When Kevin and I were driving back on Saturday from Pawleys, we were discussing our schedule over the next few weeks and I was spazzing out over all that I have to do.
- buy for a few more people, luckily I did most of this in advance
- wrap 9 teacher gifts (like whoa!)
- take Molly Anne and Grady to do ALL of the fun Christmas activities - this year - Polar Express, Ballantyne gingerbread houses, Ritz gingerbread house, the Bears uptown, Santa brunch, Nutcracker and more..
- wrap lots of gifts that we are giving and some that my parents are giving
- figure out what the heck to get for Molly Anne
- holiday parties - whoop!
- Christmas parties for my children at school - organize and put them on
- Christmas program and parade for Molly Anne (two different days)
- Work party
- Put our Christmas decorations up but keep them away from a little boy that lives in our home
- Change out lights for our spotlights out front. Change extension cord to white from green.
- Make fudge, our annual tradition
- Package and mail gifts for out of town family
- Take a Christmas card picture, design and purchase card, stuff the envelopes, mail them
- Drive around and look at lights
- Plan Christmas Eve and Day food
- Move that Elf around and be somewhat creative with it. I already didn't do anything special when he came to our house...no different breakfast, pajamas or any of that haha
ALL of these random, FUN things. But they take time. And planning. And time.
Don't get me wrong, I love it all but it's a lot. I've had to say no to some parties and I hate saying no to things I love.
Kevin so nicely said when we were talking about it - "why do you put all of this on yourself?" And he's right but I do it because it's fun and more importantly because Molly Anne and Grady love it!
Anyone feel me?! Don't get me wrong, I'm thankful to be able to do it all and experience it all. Trust me! I'm thankful every day.
In the meantime, I shall exercise to maintain sanity in between crazy work stuff these days! Some people forget I have a real day job that takes up a lot of my brain capacity haha! It weighs more on me then I ever think it does. I'll keep on truckin.
Fa la la la la!!!
It is such a tough season to try to do it all. Try not to stress too much about all the special activities for the kids; just the season alone and being together is magical to them.
ReplyDeleteIt’s hard. I’ve definitely been there. Now that my kids are older, I found a resource on IG where they can list what is most special to them about Christmas. We do those things (some of which were a total surprise to me- not what I thought they would have chosen!) and we can not worry about the rest! Makes it so I’m not grumpy trying to make magical memories when it isn’t even the stuff that’s important to them!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kevin, either scale back or quit mentioning your stress. Your children are truly precious, that is the real reason for the season. Ask another room parent to take some of the gift buying, wrapping etc to their list.
ReplyDeleteI googled Christmas gifts for children according to age. Several sites popped up and I got some good some good ideas for my grandchildren.
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