Mom life. Am I Right?
As if momming isn’t enough on a day-to-day basis, the holidays amplify the stresses even more! Typically (yes, I’m sure there are exceptions) we do the majority of the gift shopping, as well as food shopping for the get-togethers we either travel to or host. We take into consideration the dietary restrictions of others we know about. If we’re hosting, we’ve got to make sure the house is in order to receive guests. We’ve got to cook the meal-in my case, 2, plus a snack in between. Some of us co-parenting have the added bonus of figuring out a sharing situation. We have to wrap gifts. We put the pressure on ourselves to decorate, get kids pictures with Santa, and host the “perfect” event.
Why do we do this to ourselves?!
Maybe some of us have lost loved ones, or are estranged from family, and the holidays bring on extra lonely feelings, or sadness. I, for one, will be celebrating my first Christmas without my father in a week and a half.
I’ve been doing some reading lately, searching for more ways of relieving stress. I stumbled on an article on the American Institute of Stress website about “Christmas Creep,” which is all about how the stressful holiday season is expanding beyond the normal, prolonging the stress of it all. We all see it happening around us. I saw Christmas stuff out in stores before Halloween this year! It’s triggering the stressful holiday feelings even earlier. And we all know that stress can be detrimental to our health.
Are retailers really making any more sales by putting out products earlier?? I’ll tell you what: I love a great deal. And I know that if I wait until the last minute on things that are optional, like decorations, I’m going to get a better deal. So they aren’t getting my money any earlier!
Luckily for me, I’m crafty. This time of the year I get busy doing things I love. Some are for myself, to gift to loved ones. Some I get to do for others to gift to their loved ones because people know about my craftiness. So I guess in a way I stress myself out more. But I truly love coming up with the perfect personalized, handmade gift to knock someone’s socks off! Worth it! Speaking of…I’ve got some work to do.