Goodbye, Christmas guilt!

Why is the one season that is supposed to be about joy such a breeding ground for guilt?

Christmas guilt can be found everywhere in the days leading up to Dec. 25. Guilt that we buy into commercialism. Guilt that we don’t pass on family traditions. Guilt that we don’t spend enough time finding the “true meaning” of Christmas, or that we spent more on our own children than we gave to charity. Guilt that we didn’t sew a stocking from scratch while stirring toffee and wrapping presents with recycled paper.

And now, I’m feeling guilty for — you guessed it— feeling guilty.

So with the Big Day only three days away, I’m ditching the guilt. So I didn’t do everything I had hoped this year with my children. Maybe we didn’t have nightly spiritual devotionals or make our traditional family cookies for friends.

I did my best. In these final few days, I just want to bring back the joy of the season by actually enjoying it.

With that in mind, I’ve already started smiling more at the people in traffic who give me the holiday stink eye, and I gave the man at the locksmith store a perhaps overly joyful hug when he found the perfect size key for the jewelry box I am giving my daughter for Christmas. I even found myself singing “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” very loudly to my daughter as we shopped for last-minute stocking stuffers at Walmart. People stared. I sang louder.

I can feel the joy already.

Here’s hoping you and your loved ones enjoy the season to its fullest. Merry Christmas.

Erin Stewart is a regular blogger for Deseret News. From stretch marks to the latest news for moms, Stewart discusses it all while her 4-year-old daughter crams Mr. Potato Head pieces in her little sister’s nose.