It's December and homeschoolers are busily working toward January, the halfway mark of the school year. It's also the holiday season and it seems we are being pulled in a dozen directions at once. There are cards to write and mail, gifts to buy, lights to hang, cookies to bake and family members to see. As usual, so much to do and so little time.

Knowing that this would be a hectic (translation: stressful) month, I decided early on that I would lighten up on the academics. No, I'm not going to skip math or put science on the back burner. I'm just not going to worry about it if my daughter only reads 5 pages a day as opposed to 9 in her science textbook. I'm not going to worry about whether we are covering enough ground in Algebra or about preparing for the PSAT tests that don't even happen until next fall. No, the holidays only come once a year. I'm going to relax just a bit or slack if you see it as that.

Tis the season to just enjoy your children. Instead of punching the clock and running to and fro to every lesson we have, we're going to spend some time just enjoying the season. We've already put up the window decorations and the Snowmen collection that has grown so explosively over the last few years. So now we're going to sit back on a cold afternoon, sip some hot chocolate and just admire the lights.

We're going to curl up on the sofas with our holiday throws, nibble some gingerbread (that we made ourselves) and talk about Christmases past. I'm planning a "card writing" night as I write this. What is a card writing night? It's when we pull out the boxed Christmas cards and some pretty felt pens and we all pitch in and write Christmas cards. With over 40 people on my list, my son, daughter and myself get a fair share of cards to write. And with three of us writing, we can take our time to add personal notes and even pictures in the cards. It's the only time of the year we have the opportunity to catch up with loved ones and friends that we may not hear from otherwise.

I also love to pull out the old family albums. We have at least six of them, all dating back to when my children were born. Another great opportunity to sip some hot chocolate and reminisce. Some of our favorites happen to be pictures of them opening gifts when they were as little as two years old.

Another great way to spend some holiday time is to hit the kitchen. I clipped several new cookie recipes from magazines over the last month and we're ready to try them. We'll spend an afternoon baking enough cookies to share with family and neighbors as well. If cookies seem a bit boring, putting together your own gingerbread house is another creative way to celebrate the season. Of course the icing on the "cake" is the CD of our favorite holiday songs playing in the background.

Though I don't like to spend time advocating watching television, this is one time of the year where we actually mark certain movies and shows down on the calendar. One of my all time favorite ways of getting in the holiday spirit is to watch the animated Christmas shows that I watched as a child with my children. Nothing is more blissful than watching the look on my daughter's face, even if it's the same show year after year, as she watches Rudolph, Frosty and the other magical characters from Christmases past.

Last but not least, if you want to spend some time just enjoying your children take a look at your local newspaper's events section. This is a great time to find holiday parades, tours of decorated homes and holiday plays that are free to enjoy.

So as you open up those books each day during this festive holiday season, don't forget to kick back a little and enjoy the lights...not only the lights that hang from the housetops and trees but the lights of excitement in the eyes of your children.

Happy holidays and may God bless you as you continue your journey of home educating your child!!

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Families Online Radio Listen to an Interview with columnist Christina Lorenzen about Homeschooling

Christina Lorenzen is a full-time freelance writer specializing in parenting and health issues. With more than 125 articles published, she also offers her wisdom and experience to other writers by teaching writing workshops through local libraries, bookstores and online. In addition to this column, she is also a columnist for Connecting @ Home magazine. She can reached at carp119@aol.com