To say life has been overwhelming as of late is a huge understatement.

Being an elementary school teacher is really busy at this time of year. There are parent teacher conferences to schedule, prep for, and implement. Report cards are due. And then there’s the big task…managing holiday excitement while also ensuring student learning.

My husband’s advice for the holiday craze? “You should turn on a movie!” Although my students would love it, that is not happening.

I do understand their excitement, however. There’s something about the promise of the holidays that brings me back to the anticipation I felt as a kid. I loved the lights, the presents, the stockings, the baking…all of it. In the short time I agreed to take piano lessons when I was little, I learned exactly three songs, all Christmas carols. I helped wrap presents, wrote letters to Santa and counted down the days until I could watch the claymation Christmas movies. Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town was my favorite.

Sadly though, as an adult I find it’s a bit more difficult to get into the Christmas spirit when the to-do list seems to stretch on…and on…and on…

The week before Thanksgiving, I had 29 conferences. That was a record for me. I was completely wiped out the day I walked out of school for the long weekend. On the plus side though, I had 100% attendance in conferences and a lot of really great conversations. Another positive is that when you teach at a school for several years, you occasionally get to teach multiple children in a family, so these conferences are also fun because you’re sharing information about your current student, while also learning what their older siblings, your former students, are up to.

Despite the amazing conversations, I was completely emotional, overwhelmed and exhausted as I left the school parking lot. I drove home, took the dogs for a walk, locked myself in my bedroom and turned on one of my 5-star Christmas movies, Love Actually. Within 20 minutes, I was no longer on the verge of an emotional breakdown.

That’s the thing about Christmas movies, I’ve found. It’s the reason the Hallmark Channel produces movie after movie, with a very similar plot line I might add, of holiday magic. The lights, the decorations, the character who gives up the dream job to return to their hometown and rediscovers the magic they’d long forgotten. It’s the reason why I watch the same beloved Christmas movies year after year. They remind me that the to-do list will never end, but the holiday magic is all around, if I slow down enough to embrace it.