As the holidays draw near, I begin to feel a certain dread and anxiety start to infest my thoughts and I'm irritable and frustrated. The holidays used to be my favorite time of year and I always looked forward to doing all of the "traditional" fare that came along with it. Nowadays I want to get it over with as soon as possible and get on with life as I know it.
So how can we survive "The most wonderful time of the year"?
1.Get most of your Christmas shopping done before Thanksgiving. I know it sounds a little Type A but you miss the crowds and grouches. There isn't the rush and anxiety to get the last one of anything. They have plenty of everything.
2. Find a wonderful go to recipe for friend neighbor gifts and make it ahead of time. Mine is a unique pie that can be frozen. I wrap it up beautifully and everyone loves it.
3. Wrap everything as soon as you can. It's one less thing on your list and your snoopy kids won't be able to look in bags and peek.
4.Don't go crazy on decorating your house. This one frustrates me the most. Unless you are having a fabulous party at your house, there really is no point. I stick to decorating one room and making that one count.
5. Don't let your families stress you out. If they want Christmas to play out like a soap opera, then participate as little as possible. Maybe go out of town for a white Christmas?
6. If you absolutely have to do Black Friday, take a friend who doesn't want to buy anything. They can help you maximize your shopping. Plus they can push people out of the way so you can get what you want.:)
7. Play only your favorite Christmas music when you want to. The all of the time Christmas music playing radio stations are not for me. I can't do peppy and excited all of the time. Sometimes you need to decompress with a little Enya, Pearl Jam, or even R.E.M. Don't force having Christmas cheer.
8.Have a sense of humor. On my front door along my wreath is a sign that says, "When you stop believing in Santa, you get UNDERWEAR. I love it.
9. Buy something for yourself. I used to get so mad that I was giving all of these great presents to everyone else and I never got anything I wanted. That's just stupid. You are important too and deserve to have a little holiday fun!
10. Keep it simple. A few Christmas' ago things got really out of hand. The kids got way too many presents, I had 20 pies to make, and we had a huge Christmas party at our house. Never again. The kids are down to 3 presents each, I only make pies for people that have talked to me in the last 6 months, and we are not having parties anymore.
I am actually looking forward to Christmas this year. No stress, everything is done, and I can sit back and watch my kids be excited about all of the fun that is going to happen.
Merry Christmas Everyone! And good luck!
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