Holiday Stress

Recently I read an anonymous blog post in which the writer said it bugs her that people get stressed about the holidays. She felt that a lot of the cause of the stress is that people don't acknowledge that the holidays are coming until they are right on top of them. She said that she had mentioned to someone the other day that it was 34 days until Christmas. The other woman looked like she was about to smack the blogger. The blogger seemed to feel that this was an unreasonable response to her (unasked-for) countdown to The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.

Well, it may be unreasonable, but I shared the feelings of her acquaintance. I wanted to reach into the computer and smack her, myself. Especially since she announced she had already planned her menus and decorated her house. I think that if you are blessed enough to be an excellent planner who gets all her shopping and decorating done early, good manners dictate that you keep it to yourself. Just like if you are lucky enough to have a baby who sleeps through the night at one month, for heaven's sake, don't rub it in to the rest of us suffering souls. Or at least don't be surprised if people talk about you behind your back.

Part of my stress comes from Miss Pink's birthday being in mid-December. I can't give all my attention to Christmas until her birthday has been celebrated. And I refuse to put up any decorations or listen to Christmas music until after Thanksgiving, because Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays and I want to enjoy it, not skip ahead to Christmas. It's fine with me if you are ready for Christmas in July, but I'm not. I really don't get in the spirit until December 15 or so.

At least I don't host the family here (our house isn't big enough, and our families like to have us come to them) or cook the whole dinner by myself, or have a Christmas party, or--what the heck do I even DO for Christmas? All of a sudden it sounds like I have an easy time, and I'm just a big whiner.

I've actually gone ahead and bought a few things, which is more than I usually have done by this time. I have a list of what everyone is (probably) getting. Except for the teachers and that one niece...you see how my brain works. I want to have it all figured out in advance, including how to pay for everything--aaaarrrgggghhhh, it's driving me crazy.

Deep breath. All I have to do in the next few days is: a) go buy that tool set for Mr. Blue unless it's already been sold (there was only one and he was with me when I saw it); b) order the birthday party decorations for Miss Pink's party; and c) eat lots of lovely Thanksgiving food and refuse to think about how many days there are until Christmas.

That is, if any anonymous bloggers out there don't insist on reminding me.