It’s Christmas time….how stressed are you?

 

The time
to relax
is when
you don't have
time for it.
~Jim Goodwin

 

So, it’s less than a month (I don’t want to actually count the days!!!) till Christmas.  How stressed are you?  Are you running around the malls like a crazy person trying to find the perfect gifts?  Cranking out Christmas cookies like a well-equipped factory?  Decking the halls till there’s not one spot left untouched by holiday “magic”? 

Christmas has gotten a whole lot less “crazy” around here since my kids have gone off to college.  The years of making enough cookies for an army are gone.  So are the days (nights) of staying up till 2a.m. making gifts for dozens of teachers and coaches…and planning school parties.  I seemed to thrive on it back then but to be honest, it feels kinda nice to be doing less (or none) of that now. 

There is still a pile of scrapbook orders waiting to be completed and I have a few gifts I’d like to make in time to stick in Santa’s sleigh…but I’m keeping my expectations in check and trying to not stress so much about it all.

I didn’t spend Thanksgiving weekend putting up my Christmas tree and pulling out all my decorations.  Instead I spent it watching movies and playing cards with my girls.  We hung out and talked and relaxed.  

So now it’s a week later and I still don’t have my tree up!  I probably should have done that this week but instead I enjoyed dinner out one night with my daughter and two more nights out with friends.  Somehow spending time with the people I love feels more important right now than trying to WOW them with the superficial stuff.   

If I could get away with it…THIS is the tree I would put up!   But I’m trying to decide if it would take longer to construct than putting up an actual tree.  Hmmm.  Definitely less stuff to pull out of the attic at least! 

Technorati Tags: christmas tree mobile,christmas stress

 

A Full Nest

This weekend I've been getting used to having a "full" nest again...just when I had gotten used to having an "empty nest"!  It's great to have the kids home though.   Ceara will be working in the Admissions dept over break so she'll be back and forth a bit this week and the week of Jan 4th but Arielle is here until the 11th.  Elliot's classes don't start up again until Jan 25th!  Crazy!  I haven't heard yet when he plans to head back to the city.

Today Arielle and I made cookies and had a frosting marathon.  Frosting cookies is definitely not my favorite thing to do....but we got through them.  I think I don't like it because I tend to be a perfectionist and I obviously don't have the talent or patience to make each one a work of art...so I'd rather just not do them at all.  BUT my family loves frosted sugar cookies....so that's how I spent my afternoon and evening! 

I also got a little closer to finishing my shopping today.  Hopefully a quick stop after work tomorrow will polish off the list.  Most of what I've already bought is wrapped but I still need to put the name tags on.  Right now they're piled high in my studio and they are SO in my way.  A job to complete before bed tonight. 

With less than a week to go before Christmas I SHOULD be concentrating on everything I need to get done before the BIG day....but my thoughts have been totally consumed this weekend with my scrapbook business and my Etsy shop.   Yeah, a change is definitely in order.  :)

Countdown to Christmas....

It's getting close.  Are you ready?  I'm not.  Not even close.  Actually, I'm closer than I was a couple of days ago.  Yesterday I finally bit the bullet and got a huge chunk of my shopping done.  And, today I put up the tree.  Well, sorta, kinda, maybe.  It is STANDING.  Standing there waiting for the lights to jump on!  As I was assembling the tree the thought of "pre-lit" kept crossing my mind.  I suppose we should join the modern world and get a pre-lit tree...but where's the fun in that when I can spend hours untangling light strands? 

So, here it is a week and some change from the BIG day...and all I can think is "WHATEVER".  So much for holiday spirit.  I don't know, but I'm wondering if it is just my age and stage in life.  I used to LOVE Christmas when my kids were little.  Sure, it was a crazy, crazy, crazy time but it was fun and exciting too.  Those were the days of preparing for Santa, decorating the tree and house, attending Christmas programs, concerts and dance shows, planning classroom parties, shopping for teacher gifts, making Christmas dresses, shopping for the "hot" toys at Toys R Us, taking the kids to pick out their new ornament, practicing for the Christmas program at church, making cookies, taking pictures for the Christmas card and on and on. 

Now the kids pick out their own gifts (obviously I can't be trusted to pick out clothes or video games!), wince when I suggest taking a family picture and barely notice the decorations.  Gone are the Christmas mornings of assembling toys, extricating Barbie from her box, and searching for the missing game piece in the rubble of gift wrap.  I suppose those days will return when grandkids start showing up...but for now Christmas seems to be missing the WONDER and EXCITMENT that it once had.

I'd think it was just me...but I've been hearing it from a lot of my friends lately too.  People commenting that they haven't gotten their tree up yet or haven't started shopping or just can't get into the Christmas spirit. 

Are our expectations out of whack?  Are we burned out and don't relish the idea of more to add to our TO DO list?  Do we really HAVE to have the perfectly decorated house, a diabetic-coma-inducing stash of fresh baked cookies and treats, and gifts wrapped Martha Stewart style?  Do we NEED to have so many presents under the tree that we can't even get to the tree?

When I was a child we received gifts on Christmas and our birthdays.  The rest of the year we received the necessities and maybe we could coax some treats or little toy out of Grandma when we tagged along to the store with her.  These days kids are used to GETTING STUFF all the time.  As soon as they WANT something they expect to get it.   That instant gratification makes it difficult to receive SPECIAL gifts when it comes time for Christmas or birthdays.  Every gift needs to be bigger and better (as in more expensive) than the last gift.  No wonder we're stressed out.

I ran across a blog post that resonated with me and kind of reflects the feelings I've had towards Christmas the past few years.  The blog is City Scraps and the post can be found here.  I can't really go that extreme because unlike the author, I have kids and the mom in me still wants to make it special for them...but it's tempting! 

What are your thoughts on the hustle and bustle, unrealistic expectations and over-spending of Christmas?

Ok...now back to those lights....