Being Thankful and Not Losing Your Mind

Hello faithful blog followers! Did everyone have the worst time getting up today and dragging themselves to work? (Insert hand raise here)

 

Needless to say, Thanksgiving was WONDERFUL.  This is how cozy things were for 3 days at my parent's homestead...

 

 

Warm socks, champagne, and a Christmas tree.  Sigh...Life doesn't get much better than that. 

 

It was a little bittersweet to go home one last time as a single girl.  I cried over things like....."this is the last time I'll....(insert phrase here)."  Like "this is the last time I'll go on my annual Thanksgiving walk with my parents around our neighborhood by myself."  Or "this is the last time I'll roast a chicken and do the main meal....".  Because my manly man likes to do things like fry and smoke turkeys in a BBQ pit.  I'll just stick with providing green bean casserole next year :)

 

But look at my bird, isn't it pretty???? With bacon????

 

 Now that T-day has come and gone, the holidays are officially in full swing.  The wedding is 13 days away (which blows my mind).  Work is crazy busy and I feel like this time of year just snuck up on me.  This is ALWAYS one of my favorite times of year.  Things are festive, the shopping is fun, and life just seems so pretty with the twinkly lights in the background. 

 

But I've learned as I've gotten older that not EVERYONE loves this time of year like I do.  I have a good friend that is a nurse that used to work every holiday in the hospital for years.  And she did not love it.  She came home to a house all alone.  She was not in love with Santa while changing bedpans.  She told me this story years ago and I was like literally sitting there with my jaw on the ground like "YOU DON'T LOVE CHRISTMAS?!?!??!?!"

 

 

(THIS IS ME EVERY. SINGLE. YEAR.  I am Buddy the Elf)

 

And I started to think about it for what the holidays really mean to a lot of people.  It's really freaking stressful.  First, you start eating a lot of foot until your pants are so uncomfortable that they leave marks on you.  Like you could take them off and every seam and button would show up on your skin. Then you indulge in way too much football (and probably alcohol, again, tight pants).   Your family shows up, including the ones that drive you crazy.  You're excited to see each other at first, and then you're like "MMMMMMMkkkkk, you can go back to where you came from".  Shopping is a nightmare.  Traffic sucks.  There's so many kids in line to see Santa and they're all crying.  Who WOULDN'T lose their mind trying to plan the perfect holiday????

 

Here's what I've learned over the years and how I manage to still enjoy it without totally having a meltdown. 

 

Sometimes, when I'm super stressed at work, I take a short walk, even when the phone is ringing off the hook.  Work will always be there when you get back.

 

SHOP! Don't overspend, but sometimes a little retail therapy is fun.

 

Get that Christmas movie channel guide, put on your footie jammies, and watch some old school classics.  I LOVE all of the clay-mation movies like Rudolph.  How that that not make you happy?

 

Get your friends together and do Christmas crafts.

 

MAKE COOKIES! Even if you don't eat them, your house will smell good and truth be told, your man will probably eat those things when he walks in the door.

 

If your family is around, and you're about to flip out Jerry McGuire style by the fish tank, just go outside, breathe some air, maybe disappear for a few minutes, regroup, come back, and you'll be fine.  Family stuff can be stressful, but if you love 'em, join 'em. 

 

If you have kids and you take them to get Santa pictures made and they freak out or cry, post that shiz ALL over the Facebook so that we can all laugh with you.  Beacuse we all know we didn't like that weird bearded man way back in the day.

 

4 Words: National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

 

 

 Doesn't that list make you the feel the slightest bit better?  Are your nerves calm now?  Or the one you have left?

 

Most of all, enjoy yourself.  Try not to flip out.  Because at the end of the day, you're one day closer to the beginning of a new year.  And that my friends is how life goes.  Time keeps on ticking away, it's how we choose to spend it that's important.

I'll try to post up a few more posts before the wedding.  No promises, but I'm feeling inspired and all in love before the big day (gag, I know!).

 

Happy Holidays you guys!