Friday, December 16, 2011

I'm No Scrooge, But...

I'm just not feeling Christmas this year. It seems like I say the same darn thing every year. Judging from Facebook status updates and talking to my friends, I know that I'm not alone. Is it always like this for parents? We're just so stressed out and over-scheduled (...and broke...) that it sucks all the fun out of Christmas?

I start out excited. I love shopping for my kids, and this year I got a fairly early start. But then it starts getting closer and closer to the big day, and the obligations keep piling on, and pretty soon I'm feeling sort of sick to my stomach because, well, I'm no mathematician but I'm positive there are not enough hours between now and Christmas to do everything that needs to get done.

I'm sad that my kids have to go to school through Thursday next week. I should maybe be glad about that because at least it gives me a chance to do some last minute shopping without them, and perhaps even get started on wrapping while they're in school. But I'd rather they were home next week. I'm annoyed because just yesterday Bethany's basketball coach gave us the schedule for their basketball tournament (which we just found out about on Monday), and they have SIX games next week, including one at 8:30 on a school night (she goes to bed at 9:00!) and two games on Friday (as in, the day before Christmas Eve!), the only day my kids don't have school next week, when we could have potentially done something fun and festive together. I'm stressing slightly because I'm not sure what to get for the last few people on my list. There are things I really want to do, like bake tons of cookies, that I know I'm not going to have as much time for as I'd like. And other projects I really wanted to get to which will definitely not be happening. Will it be weird if I'm making Christmas stockings and a tree skirt in January? And then all that wrapping, cleaning, and meal planning that needs to get done.

Ugh. I need to find my joie de vivre. Like stat.

What about you? Are you all psyched up for Christmas this year? Me, well I'm going to try a little harder.

No comments: