Preparing Our Hearts for the Holidays: Peace Over Pressure

This post is part of our ongoing Faith & Preparedness Series at Sunshine Preppers. If you missed the earlier posts, you can read them here:

•  The Self-Reliance Trap — My Journey from Fear to Faith in Preparedness
•  Prepared, Not Fearful: Prepping as an Act of Faith

As we head into the holiday season, I’ve been thinking about how the holidays have looked across the years of my life.

There were seasons when everything felt joyful and bright, with plenty of energy, a full calendar, and the sense that more was better.

There were other years when the holidays were something to endure, not celebrate, especially when loss or difficult memories were close at hand.

And then there were the busy years. When our son first came home at five years old, full of life, movement, curiosity, and emotion, we wanted everything to feel special and secure for him.

We were also balancing two sides of the family, both several hours away, and it felt like we were constantly packing and unpacking, driving and turning around to drive somewhere else.

In those years, I believed that a “good” holiday meant remembering everyone with a physical gift, sending Christmas cards to every person who had ever been meaningful to us (does anyone even do that anymore?), baking something homemade, and making sure everything looked and felt “just right.”

Looking back, I can see that so much of that effort came from a loving place, but it was also fueled by pressure I didn’t recognize at the time. I was trying so hard to create meaning that I sometimes missed the quiet moments where meaning naturally settles on its own.

“My peace I give to you. I do not give as the world gives.” John 14:27

The world teaches us to approach the holidays with fullness, noise, and performance.

But the peace that God gives is quieter, steadier, and much less concerned with appearances. It isn’t found in how much we do, how much we buy, or how well we manage to keep everyone happy.

It’s found in how we show up inside of it all.

When we talk about preparedness, we often think about our homes, our supplies, our plans, and our practical readiness for the unexpected.

But there’s a preparedness of the heart that matters just as much. When our minds and spirits are steadier, the holidays feel different. Decisions feel clearer. There’s less rushing and grasping and more patience.

And there is room to breathe.

I used to think love showed itself in effort — in how many gifts I bought, how many cards I sent, how well the house was decorated, how seamless and graceful the gathering appeared to others.

But love isn’t measured in how much we accomplish or how lovely everything looks from the outside.

Love is felt in the tone of our home, in the way we listen, in choosing kindness when we’re tired, and in giving ourselves permission to rest when we need it.

There were years when I was in the room but not really present. My mind was always one step ahead, planning, anticipating, managing, making sure pieces didn’t fall. I don’t say that with regret, just recognition.

There is a difference between being physically present and being emotionally available in a moment.

Many of us learn that slowly. The older I get, the more I believe the holidays don’t need to be grand to be meaningful.

They just need to be honest.

If we are tired, we can simplify. If we are grieving, we can soften the pace. If the family looks different than it once did, we can honor the new shape instead of forcing the old one back into place.

If sending cards or buying gifts for everyone stretches us thin, we can choose a smaller circle this year.

This isn’t stepping back from celebration. It’s stepping toward peace.

And peace is not something we wait to feel. It’s something we prepare for — just like anything else worth tending.

So as we move into the holidays, maybe the question isn’t “What all needs to get done?”

Maybe the question is simply: What matters most this year?

Not what mattered ten years ago.

Not what mattered in a different season of life. 

Just what matters now. Let that be enough. Prepared = Peaceful.