Is it just me? Is anyone else feeling that the holidays are coming too fast? I don’t want to scare anybody . . . but do you realize there are only about TEN weeks until Christmas!
Every year I promise myself that I’ll start my holiday preparations EARLY! I mean why couldn’t I write Christmas cards in the summer? No reason! That way I’d have time to write a personal note on them, which is something I really like to do, but I can’t when I’m pressed for time.
And I could certainly begin the following year’s gift shopping in January. After all, my money would go so much further with all those after-Christmas sales.
Cookie baking could begin in October. I could freeze them. It would be so nice to make a dozen different kinds for once!
Then there’s wrapping – I love wrapping!!!! I get pretty worn out when I have to do it all at once, though. What if I wrapped each item as I bought it?
“Ok Crystal . . . Take a deep breath!”
Ten weeks is reasonable.
Make a to-do list.
Break it into weekly goals.
Enlist help from the family.
Remember it’s supposed to be fun.
Eliminate the unnecessary tasks.
Take time to stop and smell therosesChristmas tree.
Whew! I feel better, now. Thanks for listening! 😉
What do you do to avoid holiday stress?
Hi Crystal! Boy…I can’t believe it’s coming so fast! I think the same thing every year too. School starts, and then Christmas is right around the corner! I should start writing my cards now! I know it’s not going to happen, but it would be nice!!! … I’m always frantically baking cookies the day before Christmas Eve! I hope this year is a little different! Hugs, Paulette =D
At Christmas family get-togethers, I would watch the kids rip open my beautifully wrapped gifts. Not a second was spent admiring my handy work. Or the cute handmade ornaments affixed to the ribbon. Nope, they were only interested in what was inside.
No more. Now… I make a stop at the Dollar Store for different sized gift bags, colorful tissue paper. And in about an hour, I can “stuff” 30 gifts. 😀
O, you are SO Funny! Its only October. You have Halloween and Thanksgiving coming first. NOW ARE YOU NERVOUS????? lol
When I participated in Christmas craft shows, I’d be burned out by Thanksgiving. Now I just go with the flow. I learned many years ago that when it comes to Christmas, less is more. I used to take all wall decorations down and replace with Christmas decor. I would display my water globe collection and my HUGE Christmas Village display. I have scaled all that back. It took a long time to get past the guilt I felt.
I am making all presents this year. If I can’t make it, they are not getting it, with the exception of one special bought thing for each of the boys. The expense of three more living here, along with reduced hours at work for Terry, have hurt our cash flow. It makes you remember what Christmas is all about. Even if you are not religious, its a time for family and I refuse to be stressed. I prefer to enjoy the season and look for the simple ways to do it.
Now, take a deep breath.
Remember waking up to the first snowfall of the season.
Watching the birds at your feeder, leasurely having a meal together.
Seeing the Christmas lights at night on the house across the street.
Turning the lights off in your living room so you can enjoy a quiet night of TV by light of the Christmas tree.
Christmas Carols at Midnight Mass.
Relax. It will come, and it will go. Enjoy it. It is not a season to stress over.
Shocking! No, didn´t realize it´s so soon…. well, I thought I could bake, but last year my cookies were harder than my shoe soles and my 6 year old refuzed to leave any of them for Santa – she thought he would get mad and wouldn´t leave any presents – I have decided to let the experts do the job. In fact I found some excellent Christmas Stollen at Aldi yesterday. What a delicious treat! Just couldn´t wait to get home and try it! So NO BAKING for me this year. But I´m looking forward to the ham and the cranberry sauce (I make mine with rum and orange peel).
This made me hungry! Ho ho ho!
To: Paulette, Donna, Carol, and Claudia . . .
Paulette,
One thing I’ve found that helps with the cards though is to do it in a few sessions. I write all the envelopes first. That can be the toughest part! Then over a few days, I just pull a few envelopes at a time and write cards to those people. It just seems less of a “big project” that way. 🙂
Don_mae,
It’s so true that sometimes kids (or adults) who don’t make things themselves (like handmade ornaments) have no clue what goes into them and so don’t really appreciate their worth. Too bad that we crafters aren’t all each other’s relatives!!! LOL Now wouldn’t that be an amazing year of gifts and wrappings!?! 😉
Carol,
You are truly the voice of reason and a very smart Gal!!! I LOVE your list of things to focus on to avoid holiday stress!! Thanks, Sis 🙂
Claudia
I am hungry now, too! 😉
Your cranberry sauce sounds delicious! I’d love to put the recipe in our “recipe box” someday if it’s OK with you.
~Crystal
I understand the theory of doing Holiday stuff early– but except for looking out for gifts year-round, I don’t do any of it. I LOVE that six weeks of mad preparation. I buy a tree first free day I have in December (we’re in the tree-down-New-Year’s-Eve tradition), I wrap all my presents (the smell! yaaay!) the best I can (badly, but it’s my best!) I make 12 kinds of cookies every year, spending a week making dough and then rolling them out and decorating with friends (I’m the baker in the group, but we all love decorating some cookies).
But the thing is, I LOVE this stuff. I do it because it’s fun, and puts me in a generous mood. Things I don’t like– cards, mostly, never was into cards– I don’t do. I want to enjoy what’s going on, not hit some checklist. The point is the spirit of the thing, not the shiny stuff. So relax; I and the other natural revelers will quaff some eggnog for you.
But you have to carve a pumpkin for Halloween. 😉
It’s good to see I’m not the only one trying to catch up on my own good resolutions all year long. I think I’ll add yours to the ones I currently have, they make so much sense!
Hi Carapace 😀
Like you, I LOVE it too – maybe too much! LOL
I get myself so enthused with a scrolling list of all the fun things I want to do each Christmas that I get disappointed if I run out of time to do all of them. I love that you do the 12 kinds of cookies every year!!! I hope you take pictures! I’ll bet they are adorable!!
Smiles,
Crystal