There’s just over a week until Christmas, and I have so much to do. I gave myself the gift of calm, and I’m setting aside my fears. I haven’t felt the Christmas cheer too much this year but I am faking it until I make it. So I am making myself a little ta-da list right here, to remind myself that I am making progress.
On Friday I took Mr 5 for his annual Santa photo. He is understanding more and more each year about how this whole Santa thing worked. This year I didn’t want to be in the photo. I was sick of being in the photo. So with a lot of bribing, some chatting while in the line and a very awesome Santa we had a photo with Santa. I may have teared up when I saw him talking to Santa. I can count the amount of adults he talks to on one hand. It was progress and I was so proud of him.
I only have to buy a present for Paul and my mum and then I am done. I have even made it easy for Paul to get me a Christmas present and put what I wanted on Layby. Now all he needs to do is pay it off, take it to one of those charity wrapping places and I don’t need to poke and prod him to do it.
On Saturday Paul and I got stuck into the house. I can actually walk into Mr 5’s bedroom now and I know exactly what is in my fridge. Cleaning the fridge also means that I have realised I have a lot of frozen meals in there…so no need to do a big grocery shop this week.
I’ve already gotten half of the things Mr 5 needs for school next year. I have them all in a box so I can keep track of it all. It’s been so much easier buying it all bit by bit so that I’m not having to do a big outlay next year. I got his uniforms last week and he looks so grown up! I really don’t know what I am going to do without an off sider next year.
Yesterday I sat down and worked out food for Christmas Day (Mum if you are reading this I found some cinnamon bread sticks that sound delish!), well some of it. I’ve written myself a list of the food, with the ingredients listed underneath. I feel good to have it all set out in front of me. It’s easier than just a grocery list because then I know what I need the ingredients are for (there have been times when I figured I didn’t need something and it ended up being a crucial ingredient for a recipe).
I’ve also started a calendar. Time is just getting away from us at the moment and it’s helpful to have things laid out in date form. Paul and I were getting caught in the trap of thinking ‘Oh Christmas is a couple of weeks away’ even though it isn’t!
I must confess that yes I am a bit (ok a lot) of a control freak. I like things to be just so and I can tend to get a little emotional when things start to go haywire. In the past I have just not made plans or pretended not to care, thinking that it would help. It doesn’t. So this year I am embracing the control freak and using it in a positive way.
I know that things aren’t going to go 100% the way that I have planned in my head and I am OK with that. I have better calming mechanisms than previous years and I know that I *will* survive if things aren’t just so. This year I’m planning, but I’m embracing the calm.
What’s on your ta-da list this silly season?
I still have my head in the sand about it all so congrats to you and embracing it all. I am struggling to even fake the Christmas cheer so far and have all childrens presents sorted but was planning on buying the adults on my side when I went up to mums, which is no longer happening so all the kids pressies are up there, but not for anyone else. I haven’t got Mic anything and I think I have enough for the boys. Well they always have enough. They never play with half of the stuff that they get overall so we are minimising what we give them in the sense of materialistic things. Santa won’t disappoint though.
I’m pleased you seem to be coping better than last year – that’s a great step forward. Hope you have an awesome xmas Tegan x
Sounds like you are probably more organised than you think you are! Go you for getting on top of the school stuff already! That will save you a big headache cone January!