Seriously? One month! Are you kidding me?
This morning someone asked me why I was so stressed out about Christmas since all of my shopping is already done, and I think my answer surprised her. Since I start my shopping so early and do it in bits and pieces, this never stresses me out it’s the holidays IN GENERAL that I don’t like!
I basically have about two weeks off every year which, I admit, sounds like a lot. No, it IS a lot. But, in reality, we spend most of that time trekking to one event after another with little rest in between, there are always disputes of some form that creep up, everyone is stuffed to the gills, exhausted, and let’s face it… as much as I love my family and friends, I would like to use some of this time to recharge, you know?
Every year I come up with a plan to go away, if only for a few days, and most years things don’t work out. This year, I never even bothered trying. But, I WILL be trying to schedule and plan things better and I will have to turn some things down for sure. I would rather do less and enjoy it all than do everything and be miserable come January!
Another pet peeve of mine is Christmas dinner. I was raised very British, but I now live very Italian in terms of the holidays. I grew up with the full turkey dinner, they grew up with pasta and fish! My mother-in-law regularly makes stuffed lobster for Christmas lunch! Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE lobster… but not for Christmas! Thankfully, we are going to my mom’s for Christmas Eve this year and she has decided to make the full turkey dinner because she knows I miss it during the holidays (and she better have leftovers)!
Oh, also, speaking of shopping… I did it again. I always start with a plan and end up with bags full of stuff. A while ago I saw a great gift giving guide for kids that I always intend to follow (and maybe one of these days I will) that I wanted to share:
Something they WANT
Something they NEED
Something to WEAR
Something to READ
I will try and stick to that again in 2015!
