So last time we talked about making a Plan.
A conscious decision on what and how we plan on celebrating during the upcoming Holiday Season.
Cutting back and just partaking in those rituals and activities that we have the time and money to afford, and that we truly enjoy.
Here is my Prioritized List.
Traveling to visit with Family.
Sending a few Holiday Cards.
Shopping for and exchanging gifts with family.
Cooking Christmas dinner.
Charity.
Baking cookies and pies.
Christmas Tree.
A Christmas eve meal and show or movie.
*Our actual plans(if we are traveling or not mostly)are still up in the air at this point in time but to me, the being with family & friends at Christmas is most important.
*So I will reach out via cards this year to those I can't physically be with during the Season.
*While we aren't all about the getting stuff, we do exchange gifts and I, er...I mean "Santa" fills everyone's stocking with goodies.
*If we don't travel, I'll cook Christmas dinner and host the meal...if we travel I'll help whoever is cooking or provide edibles for the meal.
*We'll donate time/money through some organization as we do every year and hopefully we can get the kids involved since they are in more need of a life lesson than us grownups. ;-)
*The baking will be a multi-person activity and not just me thundering around the kitchen complaining about all this work and that no one is offering to help me.
*The tree will be put up but the extent of 'bling' also strewn about the house will depend on how the travel plans mesh out and if anyone else here is interested in helping out with that.
*On Christmas eve we have a tradition of a meal out together and then a family activity.....going to a show of some kind or a Holiday movie. If we can't find something to agree on we'll sit home with some of the cookies we baked and didn't give away and watch a Holiday movie on the tv/dvd player.
I don't have young children, so there are no additional activities like Taking them to Talk to Santa, school/friend's/organizations kid parties, buying teacher/classmate gifts and such. Not having to contend with all that sure cuts down on the time/energy/money commitments at the Holidays.
And I don't work outside the home so I don't have office parties, gift exchanges, etc. vying for my time/money.
Add in that we aren't big party throwing people either and we don't have church affiliated activities to contend with.
The list I end up with is a pretty modest one of stuff to get done by Dec. 25th and I can easily fit it all into my regular weekly "To Do" list without driving myself insane with the added work and stress if I plan ahead and work it all in to the next 7 weeks a little bit at a time.
So are you motivated to make a "To Do" list and make it a reasonable length?
If you find you have just too much to accomplish and not enough time/energy/money, try cutting down or cutting out just one thing that you have to do this Holiday Season.
What would you cut out of your "To Do" List this year and why?
Speaking of stress, next time we'll talk about the Cost of the Holidays and ideas on how to lower the expenses that pile up during this Season.
Sluggy
One thing I've cut back on a lot already is cooking. In the past, both here at home and whenever my side of the family would have a gathering, it was our tradition to have spread of appetizers and snacks instead of a more organized meal.
ReplyDeleteMy family no longer gets together for Christmas and my daughter and son-in-law are vegans and won't eat most of what I make, so I've cut back drastically on my snack-making. This is a good thing, because I usually went overboard with the food, anyway.
As for Christmas Eve dinner and a show, we tried that one year. We wanted to go out to eat and then go do something fun. If it worked out, we'd try to make it a tradition. I was so surprised at how many "fun spots" closed at 5:00 or 6:00 in the evening. Kid-friendly amusement centers, bowling alleys, ice skating -- all closed early. Some restaurants did, too. No one was interested in seeing a movie at a theater. The only thing we could find to do was eat at a Chinese buffet. Fa-ra-ra-ra-ra.
Since I'm a telecommuter and my boss is in California as well as being Jewish, we don't get a Christmas retreat or party or anything...
ReplyDeleteFor our family, I would cut out hosting for my hubbies family. When they come for the holidays, it's 3-4 days of laundry, cooking and cleaning while they're here... and of course the same for the previous days in prep of them coming. Also I have to have the dogs out at the local kennel instead of having them at home because all the relatives bring their own dogs. The animals don't get along.
So to simplify, I would definitely simplify...
Shoot! I lost my response!
ReplyDeleteBasically - it was to not let relatives come for the holiday!!!!
Ahhhhh, the holidays. Every year I go into them desperately wanting to "Feel" the holiday spirit again like I used to.
ReplyDeleteBecause we/I went low-carb years ago, baking -- in general -- is pretty much a goner, and I think that has a lot to do with not feeling the spirit anymore. Decorating cookies was a Huge deal when I was a kid, and now I just don't do it anymore at all. I may have to rethink that. If I can bake, decorate and somehow *not* eat everything that results, maybe that will still bring about a little holiday spirit.
I used to enjoy going with my family to holiday parties. But now that I'm the grup, I really don't - I don't usually get invited, and when I do go, I don't feel much of a spirit. Office parties come to mind.
So basically, while I want my childhood back, it's most definitely gone now -- and that sucks. LOL! But I still really want to feel the spirit of the holidays again. Thank the heavens for the movies! From "It's a Charlie Brown Christmas" and the (original) "Grinch" on TV to "White Christmas" and "It's a Wonderful Life" (also on TV) in the movies. That helps a lot.
We've scaled down our tree to something pretty much the size of Charlie Brown's, prelit, and last year I didn't even pull out the decorations. Why? Because no one seems interested in helping with any of it. So we'll see. I may end up putting up a few decorations strictly for the cats' entertainment.
Man, I'm just getting all depressed here. That's not right!
How to find that spirit again -- without the calories, without somehow inventing a time machine, without setting up massive decorative displays for just me and the cats, without going to office parties I'd rather not be at.
Music, movies on TV, scented candles/incense/potpourri, baking without eating, visiting with the few family members who are left. Hopefully, that will do the trick :)
I don't need to cut anything out. I love Christmas and it is pretty stress free for us. Jealous?
ReplyDelete