Part of me is like "HOLD ON!" I want to enjoy each holiday for what it is and take my time with each one.
On the other hand, I am a planner and I AM thinking about how what we are doing for Thanksgiving and Gifts and activities for Christmas.
The holiday stress of deciding who to spend time with has gotten easier after nearly 10 years of marriage. We have a pattern now that seems to work for everyone. We are very fortunate to have nearly all of our family within driving distance - it's something that we are working hard to keep. However, it makes it a little crazy when you try to be everywhere for every holiday. I am really glad we have worked most of that out.
I also don't really cook. I'm support for anyone who does. I'm the table setter, table clearer, organizer, etc... One day, my roll will change and we will probably pay dearly for it, so I am enjoying my time just eating and cleaning at this point ;)
I do bake, but it's only as much as I can handle that given year and how much I can get done with our schedule and kids everywhere. This year, I think baked goods are going to be one of my main gifts since it can be done inexpensively, so I need to plan my time and budget accordingly.
Having so much family in the area makes Christmas very "big" for the kids. They tend to get more stuff than we can decide what to do with in the aftermath so we have asked that it be limited some. Especially since this is the first year that Booboo will really understand what is happening, I don't want another one with grandiose ideas of what Christmas can amount to. I want the kids to enjoy it, but also focus on what it's really about.
I am kind of happy the Toys R Us wish book came this weekend, ya know? And Kmart's and something from Target... It felt wrong at first, but I got a really good idea of what the kids are interested in this year and I can start looking out for the best price and selection now.
Did I mention we also have multiple birthdays and our 10th anniversary in there with the holidays?
My husband I don't really exchange gifts for our birthdays or anniversary, we usually combine all three into a date night at a nice restaurant or something.
But it's a biggie for Dude, he's going to be 5!
Every year it's tough to schedule his birthday party because he was born the week before Thanksgiving. It feels like too much to ask people to travel twice in one week and buy gifts or make food. We are having something for him, definitely, but it won't be the whole family this year. I have huge Momma guilt over it, as I do every year.
I knew someone years ago who also happened to share her birthday with Thanksgiving. She said it always kind of hurt that the holiday overtook her birthday celebration. One year she was actually presented with a giant turkey shaped cake as her birthday cake and she said it was the worst birthday ever. She actually cried afterwards. That story has stayed with me for nearly 20 years and I will not let that ever be Dude's feelings about his importance in our lives.
He has told me, thanks to the catalogs in the mail, exactly what he wants this year. This is the first time he has had something so specific in mind and I want to be able to come through for him.
I know that most of this was rambling and I actually sat down to write with a whole different purpose. This is what came out, lol. Thanks for letting me ramble :)
