Yes. I have resolutions this year. And I'll get around to posting those this week. But first I want to deconstruct the holiday that just was.
Yesterday as I was boxing up stuff I said to myself, "Self, I never want to feel this way again after Christmas," i.e. totally GRATEFUL that Christmas is over. It's not that I want to be all "Oh no! Christmas is all over! Now I have to put my head in the oven!" But I do want to feel like I enjoyed the season the way I have in the past.
This year, though, I just felt crushed by it all. Flattened. Steamrollered. Is steamrollered even a word? Or did I just make that up? I felt tired and stressed and so grumpy that I thought if I heard another carol I would rip my ears off my head with my own bare hands. And the music is usually my favorite part of Christmas.
What happened to me? How can I prevent this from happening again? Help me Obiwan Kenobi! Please, help me!
Thoughts, anyone?
(And btw I missed you.)
11 comments:
In contrast to you, I often feel the way you feel now, but didn't this year. Here are some things that contributed, I think:
1. my husband and I kept it really simple--one present apiece, and dinner together on Christmas Eve (that meant that we had something special together, whereas in the past we have just run around like chickens with our heads cut off).
2. my kids came over Christmas Eve morning and we had brunch, which, while there are a lot of them and I made plenty of food, breakfast food is so much less stressful than dinner food. And again, because of that brunch, we had less running to do on Christmas Day.
3. because of these changes, I got my baking done earlier.
4. and I thought of baking and the giving of food items as a season-long thing, rather than a "got to get it done before the 24th" thing. Last year I didn't give away any baked goods at all, which in some ways simplified things bug I didn't like that particular simplification.
I can't exactly codify why I felt so relieved from work or mostly relaxed during the break, but I did, and the above are the differences. I really, really enjoyed the holidays this year. Oh, and
5. went to church with my son. It's not that the service itself was amazing, but I did love going.
Would love to deconstruct further! It is one of my specialities!
I, too, usually feel steamrollered (yes, it's a word :)), but this year was much more calm. We simplified our gift-giving and focused much more on things outside our family.
However, I was so sick of Christmas music I could DIE, which is horribly unlike me. I wish someone could write a whole bunch of new carols, make them instant classics, and not sing them in the popular, sliding, vocal-tricky style. End of soapbox.
I've got nothing to help you. But I do know the feeling of Bad Christmas Carol Overload, and I thought I'd pass on the Cure: Pandora's PG-Comedy Radio station. It made cooking and wrapping and laundry and cleaning with the kiddos so much more delightful. And then when the Carols came (which of course, they did) I handled (HANDELed?) them with grace. Mostly.
I feel this way every year. I'm ok with it though. There's something to be said about putting away all the Christmas decorations, cleaning the house till it's sparkling, and ringing in the new year sans Christmas stuff.
Also, is it just me? Or does my living room seem enormous without a tree?
As we discussed one day over yummy Indian food, some years/Christmases are just like that. I've had my share. But I was relieved when I found it was NOT the beginning of a trend. The good times still manage to roll in, interrupted from time to time by a sucky one.
Much love. R.
Well I'll tell you two things that will definitely put a damper on any holiday season:
1. Family member getting married on the 23rd of December. I mean, really? Really? Well actually they called if off on the 19th, it was back on on the 20th, and then back off on the 21st. Drama, drama, drama. All in the midst of Christmas. And very few attending family members and friends from either side were locals.
2. Best friend getting married on the 30th of December. Really? What is wrong with these people? I hope your anniversary is not within a week of Christmas, cause I'm just here to tell ya, it's brain damage that leads a person to think it's a good idea to get married at the end of December. Don't these people know, that for the rest of their married lives, their anniversaries will always be overshadowed with the holiday hullabalu.
Argh. I was so bugged by it all. It just seemed selfish and thoughtless to plan events like this during the holidays.
Blah... Soapbox over.
ALSO: I listened to approximately one Christmas album this year. I think that that, realistically, may have helped. Also: all the Glee I watched while cooking/grading/ etc.
I was up up up before and into Christmas and collapsed completely the day after. Didn't make it out of bed by noon for a full week. I have structured myself a busy winter. Can't wait to see if that actually works.
Limit Christmas music to these 5 songs:
1. Little Mary Christmas
2. Tiny Tim singing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer;
3. Happy Birthday, Jesus (She said "you was so awful good")
4. Bruce Springsteens "Santa Clause is Coming To Town"; and most importantly,
5. Santa Claus is a Black Man ("I can dig it").
It's just like shooting womp rats back home in Beggar's Canyon. (Just substitute Mariah Carey and Josh Groban where it says "womp rats").
I totally understand, and in fact it is exactly how I felt.......steamrollered, flattened.....and I kept wondering what happened to Christmas? I never turned the lights on the banisters.....not once. I didn't decorate packages.....I went Christmas shopping Christmas eve.....one day....all gifts one day.
It was just odd....I am not sure why it worked out that way, so no idea to keep it from happening again.
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