All tagged holiday stress

My Dislikes About the Holidays: What Tops My Holiday "Naughty" List

My Dislikes About the Holidays: What Tops My Holiday "Naughty" List

Jody Yarborough
The Holidays

In last week's blog post, I wrote about five things I love about the holidays. With the things that I love out of the way, I want to share what brings out my Christmas Grinch.

The first three all have a connected theme of stress, chaos, and overwhelm.

Beginning with what tops my "naughty" list is actually the holiday "to do" list itself.

Holidays aside, I already have a pretty packed schedule, but when November 1st comes around, many more tasks need to be prioritized to get done by December 25th. Now I know what you might be thinking: that many of these "tasks" are actually "choices," and I don't have to do them. And I suppose you are right. But I love Christmas, and it only comes around once a year. Down deep, I actually do enjoy the preparation for the holidays, and if I genuinely hated it, I would not do it.

Making Changes So Christmas is Less Stress and More Joy

Making Changes So Christmas is Less Stress and More Joy

Jody Yarborough
The Holidays

I know it is only August and Christmas seems very far off, but based on how I celebrated last year's Christmas timeline, this year it is going to come even quicker.

Let me explain. First off, I LOVE Christmas. It is absolutely my most favorite holiday. It was always a big deal in my family growing up, for both my mom and dad, and their parents as well. So there is a lot of nostalgic baggage that comes with the yule tide festivities. I have always tried to not build up Christmas too much in my mind, in terms of expectations. I knew I would never be able to recapture that childhood magic no matter how Martha Stewart I got, so I really tried just to not stress out too much and the days and weeks prior to Christmas unfold organically.

Loving the Holidays but Surrendering to the Bah Humbug

Loving the Holidays but Surrendering to the Bah Humbug

Jody Yarborough
The Holidays

Let's just cut to the chase. 2009 has been a shitty year for me. So shitty that when I am at my worst moments, what I am most grateful for, is simply life itself. Yes, I have many other things to be thankful for, too: a loving husband, supportive family, a roof over my head, and money in the bank. But those things often become diluted in the melancholy abyss of my life's current tragedy. My one refuge for the year was going to be the holidays. I LOVE the holidays. Back in mid-October, I declared to Andrew, "I am going to get everything done for Christmas by December 1, so I can simply enjoy the