Not my typical holiday season
Dec. 14th, 2009 07:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
threadwalkerI am the "bah-humbug" in our house. This is NOT the holiday that I get excited about. My family Christmas holiday tradition was more of the disfunctional type instead of the Norman Rockwell type, so I don't emotionally engage like everyone else does. Instead, I see the crowds, which I hate. It becomes impossible to find parking at the gym, which is located at the mall. Drivers become insane. I am always disappointed that a season which is supposed to be inspired by generousity instead becomes a time when many people revel in gluttony and greed. While it's going down, people seem to set huge expectations for the season and then come out of it feeling like they've barely survived or they were let down.
Yeah, bah humbug on THAT.
My holiday has been going surprisingly great.
This year I am focused on remaining calm, on being extra patient and generous with myself, on enjoying the simple pleasures, like our neighbors' yard decorations, and reminding my kids that it's supposed to be a season of giving. I came to work today reflecting on what a great holiday season it's been so far.
There are some hurdles that we seem to have to go through every year and normally they feel like flaming hoops of doom. However, this year has gone well.
1. Kids need to prepare wish lists: I took the kids to the store last Friday after work to make wish lists for Santa. There was no sense of urgency, which was awesome. We ate dinner at Target and then I followed them around sipping my Diet Coke while they tried to write down a description for every LEGO box they could find. (Who knew LEGOs were so freaking expensive!?!)
2. Gifts for teachers and Cleaning Fairies: Normally I am so far behind on this, purchases aren't made until January, the kids end up giving the teachers cookies in February and the Christmas gift gets rewrapped for end of the year thank-yous. I did a baking fest on Friday so I could gift cookies to teachers and Annie's crew. I'm about halfway done and will probably finish up tonight. But I don't feel rushed. I'll be shopping for some gifts for them tomorrow night.
3. Decorate the house: Normally it takes almost all of December to do this. You know - just in time to take it all down again. However, this year the house is decorated and we are not stepping over half-empty boxes of do-dads and decorations. The tree was put up right after Thanksgiving with little fuss and then the kids exhumed the boxes from under the stairs. Since Himself is the one who has to stash "stuff" like large boxes so the house-fairies can do their weekly cleaning, he was very motivated to get the decorations up pretty quick so the boxes could be put back.
4. Christmas shopping is almost complete. I normally bail-out on this and leave it up to Daddy to handle. However, I didn't work any weekends this season and managed to work this into my routine without drama. There are a few specific items I need to pick up at lunch this week.
5. The new bike for some lucky little girl will get moved from under the blankets in the back of my car to a storage shed today before I pick up the kids today.
6. Maintaining the Santa Tale: I successfully explained Shopping Mall Santas. The kids KNOW the army of Santas out there are not the "real" Santa. However, I explained that Santa Klaus is very busy, so he has Deputy Santa's and each one is given a little bit of Santa Magic. That way, when you visit him, you get a little bit of Christmas Joy and the real Santa can hear your wishes. Miss E has also been asked to stop telling everyone they are not the "real" Santa; I'd rather she didn't crash some little kids dreams so my explanation was that by saying out loud that he wasn't real, she made some of his Santa Magic go away.
7. Take kids to see Santa: I need to take the kids to see Santa. Normally that's a daunting task. However, I'm adamant about going home on time, so my plan is to have them stage their holiday wear tonight, I'll pack it in my car tomorrow, I pick them up by 4:30, they get changed at school and we go straight to the Maul to see Santa. I'll bring a book and extra math homework to keep them busy while we are in line. Then we'll go for milk-cookies and get a few gadgets for Daddy as well as the other little stocking stuffer-type stuff for teachers.
8. Dicken's Fair. We've been to Dickens Fair once and will hit it again this weekend. I still hate my dress, but I'm resolved to NOT make another until I find the fabric that my muse wants to me to use.
I'm amused at how much of my to-do list is specific to being a parent. My "down" time is one of my most prescious commodities and I feel like I already give 110% for my kids. Giving up more time to wander around parking lots, stand in lines and be out late at night would normally vex me; I even dread the time it takes to shop for birthday gifts for kiddie parties. I'd Amazon.com everything if I could because my time is THAT valuable to me. And yet this year I seem to be sailing through it all without any grumpiness. Maybe it's the great company I'm keeping - Super N and Miss E are a hoot.
Anyway, in addition to being on top of this stuff, my hard-drive crashed and it wasn't backed up. I had ALL my photos on it. I cried in bed every night. I went to Fryes to deal with this. After multiple visits, several instances of combat driving in their parking lot, several hours of standing in the same line over and over, one defective back-up drive, and lots of explanation about how I KNEW they hadn't copied my files to the replaced back-up drive, I have now retrieved all my personal files and photos from the old hard-drive and seen them on the new back-up drive via my new computer. I can put that 'freak out' away and stop crying.
I don't know why I'm so relaxed. Maybe the Tempest at work is so daunting that holiday madness looks sane. It's not like I've got nothing else to do. In fact, I hit the gym for at least 90 minutes at night to run up to 7 miles and I'm doing embroidery everytime I'm sitting down. I feel like I've got my Organization Game Face on and I'm sailing through this sea of Holiday Insanity without fuss. I think it helps that I have few specific holiday expectations and I can't think of any "musts" this season that will make me cry if they don't happen. It's also helpful that our weekends are fairly unscheduled and Himself hasn't gone into work these past several weekends. Plus, I've delegated refilling the water for the Christmas Tree to Super N.
Or maybe I've gotten old. That must be it. I just can't be bothered with being cranky. It takes too much effort.
