Whew, what a week. A week that turned out to be way more stressful and exhausting than I thought it was going to be. I’ve been feeling a lot more resentful and angry than full of cheer and holiday spirit. Christmas is SO MUCH WORK. I counted it out today, for the sake of venting about it, and realized I had to pick out, order or drive to a store and buy, wrap, and distribute gifts to THIRTY-FIVE different people. And every single person got more than one gift, even if it was just a variety of small things. That’s a lot of presents, guys. Presents that basically took me three entire days to wrap, from the wee hours of the morning to bedtime. Don’t get me wrong, I love gift giving. It’s my love language and I adore picking out the perfect gifts for people. But gifts for 35 people in just a few short weeks? That’s more than a full time job’s worth of work. And I’m feeling it. Mentally and physically. Leaning over a table wrapping for hours and hours pays a toll on your back! But mostly I’m just feeling resentful that any and all Christmas related things fall on my shoulders alone. It’s really dragging me down.
The real problem is that I started every day deciding what I would do for myself that day in the midst of the to do lists. Be it a nap, a long reading break, a trip to wander the antique store, etc. I had a plan in place every single day for self care that would not leave me feeling the way I do now. BUT I didn’t do it. Any of the things. So I have no one to blame but myself. I try to make self care one of my highest priorities in December so I actually enjoy the Christmas season. But this year I have real issues with my obsession for GETTING THINGS DONE first and foremost and above all else. It’s a problem. For the record, I’m starting this post on Friday afternoon – but I DO have a plan for tomorrow that I’m definitely going to follow through on. Hopefully by the end of the post you’ll see that I did it. 🙂
Okay, venting over. The week wasn’t all bad. I don’t think I wrote about it yet, but last Saturday we had our Christmas date. Normally we go to State Street because I love to see all the pretty lights around the Capital. But it was so cold out that we planned a west side date instead. We saw Ladybird and both loved it!
Then we had dinner at my beloved HuHot. So good! Afterward we wandered around Barnes and Noble for a long time. It was a very low key date, but I think it’s what we both needed. Because we started the date so early (we’re old people) we were home by 7 and watched the Psych Christmas movie.
On Sunday morning I picked up the boys from Grandma’s and we came home and made our annual gingerbread houses. Twinkle (the elf) always brings a different variety of house each year. The boys have such a good time decorating them.
Shepard was a little low on patience this year, but once he figured out how to make the strands of lights he was happy.
I spent the entire rest of the day sewing like mad. I was bound and determined to meet my Tuesday deadline for getting all 30 dolls finished and listed. It was intense. I don’t want to spend December weekends working like that. So next year I hope to go back to taking the whole month off. We’ll see. 🙂
Monday morning began with another snowfall. Shepard helped me shovel before school and I finished after I dropped them off. Annie loves to stay outside with us, but was super sad that her chain only reaches halfway down the driveway. She just laid there whimpering, even though I was only a few feet away!
Before jumping back into work, I met a few friends for coffee at a local shop. It was so nice! I hope that kind of thing happens more often. It was nice to have a really low key little get together. Even better that I didn’t have to organize it! Sometimes I feel like the only way I ever see people is if I’m the one to make it happen. Which sometimes makes me wonder if people actually want to see me!
At least someone has been enjoying my cozy Christmas corner all week!
To my absolute joy, I finished all 30 Christmas dolls by Monday afternoon. And because Greg was home sick (headache), he picked up the boys after school so I had just enough light to get them photographed and listed that night. So exciting! It’s so hard making such a giant batch of dolls at once because it feels like every step is excruciatingly long. But when I’m done? It’s the greatest sense of accomplishment. And when I sell 15 of those 30 dolls within two hours of listing them it makes me want to jump back into making more! 🙂
Later Monday night we were dealing with a mini Rory crisis. He goes through these cycles where he likes to lick at and bite one of his nipples until it bleeds. The vet looked at it and thinks that he’s just an overzealous groomer. This time it was pretty bad because our entire bed was covered in his blood… So we had to create this makeshift diaper and then carry him around all night because he wasn’t able to walk in it. The bleeding eventually stopped and he’s fine now.
Annie, who is not much of a cuddler, had to reclaim me during tv time that night by laying on top of me. She wanted Rory to know his place! She doesn’t realize Rory has been my baby for 12 long years before she came along!
This post is making me think I might take too many pictures of Annie. 🙂 But she’s just so happy and cute all the time!
Tuesday I did have some down time. I sat at my computer all morning and then went grocery shopping. But I got some fun reading in, which feels like it hasn’t happened much lately.
On Wednesday I set up this treat box for all the delivery people that aid in my online shopping addiction. I started seeing ideas for this online around Thanksgiving and just couldn’t deal with one more added thing to do. But next year I definitely plan to start earlier since that’s when the bulk of my shopping takes place. I’ve been enjoying sneaking peeks out the window after every delivery to see what people have taken.
We were laughing that Annie was sitting so loftily on top of two stacked pillows. Shepard wanted a picture with her, but of course she immediately started moving all around. Too cute, though. Well, maybe not so cute to everyone else who is probably getting really sick of my onslaught of dog pictures every single day!
I spent basically all day Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday wrapping presents. I did do some more shopping on Thursday. I keep thinking I’m done and then realize I need something else.
Every day this week I drove the boys to school so I could take Annie to the dog park immediately after. I’ve also driven to pick them up after school every day for like the last three weeks. I’m a little ashamed at how lazy we’ve gotten and winter hasn’t even technically started yet!! But it’s so annoying listening to them complain about the cold all the way to or from school. If I drive them then they’re just excited to get to school and play on the playground (where it’s apparently not cold). Plus it’s nice to get Annie to the dog park right away and just be done for the day. Also, one awesome thing about winter – I can wear half my pajamas and not have showered yet in the mornings and nobody knows! Being super bundled up has its advantages!! The disadvantage of going to the dog park at 7:45 am is that we’re either the only ones there or we’re only there with the regulars who have dogs that don’t like to play. Annie LOVES running full speed all around the park, but you can tell she really wishes a playmate would show up.
Late Thursday night Greg saw the new Star Wars movie with his dad and friend. Then on Friday we all went to see it. We had dinner at Mod Pizza beforehand. So tasty!
It probably wasn’t a great idea to bring Shepard to the movie. He got pretty squirmy about a quarter of the way in, trying to stay awake. Eventually he just curled up and went to sleep. Hopefully nobody noticed his snoring! Overall, I liked the movie! I’m not a major Star Wars fan, but it’s fun to go see the new ones.
Today I was determined to do some things for me. It’s been a long week of doing everything I had to do and not much I really wanted. I started the day checking out the Holiday Farmer’s Market in Madison. It was pretty nice! I just bought a couple of things. Then I did a little grocery shopping before meeting up with Brittany (my sister-in-law) to do a bit more shopping. Then I went home and took a very long nap. I think once again the week is catching up with me and I’m paying for it over the weekend. It also occurred to me that my allergies might be acting up. My eyes have been really puffy and itchy and that’s the most logical explanation, even though it’s an odd time of year to have them. Anyway, after my nap I ran over to the antique mall and found some fun treasures. Overall, a really good day! A day without responsibilities and to do lists was exactly what I needed.
And that was my week! Now most of the mundane and hard stuff is behind me, I’m really looking forward to slowing down and enjoying this next week!
