No Holiday Rush For Me!
There is some sort of holiday frenzy feeling that I get around Thanksgiving and it stays with me right up until Christmas. While this excitement for the season is always a wonderful feeling, it has, in the past, often left me feeling like Christmas Eve and Day are a bit, well, anti-climatic.
Part of it I think is the pressure to get the perfect gift or to have the house decorated in record time. Every year I try so hard to get a gift for my family and friends that encapsulates in one thing how much they mean to me and a huge thanks for all they have done in that year. It’s totally a self-imposed pressure to ooh and awe them. I can barely keep in my super awesome gifts to myself because since I’m a planner, I’ve usually decided by mid November what everyone will get. It really takes all I have to not blurt it out on Thanksgiving ( this by the way, is not limited to just Christmas- one year when I was little, I spilled the beans to my mom on her Mother’s Day surprise of a lobster dinner way before the day came around).
I’ve often wondered if this rush and frenzy to decorate, shop, etc. is something that is more a female problem than men. My dad and brother frequently do all their shopping in one day like a week or so before Christmas. My dad actually says he enjoys doing some shopping on Christmas Eve day ( PS that phrase has always made me chuckle since it’s sort of an oxymoron). The thought of waiting until the last minute makes me heart rate quicken ( control freak much!?!?)
I have a very small list to buy for this year and because I planned ahead, almost all of my shopping is done or will be before December 1st comes around. I haven’t decorated the house yet since I’ve wanted to enjoy some post Thanksgiving down time, but I anticipate doing it one night this week after work while watching a favorite Christmas movie. I want to have all my wrapping done early. This year I’m trying to simplify- the wrapping, the buying, the dozens of cookies my mother and I make. The frenzy may be part of the season, but I don’t want to partake this year. I want to savor the season and do a lot of the Christmas activities I haven’t done in years. Drive around to see Christmas lights. Go see a Christmas concert or find a group to go caroling with. Adopt a needy family so they have a better Christmas. Meet friends for drinks or coffee. Maybe go take a picture with Santa. I want to enjoy the excitement, not wish it all away by crossing things off lists and freaking out that I haven’t bought the best gifts. I’m hoping this pre planning will help me relax and enjoy the joys of the season instead of worrying that I don’t have enough wrapping paper.
I’m determined to make this holiday season different & that this relaxed Kristen will help me ring in the New Year. Who’s with me?
Life By Kristen 
Here, here! I usually push my Christmas shopping closer to the week of, but never the day before. That would just cause me too much stress, and I’m already going to be stressed enough as it is, because I don’t have very much money to buy Christmas gifts with. I have to start on student loan bills a month earlier than I thought, which taps into pretty much all the money I was going to use to pay for Christmas presents. I’ve already decided I’m going to open up a Christmas account for next year, so no matter what happens, I will NOT run into this problem again.