December Plans

A few years ago, Christmas was the most stressful time of the year for me. As soon as the Christmas songs started on the stores, I could feel myself getting anxious about the shopping, the baking, the cleaning. Around 2014, I realized that I was the only person who could fix my anxiety, by planning. Now, planning doesn't sound like any fun, but it helped me survive.



Here are things that I am counting as accomplishments, as well, as stressors because this Holiday season is never free of stress.
  •  I have 13 working days left in the month, and somehow, I need to find a way to take 4 days off, but still complete all my work. This is a source of a lot of anxiety for me, but I will sit down and come up with a plan today.
  • I am 85% done with Christmas shopping. Going to the store tonight, and finishing the shopping for 2 more siblings.
  • My next 3 weekends are booked. Visiting my parents and the Christmas Market in Philly, Movie with my bros, and Christmas weekend.
  • I'm only making two types of cookies this year. Chocolate chip and Snicker doodles. Both are family favorites. As much as I enjoy trying out different cookies, there simply is no time this year.
Ah, I think that now that it's all written down, I feel better about planning it out.

What is stressing you out this season?
What big plans do you have for the next month?
Are you baking cookies?
What are your favorite cookies?

I leave you with one of my favorite Christmas songs... yes, that is a young Ricky Martin, when he was Huge in Mexico.

Comments

  1. Planning things out and writing them down definitely helps me manage stress as well! I'm impressed you make multiple types of cookies :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I used to make 6 different types of cookies, and at least one was one that I was making for the first time. while it was fun, I my kitchen was a huge mess right before Christmas.

      Delete
  2. I understand about the holiday stress!!! I've learned that less can be more. I've found that family and friends are usually more than happy with a single type of cookie, for example, but what a difference it makes for me only bake one or two versus half a dozen types! Similarly, at Thanksgiving we kept things pretty simple this year with only a few types of dishes. It was more than enough but it made the prep so much easier!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, you get it!! less is more!! I found that the harder we tried to make things perfect, the more annoying the holiday became!

      I'm glad you have made things simpler for yourself too!

      Delete
  3. Yep. I totally relate. I feel like I've slowly hated Christmas more and more with each passing year and then this year I was just like NO. I WON'T HATE CHRISTMAS ANYMORE. So I'm not. I may or may not be white-knuckling it, but it's a lot better than giving up and just being a big jerk. I've been doing a lot of shopping, and I'm quite happy about that. I have to go out today to get a few more things, but I need to run first so that I'm not homicidal. I've already spilled hot coffee on my lap and bashed my shin on the corner of a piece of furniture, so hopefully the rest of the day perks up a bit. It's not even 9am.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hope your day got better! There is nowhere to go now but up!!


      You get it!! I had to make a choice to Not hate the holidays too, and instead make it easier. Somethings we still have to white-knuckle... I know for me, it will be the standing in line at the cashiers... that is my least favorite part of shopping.

      Delete
  4. I'm glad that you are making lists to lessen your stress level during the holiday season! This might sound mean, but I try to eliminate all the unnecessary things like cookie making and additional gift exchanges (outside of family) so I can concentrate on the things that I really need to do. The only "extra" thing I do is go to the Senior Center and help wrap gifts for the elderly. I don't actually consider this stressful though, I count it as my good deed...haha!

    I hope you enjoy the season Ana!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh my god! that is so awesome!! they must really appreciate having you help out with wrapping presents! I say that we all need to do something that is for somebody else this season, or all year!

      Delete
  5. Oh Ricky Martin... you definitely got better looking with age!

    I am glad writing things out make you feel less stressed. It sounds like you are committed to doing the traditions that are important to you and just letting all the stressful stuff roll off your back.

    Okay I am listening to the song as I type this! I didn't realize it was going to be the John Lennon song! I do not understand Spanish. I took 1 year of it in HS. I took 3 years of French (remember so little...) and 1 year of Spanish... where I forget practically everything. :( I really wish I was bilingual.

    This month I am singing the song "Gracias" with my students- every grade level. Gracias is the only Spanish word in the song, but many students raise their hand and tell me they speak Spanish at home which is FREAKING AMAZING TO ME because they speak English quite well and then speak Spanish at home... impressed.

    Maybe my New Year's resolution should be to learn another language.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I checked with the experts (Roger) and he says that it is a John Lennon song, I had heard them both, but never made the connection, thanks!

      Yes, make it your goal to learn another language! You can do it!

      Delete

Post a Comment