Holiday Expectations...

As the song says...  "It's the most wonderful time of the year."  (And yes....  I know you were just singing that in your head).  And...  it is...  But it's also a really stressful time of year.  Today, I spent the morning finishing up a couple of photo orders, wrapping a few presents, cleaning up my kitchen (a little), delivering a photo to someone who couldn't make it to me, picking up gifts to be delivered to a family in need, playing referee to Aidan & Devin's battles and trying to coordinate with people to get their photos to them before Christmas while still allowing myself enough time to finish my shopping and wrapping and maybe even be able to sit on the couch with my kids eating popcorn and watching Rudolph.  

Whew!!!  It's exhausting to think about.  And I'm not done.  On Friday, I'll deliver photos to 5 or 6 people who couldn't get to me.  I need more gift tags and boxes.  I still need to buy Andy another present or two and I need to get some more presents for a family struggling.  And then there's the wrapping....  Lots of which can only be done when the wee ones are sleeping.

So...  Tonight, when Aidan & Devin once again were nitpicking at each other.  I was done.  I had one of those moments where a perfectly normal mom turns into a snapping turtle.  "Go to bed!  I'll go get the last present for daddy by myself!"  I'm sure all I needed was a good old foot stomp to have turned it into an honest to goodness tantrum.  Big tears flowed from the kids.  Ugh!!!  Mom of the year award, gone again!  I can never seem to win that thing.  

After I lectured the kids (yet again) about getting along with each other and warning them it wasn't too late to be put on the dreaded "naughty list", I sent them to bed.  At which point, I got to hear a lecture of my own, a lecture on holiday expectations....

You can probably guess how it went so I won't fill in the details but the gist of it was that no one would die if I didn't get things done.  I can't possibly be the only woman on the planet stressing herself out trying to get it all done.  I want to finish my work so I can enjoy the holiday and if I don't get the holiday stuff done, there won't be a holiday...  Well, there'll be a holiday but it'll be more like a Gumby Christmas than the Martha Stewart one that I want to have.  

Therein lies the problem.  My own expectations are tripping me up.  So...  how do you aim higher without aiming so high that the target is unattainable?  Seriously.  How do you do that?  Or...  are you just like me and just stress yourself out?    

Well, I don't know the answer and I doubt that I'll learn the answer in the little over 48 hours until Christmas so what I'll do is take my husband's advice.  I'm finishing up this blog post then, I'll take a deep breath.  I'll pour a glass of something tasty and I'll sit still for just a little while and relish in what's already done.  I promise that for a few short minutes, I won't think about the to do lists.  Just a few minutes, though, because that to do list isn't going to do itself.  (Wink!)