Ho Ho Ho....Hoo Boy. :)

The Main Stressors for the Holidays......

1.  Christmas Cards.  Who's with me!  I know why we send them, because we LOVE receiving them.  There's something really warm about coming home to a mailbox full of cards from friends and family.  Since the kids came into our lives I've gone the "easier" route and gotten photo cards that you just throw in the envelope, address and stick on a stamp before sending them on their merry way.  STILL--picking out a photo to go on it, and then letting the box of cards whisper reminders to you every time you come into the room "Hey...you're really late this year, when are you going to address us?  Tick Tock, Woman!"  I've been busy.  Busy working, and taking care of the boys and Christmas shopping and all.  I'm getting there.

2.  Christmas Cookies.  We used to spend an entire day baking cookies.  I'm talking dusk til DAWN, baby.  Every kind of Christmas cookie imaginable, then ship some to out-of-town friends and relatives, not to mention bring cookies everywhere with us.  Ahem.  Clearly, those All-Day Cookie Marathons are o-v-e-r.  We still bake some, but not the magnititude that we've done in the past.  And I think our waistlines are thanking us.  Still---it's not Christmas without some sugar cookies, or Rollo cookies.  I'll remedy that soon.

3.  Deadlines.  WHOOSH!  (Hahahaha, I love that noise.)  With Brian usually finishing a semester of school, figuring out child care for the week between Christmas and New Year's, and this year trying to fill an apartment complex....the heat is on, people.  Also, why would my town put out their kindergarten pre-registration stuff in December?  You can bet that I filled out the forms online for the all-day kindergarten lottery the day they hit my mailbox, there's just too much room for forgetting this time of year.

4.  And the toughest one of all this year?  Keeping up with Santa Claus.  This is the first year that Will has really begun to question just how Santa gets gifts to everyone, and how does he really know if he's being naughty or nice?  Me:  "He just knows.  Now, help me clean up this mess."

Happy Holidays and give yourself an extra pat on the back.  We all deserve it.