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with Nataly
Hi, I am Nataly and I am the co-founder of Work It, Mom!
I write the daily Work It, Mom! Blog where I talk about issues affecting working moms, goings on in our Work It, Mom! community, new site features, updates,and contests. I also share my own juggle between work and family and love to see members jump in with comments. Come and visit often!
Nataly's profile on Work It, Mom!
December if always pretty intense in our family. My dad’s, grandma’s and my birthdays are all in December. There is Hanukkah to celebrate and lots of holiday parties to attend. And since, like many Russian families, we also celebrate New Year’s (one of my most favorite holidays all year), we don’t get a break literally until January.
With all these celebrations and holidays come endless to-dos — from getting and wrapping presents, sending out cards, organizing menus, cooking, cleaning up, and so on. Every year I say that this is going to be the year that we will take it (somewhat) easy and every year we fail to do it. And this year is not really that different - it’s the middle of the month and I am so exhausted I could fall asleep in the middle of this post if I let myself.
But better late than never, right? Right. So here are a few ways in which I am taking it easier this holiday season. I know I can’t escape all the hectic, anxiety-building stress, but if I can kick some of it in the butt, I will succeed.
Send e-cards as holiday cards. For the past several years we’ve sent out holiday cards with our family’s photo on them to family and friends. I love doing it and I love receiving cards like that in return. But this year we’re sending out holiday cards by email. It’s faster, it’s cheaper, we can do it at the last minute and we waste a lot less paper that way.
Buy (most) food for (some) of our holiday parties. I love to cook and to entertain. But during the next three weeks we’ll be having lots of get togethers at our place and there is no way that I will be able to cook for all of them. So for some I am going to do the otherwise unthinkable (for a self-proclaimed foodie like me) and buy most of the food. I am betting that our guests will prefer my sanity to home-cooked meals.
Use money to buy time. Two days ago I realized that Hanukkah starts this weekend. This is also when I realized that we haven’t bought any gifts for our daughter. Nice. So I jumped on Amazon.com and ordered a few things, paying more for shipping than I’d like because I needed the stuff fast. I hate wasting money but in this case I thought the trade-off was completely worth it.
What are some ways in which you’re reducing your holiday-related stress?
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1. I completely changed my holiday menu. Usually, I do a Christmas turkey a la Thanksgiving. This year, I said, “No way.” I created a tasty but simple menu with new twists on holiday traditions. It’ll take so much less time to prepare and ultimately, be healthier too.
2. I only cook when we don’t travel, and this year, obviously, I canceled the holiday travel plans. That was due to not having enough time to use from work, but it’s actually cut back on the stress of shopping and driving 1,000 fold.
3. We’re having some very close friends over for Christmas Day dinner (see #1) and we’ve all agreed to not buy one another presents. In fact, among all of the close adults who normally exchange gifts in my life, we’ve done this. And they all promised me that if they get our daughter anything at all (I’ve asked them to consider not worrying about her - she’ll have plenty), it will be simple and small.
4. I used member points at my credit union to get a gift card that will cover the cost of most of our holiday shopping! So, less money stress = less stress in general.
Phe | December 11th, 2009 at 11:15 am