I do not suffer from insomnia. I have no trouble falling asleep. I can usually sleep anywhere, through anything. Jay snores like a freight train and I like it that way.
So when I pop awake at 5:00 a.m., several days in a row, I know it's not a problem, it's just my brain telling me I've got work to do.
This only happens when I have a plate piled very high with chores and since I have learned not to take on things I don't like, this is actually a good thing. I'm excited about it!
For instance, it's December, which means that in addition to my usual routine, I have Christmas stuff to do. I could just go online and order a bunch of stuff and be done with my shopping in a day, but I don't want to. I like to actually see stuff before I plunk down my hard earned money. Plus, I'm kinda paranoid about credit cards. They're the devil and I don't like to use them if I don't have to. I also love baking Christmas cookies. In the past I would start the day after Thanksgiving and bake a different kind of cookie every day til Christmas eve. Now, I bake every few days and when we've eaten one batch, I make another. So far, we've devoured two batches of kiss cookies and one small batch of devil cookies. I'll make more of both, but first I thought I'd get some crinkle cookies out of the way. I'm hoping to divert the kids with the devil cookies I made two days ago (they flattened a little, which makes them unfit for Christmas, but they're delicious) so they won't eat the crinkle cookies. Trying to save food around here requires the tactics of a Field General. I'm going to make chocolate pecan crinkle cookies, too. They require cold weather and it's been cold.
I've also received the info on the calligraphy job I just took on. So, in addition to my usual output, I need to get in a few hours of pretty printing every day this week. This is all good.
I have very little sympathy for people who complain of being stressed out by the holidays. This is usually women. Men don't put themselves through this sort of thing and the operative phrase here is "themselves". Don't want to spend all your time and money on presents? Then don't train your kids/family/coworkers to expect the moon. It's surprisingly easy to drop those bad, expensive habits. In our family, we went from buying actual presents for everyone to an all Greed Gift Christmas. A Greed Gift is a present that is usually worth nothing but a laugh upon opening; they exist just to put more swag under the tree. This tradition started among my siblings back in the eighties when we were all either newly weds, poor college students or little kids and no one had any money but we all wanted to open lots of presents. It started as a way to have presents without having to rob a bank (or get a job,) and it quickly evolved into who could come up with the grossest gift. Billy once gave Katie a plastic bag full of the fat trimmed off a slab of corned beef. Merry Christmas! I once gave Katie a painting I'd stolen out of her portfolio and forged my own name onto.
Maybe we only gave Katie greed gifts, I don't really remember...
Fast forward twenty five years and we've gotten Jay's side of the family firmly in the greed gift camp. Surprisingly enough, some of the most sought after presents have included a package of Charmin and flashlights.
Going all greed gifts has taken the emphasis off of greed and put it firmly on the fun of getting the family together, while preserving the mountains of presents. I've never heard any complaints and since the family I'm talking about consists of (conservative estimate) 75 people, none of whom are shy about voicing disapproval, I'd say it's a good way to go.
As for decorating, if it stresses you out, don't do it. Just don't. I used to decorate every inch of my house. All the windows and doors had garlands and ornaments hung around them. It was like we lived in the white house. Little by little I got tired of it all and now all we do is put up the tree and hang some stockings and you know what? Turns out there's no Decorating Police who show up and ticket you for skimping on the decorations. Doesn't happen.
So when I hear people complain about Holiday stress, I feel pretty much the same way I do when I hear women complain about how hard it is to have kids, hold down a job, keep the house clean, blah blah blah. Of course it's hard, that's what makes it great! If it were easy everyone would do it! Oh, wait, that's not where I meant to go. What I meant to say was "Just say no." I learned that trick from Karen, the toughest woman I've ever known. She was a pillar of her community, took care of anyone in town who needed help, and with her husband ran several successful companies. How did she do it all? By saying No loudly and often. She did what she could and not one thing more. So one day, when confronted with a problem I didn't want to make mine, I tried it and guess what? It felt GREAT. The sky didn't fall in, nobody called me names and in the end whatever it was got done. Maybe it didn't, my point is life went on.
It's your life, design it to suit yourself.
Now the sun is up and I have to get to work.
