Congratulations moms! You have survived another holiday season. For many, it’s a time to take a deep breath and realize that all the stresses of get-togethers, purchases and wrapping are over, for at least a little while. The holidays can be a very stressful time, especially on moms. They are often over-looked and under-appreciated while meticulously making sure that every detail is taken care of.

For example, in my family, my mother took us to see Santa at the mall every year. We got together with cousins and grandparents for a Christmas Eve feast and gift exchange. Afterwards, my mom (along with her three sisters, who were also moms) cleaned up everything, served dessert, and washed dishes. They always looked like they were having a ball and I could never understand why these four women plus their mother had such a good time carrying out a chore.

My mother made sure we looked through toy catalogs and made lists of what we wanted for Christmas and she took us, attired in our Sunday best, to midnight mass on Christmas Eve every year.

My mother always made sure that every Christmas present (for all four of us kids) contained gift tags that included our names and said ‘from Santa’ on every one. She was the one who made sure there was a cup and plate sitting out for Santa, full of milk and cookies, and she made sure we awoke to find bites out of the cookies and most of the milk gone.

Mom was the one who returned everything to the stores after Christmas, that was broken or didn’t fit. She never seemed to mind doing practically everything and to this day, I don’t remember much about what she received from others during the holidays.

Besides cooking, shopping and wrapping for her children, my mother also made sure that everyday routines during the holidays ran just as smooth. We never considered all the behind-the-scenes effort that went into our mother’s work until we got older and became moms. The reward for all the tedious, time-consuming gift-giving is the delight of a child’s face when he or she opens a present. That’s just how moms are.

But from one mom to another, I want you to know it’s OK to put your feet up, relax and pat yourself on the back for a job well done, even if everything didn’t turn out quite how you planned. Every mom celebrates during the holidays a little differently but many can remember how their own moms faced the challenge. The fact that you survived and will do your best to do it all again next year is a noble quality of a mom. Keep up the good work!