Friday, December 18, 2009

Holiday Stress

Yes yes, the holiday season is joyful and fun and full of pink puffy hearts and blah blah blah, but let's be honest...there's always an element of stress, isn't there? Rushing to get things done, presents purchased and wrapped, houses cleaned, fingernails manicured (is that just me?!), yadda yadda. I have been really looking forward to my two week long vacation (which starts TODAY, by the way!)...thinking about how restful it will be. One week at home spent hanging out with Matt, one week in southern Florida/Savannah/Nashville.

Of course, the more I think about my restful "week"...the more I realize I don't have a week at all, and the time I have certainly won't be restful. Assuming that I don't do anything useful around the house today (which, um, I'm won't...I have to celebrate my vacation!), starting tomorrow I have to clean everything. I have to get the guest room ready for two sets of visitors. Pack for a trip to a few different climates. Get Christmas stuff ready. Finish writing out my Christmas cards. Stamp and mail them. Clean out the fridge. Blah blah blah.

All of this must be done by Wednesday, because our friends are coming to stay that night and then we're leaving the following morning, on Christmas Eve. Before we head to my SIL's house (and we have to be there at NOON on Christmas Eve, yikes...not exactly sure how we'll get out the door!), I have to quickly get the apartment ready for Guests #2, my parents. We'll be spending a couple of days with my in-laws and then heading straight to the airport from their house on Saturday. So when we leave Christmas Eve morning, we won't be back until around the 1st. Gah.

Until then...I will try to relax, calm down, clean and scrub my apartment and do a gazillion loads of laundry. I'm hoping to still have some time for fun in there...hopefully I can pull that off. Please note that I am very grateful for this time off, even if it ends up being as crazy as going to work!

What does your holiday season look like? Hectic or relaxing? A coworker of mine has 8 - yes, EIGHT - Christmas celebrations to go to this week. That seems a little out of control, no?

10 comments:

BonBon Rose Girls Kristin said...

Soooooooo hectic this weekend, but then I did it to myself waiting until the last minute. Being sick (and a procrastinator) means I have to get a lot done this weekend. In my post today I suggested that anyone who has to head to the mall this weekend, has a couple mimosas first!

Lucky in Love said...

As you know....stress is through the roof with me right now. But, I get to deliver one cake today and the last one tomorrow...and then the celebrating can begin!

Next week shouldn't be super crazy. We are driving home on Wednesday and then will be there until Sunday. Oh I need to sleep in :)

Wishing you lots of relaxing days on your two week vacation!

Anonymous said...

Agreed.

Current worry: Stupid DC drivers in the snow this evening and whether or not to drive down to the in-laws place.

Our Christmas travels involve VA-to-MD, MD-to-CT, CT-to-MD, MD-to-PA. This year there's a break between CT-to-MD and MD-to-PA so that's nice, but still. I'm tired, y'all!

I hope it all goes well for you, lady!

XOXO

Kayla said...

Don't worry, everything will fall into place! Just enjoy yourself! And gosh, 8 Christmases is a bit much! Have a great Stress Free weekend!

Jenn said...

Good luck with everything!! Visitors around the holidays are always so stressful. You want to enjoy your time with them - but are thinking of the million things you should be doing - so it ends up being more stressful than anything!!

We have 6 Christmas celebrations between Thurs-Saturday of next week & 9 if you count the ones we're going to this weekened. :)

Lucy Marie said...

I've got some melted cheese, a big glass of wine and a pedicure waiting with your name on it. Love you, friend. You'll make it.

bianca said...

I'm always stressed during the holidays. With people coming and going, cleaning to be done, wrapping and decorating, etc, it seems hard to be extremely excited. However, I always manage to pull through at the last minute.

Enjoy your vacation!!!

d.a.r. said...

Ours are normally SOOOO stressful because our families all live so close and we feel obligated to stop and see EVERYONE. We've decided to just do one day with Z's side and one day with mine. If people want to see us that desperately, they know where to find us. Awful? Maybe. But it was beginning to feel like we were only seeing people to check them off the list and not because any of us were enjoying it. And that felt worse.

Good luck with the stress...

Brittany Ann said...

Amen! It's fun, but whoa stressful! It's hard to even think about getting it all done!

Perfectly Imperfect said...

You're heading to Savannah again?! You must pop on by one time while you're in my lovely town!

Enjoy your holidays! Try not to get too stressed out girlie!