Oh the Stress of It All

For those of us who managed to make it through the U.S. Thanksgiving without gaining the requisite 5 or 10 pounds, we should be proud of ourselves. Whew, the turkey was cooked and eaten. Perhaps a ham. How about mashed potatoes, and sweet potatoes? Pie...what, more than one!

Let's sit back, take a brief, deep breath, and gear up towards the Christmas holidays. For many, it is a much more stressful time than Thanksgiving. There are gifts to buy (usually too many for the budget), cards to fill out and send, making room in the house for the extra visitors, and figuring out where the heck to put Aunt Sue, who is a last minute addition to the festivities.

Black Friday was a bust. I mean, how many of us got up and about at 3 or 4 in the morning. I didn't, but I confess I did make it to one store about 9:00 a.m. There were a lot of people, and we were able to get one rather pricey item that we particularly wanted for 25% off.

But Black Friday simply wasn't the day for us, shopping-wise. Not only did (we're now done, mostly) we have a ton more to do, but we had to clean up after Thanksgiving. Then there's the all-important Christmas tree choosing. Since we are empty nesters, for the very first time in our married life, we bought an artificial tree. I admit that it looks beautiful and I'm not missing the pine needles at all.

Whew! What else is there. Lots you say? Definitely. My prayer is that we can all get a handle on the work to be done before the official "relaxing" of the actual holiday you celebrate.