Christmas gotten the best of you? Was it worth it?

I wrote this last week several days before Christmas. Now that the day has passed and my partner and I attended a wonderful family party and church on Christmas Eve and then my partner ended up as sick as a dog for the next 2 and a half days, I definitely stand by what I wrote last week.

Here’s what seems crazy to me…

I am not really even celebrating Christmas this year. I have pretty much decided for a number of reasons to do just about nothing about this holiday this year. Having said that, things do then start to creep in. I DO need to send SOME cards, right? Of course, how much effort can that take? Hrumpf…really? for me it meant going into 4 or 5 stores before I could even find a box of cards…that’s right. Do you know how much time that took? Parking, schlepping through the store to find cards, assessing what it is you DO find, making the decision whether to go with these ordinary cards or to keep looking which probably means going to at least 2 or 3 more stores. Now that is just the piece to find the cards, then there is going to the post office to buy stamps, addressing the cards, writing a note in each card. That is only one aspect of the holiday!

Add to that every step of the process for :

Baking cookies and breads, making family specialties, figuring out what to buy for all of those people who don’t need anything, doing the actual gift shopping, buying food for the holiday and the days around it when someone might stop in, buying clothes to wear for the holiday and to various parties in the next few weeks, making donations to charities and local groups to help the needy, getting a pedicure, manicure, hair cut, brow wax-all the things we MUST do to look “GOOD”! Even those of us who say we are not going to be a part of all of this GET SUCKED IN!

I ask you, what does any of this have to do with Jesus being born and celebrating that birth?  I think it all needs to stop..You see usually rational people fighting over this year’s coolest whatever to make sure that Biff or Buffy has absolutely everything! I mean how could they even entertain the idea of not having EVERYTHING?  I know it’s fun and the little kids get mega toys that they play with for a long time, it’s the fervor, the pitch that is enough to make a person ralph all over.

So here’s my suggestion on how to get it all done. Look at your lifestyle and your value system and JUST SAY “NO”. to what doesn’t make sense to you, to all of the add-ons and last-minutes purchases. If you didn’t purchase one more thing between now and Sunday, exactly what terrible disaster would befall you and your loved ones? Adjust your thinking and use your time to be with your loved ones, not out shopping alone for them (they don’t need one more thing…really…you know it’s true!)

It isn’t too late to pull the plug on this…I can tell you right now that the amount of food in this house is sufficient to take us through until the New Year, at least, except for perhaps, bread and milk! I wonder how much money we’d save if we didn’t spend one thin dime on any food item between now and then…it would be sizable. Here’s an example: Oh, I need to buy a gallon of iced tea for the party…response…MAKE IT…you have tea bags on hand, right?

Turn off the TV, get away from that computer, have silence and enjoy the serenity of it. Put away the check book and the cash. You’ll be surprised at the results. the best bonus is that you will be calm, feel rested and peaceful, your bank account will be healthier and your charges will be lower.

Yes, we did do some of these things, like buy last minute add-ons and from what I can see…none of this makes much sense…parties are lovely (or they can be), but I have enjoyed being sequestered in my house for the past few days and NOT celebrating anything!. It’s been very relaxing…maybe I am just too old to enjoy this holiday and all that it requires..Bah! Humbug!

One last thing…I learned yesterday that 50% of all clothing purchased as Christmas presents…HALF!!!  are returned! That was time well-spent, wasn’t it?

This is MeddlingMom…Happy New Year!

Tags: automated mom, Baking, Christmas, Jesus, MeddlingMom, New Year