got sugared up, stayed up too late, and laughed like they were going to burst with excitement. Take time to be joyful together.

 Heather Clarke is a freelance journalist who married her high-school sweetheart and spends her days chasing her spirited four-year-old son (Dexter) and feisty two-year-old daughter (Charlotte). She dances to the 1984 Mini-Pops Christmas album every year. Follow their adventures at: www.LaptopstoLullabies.com.