All of a sudden Thanksgiving is going to be here and I don't even remember where October went. Then comes Christmas quickly following Thanksgiving and I so much to do. What do you do to help with the stress of added activities you need to do at this time of year? Life still goes on. I still have a book to write, promotion to do and my house does need to be cleaned every once and a while--although I wish I could let that go. I love making to do lists, but if I did that, I would shut down for sure. The list would go on and on, no end in sight.
So I'm back to my question: what helps you deal with extra stress during the holidays?
10 comments:
Great post. I love this time of the year. I get all excited.
tarenn98[at]yahoo[dot]com
Lists were my first thought as I read your post! How about a Top Daily 5 list? Just noting the 5 things I most want accomplished each day really helps me not to stress as much. :-)
worthy2bpraised[at]gmail[dot]com
Buy cookies and baked goods instead of making them. Quite often local groups sell homemade decorated cookies as part of a charity - so you'll be erasing your stress and contributing to a good cause at the same time!
I love this time of year, too, April.
Merry and Linda, good suggestions.
Margaret
I love this time of year and I'm one of those crazy people who really does love the stress and craziness of it. I never want to think about Christmas until after Thanksgiving though. I don't think I'd ever be one of those people who has all the shopping done at the end of summer and has their tree set up the day after Thanksgiving.
I will admit, that I do make a list. But I don't put anything in a spreadsheet like some of my friends do. I just keep a small notebook with me and check off things as they're done.
I love to wrap presents and it's not uncommon for me to be doing it in the wee hours of the morning. But I have on occasion destressed by having the wrapping done at mall for a donation. A good charity gets some much needed funds and I save my back, which always gets a little sore after wrapping.
My kids also help me with gift buying. One year we picked out gifts for local kids in need. We never knew their names. We just knew their ages. I had all 4 kids choose the gift for that particular child, which allowed me to concentrate on other things and allowed them to really think about the perfect gift that someone they didn't even know would love.
I have 4 teenagers who are of baking age so they help with the baking too!
I wish I could figure out how to make it work. Along with all the holiday stress, two of my boys have birthdays in December. One before Christmas and one before New Years. But, we are trying to get things done ahead, like our annual Christmas letter, gifts bought and wrapped so we don't have everything at the last minute. We haven't mastered it yet but each year we keep trying.
I don't know about the rest of you but the older I get the faster time seems to go. It feels like we just celebrated Christmas and here we are again.
I do love this time of year though. I love the lights, the music, the cold weather, having a fire in the fireplace. It's all wonderful but I hate the heavy weight stress that seems to dampen it. So this year we have set-up a plan of what to do when and that will hopefully remove some of the anxiety of past years.
Great post and great ideas!
Sherry
Potluck, potluck, potluck!
You know, the more I look at this picture, the more it reminds me of me!
Sherry, I know what you mean about the time flying. I still can't believe Christmas is just around the corner. I'm trying to do some of the things ahead of time, too.
Margaret
The best well to deal with stress is put the Lord at the top of the list and take every problem to Him. I know I can't handle it all on my own and every time I try to I fall short.
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