Humans are social creatures and it is in our nature to want to be surrounded by friends and family. That desire gets somewhat transformed into a must around the holidays, where the relatives we barely see throughout the year become on top of our list for visits. We also open our homes for family close and extended to pass by and wish us their warm greetings and it is a wonderful exchange of delights and reminds us how this season truly brings people together.
When you are a mother however, the dream of welcoming people into a perfectly decorated home of red, green and white, reindeers and Santa, delicate tree ornaments and table runners is just that, a dream. It is traded for reality, the always existing hurricane of toys mixed with clothes mixed with school items. In this case most mothers will do one of two things, spend the days leading up to the holidays and the days in between them organizing, cleaning and arranging, or leave everything as it is and choose not to have anyone over, constantly making up excuses to avoid the truth.
I am here today to add a third solution to this dilemma:
Leave things as they are and open your home for guests.
We already spend our adult life wondering if we are good parents, if we are good homemakers, and we worry that if someone walks in our house and sees the mess our kids have made they will judge us for being horrible mothers.
But this ends now, why you ask?
1. We can’t continue to live just to impress others, and no matter what we do people will judge anyway. Even if you have the cleanest home with everything in its place, someone will always be waiting around the corner to criticize some other “lack” they find.
2. A messy home is a sign of happy children. Think about it, would kids enjoy their time in a very proper household where they aren’t allowed to play and create, or if they are worried about putting back all their toys at once?
This Christmas and New Year open your door with a warm smile and confidence, ignore comments that might hurt you and if you feel that you worked up the courage to answer back, do so with pride knowing that your house is a loving home for your children where they get to express their creativity and imagination using their toys and games, crafts and paints. Assure yourself and others that this is how you want your space to be, save your sanity and your effort by having people accept you as you are!
Maria Najem
Photo: radionursery.com