Anyway, I'm enjoying the slower pace of my holiday season. I hope I can replicate this next year.
Yeah, bah humbug on THAT.
My holiday has been going surprisingly great.
This year I am focused on remaining calm, on being extra patient and generous with myself, on enjoying the simple pleasures, like our neighbors' yard decorations, and reminding my kids that it's supposed to be a season of giving. I came to work today reflecting on what a great holiday season it's been so far.
There are some hurdles that we seem to have to go through every year and normally they feel like flaming hoops of doom. However, this year has gone well.
1. Kids need to prepare wish lists: I took the kids to the store last Friday after work to make wish lists for Santa. There was no sense of urgency, which was awesome. We ate dinner at Target and then I followed them around sipping my Diet Coke while they tried to write down a description for every LEGO box they could find. (Who knew LEGOs were so freaking expensive!?!)
2. Gifts for teachers and Cleaning Fairies: Normally I am so far behind on this, purchases aren't made until January, the kids end up giving the teachers cookies in February and the Christmas gift gets rewrapped for end of the year thank-yous. I did a baking fest on Friday so I could gift cookies to teachers and Annie's crew. I'm about halfway done and will probably finish up tonight. But I don't feel rushed. I'll be shopping for some gifts for them tomorrow night.
3. Decorate the house: Normally it takes almost all of December to do this. You know - just in time to take it all down again. However, this year the house is decorated and we are not stepping over half-empty boxes of do-dads and decorations. The tree was put up right after Thanksgiving with little fuss and then the kids exhumed the boxes from under the stairs. Since Himself is the one who has to stash "stuff" like large boxes so the house-fairies can do their weekly cleaning, he was very motivated to get the decorations up pretty quick so the boxes could be put back.
4. Christmas shopping is almost complete. I normally bail-out on this and leave it up to Daddy to handle. However, I didn't work any weekends this season and managed to work this into my routine without drama. There are a few specific items I need to pick up at lunch this week.
5. The new bike for some lucky little girl will get moved from under the blankets in the back of my car to a storage shed today before I pick up the kids today.
6. Maintaining the Santa Tale: I successfully explained Shopping Mall Santas. The kids KNOW the army of Santas out there are not the "real" Santa. However, I explained that Santa Klaus is very busy, so he has Deputy Santa's and each one is given a little bit of Santa Magic. That way, when you visit him, you get a little bit of Christmas Joy and the real Santa can hear your wishes. Miss E has also been asked to stop telling everyone they are not the "real" Santa; I'd rather she didn't crash some little kids dreams so my explanation was that by saying out loud that he wasn't real, she made some of his Santa Magic go away.
7. Take kids to see Santa: I need to take the kids to see Santa. Normally that's a daunting task. However, I'm adamant about going home on time, so my plan is to have them stage their holiday wear tonight, I'll pack it in my car tomorrow, I pick them up by 4:30, they get changed at school and we go straight to the Maul to see Santa. I'll bring a book and extra math homework to keep them busy while we are in line. Then we'll go for milk-cookies and get a few gadgets for Daddy as well as the other little stocking stuffer-type stuff for teachers.
8. Dicken's Fair. We've been to Dickens Fair once and will hit it again this weekend. I still hate my dress, but I'm resolved to NOT make another until I find the fabric that my muse wants to me to use.
I'm amused at how much of my to-do list is specific to being a parent. My "down" time is one of my most prescious commodities and I feel like I already give 110% for my kids. Giving up more time to wander around parking lots, stand in lines and be out late at night would normally vex me; I even dread the time it takes to shop for birthday gifts for kiddie parties. I'd Amazon.com everything if I could because my time is THAT valuable to me. And yet this year I seem to be sailing through it all without any grumpiness. Maybe it's the great company I'm keeping - Super N and Miss E are a hoot.
Anyway, in addition to being on top of this stuff, my hard-drive crashed and it wasn't backed up. I had ALL my photos on it. I cried in bed every night. I went to Fryes to deal with this. After multiple visits, several instances of combat driving in their parking lot, several hours of standing in the same line over and over, one defective back-up drive, and lots of explanation about how I KNEW they hadn't copied my files to the replaced back-up drive, I have now retrieved all my personal files and photos from the old hard-drive and seen them on the new back-up drive via my new computer. I can put that 'freak out' away and stop crying.
I don't know why I'm so relaxed. Maybe the Tempest at work is so daunting that holiday madness looks sane. It's not like I've got nothing else to do. In fact, I hit the gym for at least 90 minutes at night to run up to 7 miles and I'm doing embroidery everytime I'm sitting down. I feel like I've got my Organization Game Face on and I'm sailing through this sea of Holiday Insanity without fuss. I think it helps that I have few specific holiday expectations and I can't think of any "musts" this season that will make me cry if they don't happen. It's also helpful that our weekends are fairly unscheduled and Himself hasn't gone into work these past several weekends. Plus, I've delegated refilling the water for the Christmas Tree to Super N.
Or maybe I've gotten old. That must be it. I just can't be bothered with being cranky. It takes too much effort.
Anyway, I'm enjoying the slower pace of my holiday season. I hope I can replicate this next year.
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no subject
Date: 2009-12-18 11:43 pm (UTC)We bake cookies on Christmas eve. Have a quiet Christmas. Play with Legos, our Chaos perpetual motion set, play games, and/or Rock Band for a day. Generally we try to take a few days as relaxed family/couple days. It's wonderful.
On Legos for the kids, at least they want creative things which are great for their mind and will help them understand the world better! :-)