When you have kids, you start having to put a lot of things on the back burner. Events you otherwise would have gone to get skipped over, and you're likely not going to have as much free time as you once did. This is all expected, but what happens when this starts to get in the way of traditions or experiences you hold very dear?
When the business of life and family got in the way of one mom's holiday plans, she decided to still make it happen in a more unconventional way.
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Anyone who's ever had a hand in planning holiday get-togethers knows how stressful it can be. Between decorating, organizing, and delegating tasks or meals, it becomes very overwhelming very fast! Even having one of these elements put in someone else's hands can lift a lot of weight off the host's shoulders.
However, when someone actually does this, people have some interesting opinions about the matter. No one knows this better than one mom in Australia who was the subject of a rather controversial holiday decor decision.
Krystan is a 31-year-old single mother of four children between the ages of 10 months and 9 years old (and she's pregnant with her fifth). She loves the holiday season, and so do her kids, but it can be extremely difficult to balance, given that she's raising this family on her own.
In the past, she's always decorated the tree with her children. As she said in an interview with Kidspot, "I decorate our tree with the kids every year and love to get it up early because it's been a rough few years for everyone, and once the excitement of Christmas starts in the house, it gives you something to look forward to."
This year was a bit different, though. It's been a notably tough year for her and her family, meaning she was already struggling when it came time to decorate.
While browsing social media, namely a Facebook group titled Christmas Mums Australia, Krystan saw a photo of a tree posted and decorated by another mom in her area named Tamara.
"I saw a picture of her tree and thought, 'Wow, that's incredible, I would love to have something like that,’" Krystan explained.
So, she took a pragmatic approach. She reached out to Tamara and asked her a question. "I said, 'How would you feel if I paid you to go shopping for ornaments and decorate my tree?'"
Tamara agreed, much to Krystan's relief. "As soon as I knew she would take care of everything from the shopping to decorating, it was a massive relief," she explained. “I said to her, 'You just do what you think will look good.'"
She then gave Tamara a budget of $300 AUD (roughly $200 USD) and let her go to town. The final cost, including the ornaments, lights, other decorations like tinsel, and Tamara's labor, was about $600 AUD ($400 USD).
And Krystan was thrilled with the results. "It looks so beautiful. I would haven't done anywhere near as good a job as she did."
"Seeing the kids' reaction when it was all set up was amazing. I was worried about them being upset that they didn’t get to do it, but my nine-year-old said it looked so good that he didn’t even want to re-do it."
"She used things I never would have thought of, and that's what’s really made the tree what it is."
Krystan is already thinking ahead to next Christmas, too, as she might invite Tamara back to decorate yet again. "I might go for another theme and have Tamara come and do it again and go through the same process with me not knowing what it will be like," she teased. "It's a really nice surprise for me and the kids.”
As for the cost, she believed it was well worth it. "You can't put a cost on it because the tree has become so special to us already."
Thankfully, there's help, and it's very easy to start. If you're struggling with self-conscious beliefs, this audio program will teach you tricks that will make you more confident and charismatic from the first listen. Click here to learn more today and unlock your brain's potential.
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