by goodnatured » Sun Dec 09, 2007 12:13 pm
Happy Holidays to all of you. Along with the holidays comes a lot of stress, so you need to take time to unwind and save yourself some health issues later down the road. Here are some things I do.
1. Start shopping early, if you start the day after Christmas, you will find better bargains. You will save a ton of money, you will of course need to put it all away till next year. But you can get a lot of shopping done way in advance and at a lower price.
2. Make Christmas about spending time with each other, you can do "I owe you's" as Christmas presence. Just make sure you have the time to follow through with these. Some good ones might be: babysitting for someone free of charge, doing a siblings chores, or a parents chores, shoveling snow, cleaning windows, etc. The list goes on and on, so it is money saved and time well spent.
3. Teach children young that Christmas is not about the material things in life, they don't need everything they see on television and that their Christmas is not ruined if they don't get it. The electronic items are so expensive and if you have more than one child, these items are better off being purchased at birthdays when you only have one to buy, versus buying more than one. If you buy this type of stuff at all.
4. On you, what do you do to make the holiday time less stressful?
1. Start shopping early, if you start the day after Christmas, you will find better bargains. You will save a ton of money, you will of course need to put it all away till next year. But you can get a lot of shopping done way in advance and at a lower price.
2. Make Christmas about spending time with each other, you can do "I owe you's" as Christmas presence. Just make sure you have the time to follow through with these. Some good ones might be: babysitting for someone free of charge, doing a siblings chores, or a parents chores, shoveling snow, cleaning windows, etc. The list goes on and on, so it is money saved and time well spent.
3. Teach children young that Christmas is not about the material things in life, they don't need everything they see on television and that their Christmas is not ruined if they don't get it. The electronic items are so expensive and if you have more than one child, these items are better off being purchased at birthdays when you only have one to buy, versus buying more than one. If you buy this type of stuff at all.
4. On you, what do you do to make the holiday time less stressful?
Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 12:41 pm Post Subject:
4. On you, what do you do to make the holiday time less stressful?
EVERY year I promise myself to take it down a notch and not try to do so much for so many, blah blah, NEVER happens! This year I'm really stressed out....I have about half of the shopping done...(stuff I have brought since after Christmas last year, and throughout year as bargains appear) and most of what I have is wrapped...but man oh man am I ever behind where I 'should' be....Of course I do all these different 'special' things every year....Mama Lori's cookie day...for one...I have all the women folk and little girls at my house (next saturday this year) and we bake cookies etc. all day, (about fifty people now)...and then we make 'packages' for neighbors, shut ins etc...It's a great time and all really enjoy it...but man it's a lot of work getting everything together and organized...course don't help that I'm a bit of a perfectionist, OCD, type A personality! YIKES!!!!!!!! still haven't got the graves decorated, (about ten of those) and need to make two new ones! Mercy I swear I don't know why I've always done this to myself....I'm pretty proud of myself though this year I scaled down the outside decorations......pretty much only the porch rather than the entire house (about 2200-2500sq feet) I've always done the entire house before...won't even go into the interior...did make the grandbabies their own Christmas trees....oh my............Think I may try and finish up my shopping on line today (bad ice storm where I'm at last two days......that's another thing, I'm buried at work...duh, ice on roads equals lots and lots of wrecks!.... :shock:
But daughter and daughter in law will help, daughter in law wrapped some gifts for me other day....(my poor old neck just can't take looking down very long)...
Oh my gosh, and I haven't even touched a Christmas card yet....All the kids are coming today so I can take Christmas Pictures and get them all edited, and send so we can have them back for gifts! Oh and almost forgot our 30th Wedding anniversary is the 23rd of December, (and my birthday too incidently! how goofy was I 30 years ago...geeeeeeeeeeeeeeze!)....
Husband has always called me the Christmas angel, cause I go nuts for Christmas, but this year, I'm kind of Christmas bitchy! :roll: :lol:
Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 02:35 pm Post Subject:
You sound like you really want to do for every one, good thing the daughter and daughter in laws are there to help you.
About the cards, can you do a list on your computer and then mail merge on envelopes, you could keep up with this all year around. You could order preprinted cards that have a general message for everyone. Or you could avoid it all and do the online cards for those who are computer literate.
I love your cookie day idea, that is awesome and to share with those less fortunate, good for you. What a wonderful way to spend the day with friends, encourage kids and get something nice to the less fortunate.
I think your husband is right, your heart is in the right place, bitchy or not, you are still an angel.
Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2007 12:09 pm Post Subject:
Re: cookie day (been doing it about ten years now or more), anyway the one that has the absolute best time ever, is my sweet grandma that is 98 years old! She (thank the Lord) still lives alone, has all of her mind intact (more than I can say about myself)...anyway...she just loves cooking and baking anyway, and she gets to do so with the great and great great grand daughters, it's a good time, she looks so forward to it ever year...I only have two rules, you MUST wear an apron, (i have about 50 or so) and you can't be grumpy (even me! Ha ha )
Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2007 04:21 pm Post Subject:
That is awesome and what wonderful memories to have for all the kids to be with generations of women all involved in the same activity. I bet your grandma does look forward to getting you all together and I bet she remembers each of you at the same age of the younger. What wonderful conversations must go on during this time. Do you ever record it or video tape it, I think for years down the road, it would be a great thing to pull out and watch on christmas eve, all the ladies young and old together. Pictures are great, but to capture the conversation and voices, the laughter and the real life things that are going on would be great. You could just set up recorders in like two rooms, it would be no major deal.
Good rule that no one is allowed to be grumpy, but who could be in that situation, I would probably be all teary eyed, sentimental. Does everyone have their favorite apron?
Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 12:09 pm Post Subject:
Do you ever record it or video tape it
No, I haven't but that's a good idea! We take (of course) tons of pictures, was even a small write up a few years back in a local paper someone found out about it and sent a reporter! pretty funny..Does everyone have their favorite apron?
yes, some of the kids do...probably 20 of them were my grandma's....(she is quite the seamstres and many are very ornate)...Let me tell you though, while I think (tongue in cheek) part of 'what's wrong with this world' is that mama's don't wear aprons anymore! It's a giant pain the the neck/back and butt to iron all of them prior to cookie day! ha ha........I would probably be all teary eyed, sentimental
I (and Grandma and my sister) tend to get that way a little toward the end of the day, due (i think) to my exaustion and the thought in the back of our minds, will this be Grandma's last cookie day, ya know? But of course none of that is mentioned, but at 98 the thought is there, not enough to dampen the day however.Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 03:41 pm Post Subject:
Thats exactly what I meant about her age, She may surprise you though, make the best of it everytime, just in case it is the last for anyone in the room, death does not discriminate with age, it can come get us at anytime.
But on a happier note, I just think it is a beautiful thing to do and that times like this will have an everlasting affect on the children who participate, as they move in to their teens and struggle, these types of activities and the bond/strength built inheritently into will give them a good foundation, a sense of belonging to a family/friend unit. If this makes sense, kind of know what I want to say but can't find the words.
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