Dealing with festival stress way too much, someone with me on this one?

You’re not wrong. Holidays can be a lot. I try to get to bed as early as possible and be sure to eat a good breakfast.

Make a list, check it twice. Find out who is naughty or nice.

I just do the best I can. I also don’t fret if I miss something. I still take time for me. Why would I ever change that?
If someone gives me shit about what I am doing or what I missed, I would just let them know if it crossed a boundary or ask where they can help.
I also don’t surround myself in people who create those kinds of stressors or engage in self stress.
Life is too short to be stressed about the end goal and not enjoy the journey.

It’s a lot but compared to the rest of the stress in my life Christmas is trivial. I’m more than happy to do Christmas stuff, it should be relaxing. I see so many people stress about the holidays, often needlessly over things that don’t matter that much. Prioritize, do what is most important and don’t let the small things get in the way. Most of all enjoy doing it if you can.

For years I have been working on the premise that I might be ready by February, and that eased things up a lot. I do what I can, at a reasonable pace, now. House not as clean as you’d like it? Nobody actually cares. Behind on wrapping? Gift bags. Everybody has to work out their own issues with shopping, but I found that promises of a later event helps save time (a lunch out, a movie, a concert, something that takes place in the New Year).

I am stupid and goofy when I’m tired, so I just stop all the prep at a certain time of day, and relax. That’s how I do my “me time”.

Take it easy on yourself, if nobody dies, you’ve done a good job. :-)

It takes a lot for me to get into the “holiday spirit” these days and I generally keep it pretty simple with occasional fits of frenzy. I think what helps is trying to sort out the people and activities that are really meaningful for you to do and just do them. It takes practice!

It’s the celebration of the birth of Christ. Don’t let anything detract from that. You can eat ham sandwiches with family and go to Mass and have a wonderful Christmas. Exchange gifts at New Years if you just must spend a lot of money.

Only stress now is getting ready to perform at the Chanukah celebration this coming Sunday. We will only have 4 dancers instead of the usual 10–14 and our instructor is out, because she is in cancer treatment. Just not the same, but we’ll see what happens. I hope nothing happens that we only wind up with 2 or 3 dancers.

As far as I know we are not going to my inlaws for Christmas, which means I have zero Christmas stress. Let’s see if my husband changes his mind.

The only thing I do for Christmas is show up if I’m invited to something (although with covid around I might not even do that depending on the venue). I make a nice dinner for my husband and myself, but not a huge Christmas dinner, just one favorite entree, rice, and sometimes soup, out of the 10 foods my MIL usually has on the table.

I don’t decorate much. For me, the main stress has always been getting gifts for people.

If you can limit the gift list, that would probably be a big help.

@canidmajor

“Take it easy on yourself, if nobody dies, you’ve done a good job. :-)”

That’s a good one and I agree. :-)

I’ve been following the Holiday Hippocratic Oath since 2003 (I became an orphan on December 25, 2002).