Ideas for dealing with Holiday Stress Welcome Here!
The ClubHouse: Archive: Ideas for dealing with Holiday Stress Welcome Here!
Magikearth | Tuesday, November 20, 2001 - 12:20 am   I was hoping we can use this thread to share any ideas for coping with holiday stress.The baking, cooking,shopping,decorating,planning/hosting parties,.............Whew!!! It can really be overwelming. One woman I know takes off work the day before Thanksgiving and Christmas to cook the entire meal-so that all she has to do is warm up the potatoes,vegetables,turkey,etc.on the big day-this way, everything is ready at the same time and there's no struggling with time constraints. It works for her.. Anyway,lets share our wisdom here! <Magikearth's first thread!> |
Mahrajah | Tuesday, November 20, 2001 - 01:17 am   what i usually do to cope when im cookin.. to keep me from stressin out i listen to electronica.. some fast dance music or i usually listen to good ol classic songs from back in the day.. helps me concentrate and cook good.. i work as a chef on and off and it always helps me if the ingre. that i need are prepared and ready to go.. makes cooking the meal fast and ur prepared that way... |
Magikearth | Tuesday, November 20, 2001 - 01:49 am   Mah, I totally agree about the music!! Also,about having as much food prepped beforehand. Thanks for your input! |
Grooch | Tuesday, November 20, 2001 - 11:34 am   I'm not buying anything this year (except for my 2 neices), so that takes a lot of stress off. My husband's family is in Chile and since it is to expensive to mail packages there, we are sending cash. I'm also sending cash to my mother (she can use that a lot more than anything else.) My husband wants to get a notebook computer as his gift, so he is going to pick it out and get it himself. I'm even thinking of saying screw it to getting a Christmas tree. I bought some furniture this year and I really have no room for one. I might get a fake tabletop one at the dollar store. I just got a new kitten and if I get a tree, I know she will probably break all my bulbs and I have a lot of antique and collectible bulbs that I would be upset about if they broke. I am really going for stress free this year. For coworkers, I usually bake. But there is a farmstand down the road from me that makes fabulous homemade pies. I just might buy a few and bring them in instead. No stress this year! |
Grooch | Tuesday, November 20, 2001 - 11:37 am   But if I was going Christmas shopping, I always get to the mall when they open up. It lets me get a parking space right next to the door and the mall is empty. By the time it hits 1 or 2 pm, the mall is getting packed and I am done and leaving. I can not handle crowded malls. It makes me insane and evil. |
Wink | Tuesday, November 20, 2001 - 02:58 pm   We'll just add crowded malls to the list Grooch. |
Magikearth | Tuesday, November 20, 2001 - 06:56 pm   Grooch,I totally understand your reasons for a stress-free Christmas season!! There is alot of common sense in your post. I have three cats myself and never had a Christmas tree for the same reasons you stated...My parents just bought me a beautiful "Fiber Optic" tree from Dollar General(ten dollars). I love it! The baked goods you mentioned sounds like a wonderful idea.Who wouldn't love that? I always appreciate food as a gift-to give or receive.One of my favorite stores is Pier One Imports.They have beautiful bottles of pasta,tied with maroon rattan ribbons and they are lovely,but this is the thing-you can purchase similar items at Value City-for so much less. I can't imagine that Pier One has this superior "grade" of pasta;its just the name you are paying for. Its not always easy to see the obvious though,as we are conditioned to believe we have to spend and arm and a leg for quality when in fact,its just the label. |
Misslibra | Tuesday, November 20, 2001 - 08:39 pm   I got one of those Fiber Optic trees, and I really like it, of course I would rather have my bigger tree up, but my cat wants to climb it. I had to choose between the Christmas tree or her, and she won. I'm having family over for Thanksgiving, and I have been cooking what I could up ahead of time, trying to cut down on the stress of so much cooking on Thanksgiving Day. So far I have my sweet potato & pumpkin pies made, and about 3 other side dishes that I could freeze, so that all I'll have to do is put them in the oven. I'll do my German choc.cake tonight, and cheese cake in the morning. I hope my family will enjoy this because for Christmas I don't plan on doing this. I want my Christmas totally stress free. I can't stand the crowded malls either, evil, you haven't seen evil. But I found that even if you start early in the morning to shop, there is still a crowd of people at the door. I'm going to do some of my shopping online. And another thing that is going to help with my stress is that I dont plan on spending as much money this Christmas as I have in the pass. So that right there is a great stress reliever. |
Fruitbat | Tuesday, November 20, 2001 - 08:59 pm   My family is all dead. That may sound sad, and somtimes it is, but I am envied by some that have trecherous family scenes. I celebrate holidays with friends and it is the best of times. Some come directly from a family gathering, others are too far away to travel with the time they have. We have created a family within our circle and love each other very much. Some friendships are 25 years old. Some are very new. I am the host of Christmas or Christmas Eve. We have great food. Many of us have cooking as a creative hobby. Sometimes we have themes. Last year I hosted a "Cowboy Eve". We ate barbequed pork sandwiches, ribs and cole slaw, chocolate cake and gag gifts reflecting the deal. Over the years, I have decorated our tree, with varying whims......bats (really), cats, dogs, bows, Sci Fi, Western, Hollywood, Dump and many more. A Whoppie Golberg ornament, that I made, is always the top of the tree ornament. She is my idol. Previously I have gotton crazy with gifts but I have tonned it down lately and focued on the friendships. I feel blessed. I give my kids a ton of small fun things to open, and a check. My husband and I try to find a quirky, meaningful thing to exchange. That is tricky, difficult and the most stessful deal. In fact I want to can it. It is reallllllllllllly bad. I can't think of anything this year. |
Wink | Tuesday, November 20, 2001 - 09:12 pm   Fruitbat would a set of 6 clamps of varying sizes be quirky and meaningful enuff? That's one of the gifts going under my tree this year. |
Fruitbat | Tuesday, November 20, 2001 - 09:23 pm   He has so many clamps that we had to build another shed. Thanks though. Keep em coming. |
Wink | Tuesday, November 20, 2001 - 09:41 pm   Okay how about a Bill Blass belt with matching key chain? Or a CD of Abba's greatest hits.(No accounting for taste) By the way clamps are like shoes. One can never have too many. |
Willi | Wednesday, November 21, 2001 - 05:38 am   A link with some things he might like. http://www.cafepress.com/cp/store/store.aspx?storeid=airstream (scroll down to see the Airstream mouse pad-Also, bucket hats are quite "in" right now & who could have too many Airstream mugs?) If you need more ideas...This might be right up his alley. http://www.niftygifty.com/new/airstream.htm
|
Willi | Wednesday, November 21, 2001 - 05:43 am   I'll repost so the links actually work. http://www.niftygifty.com/new/airstream.htm http://www.cafepress.com/cp/store/store.aspx?storeid=airstream |
Llkoolaid | Wednesday, November 21, 2001 - 08:02 pm   Beer, just drink lots of it and before you know it the holidays will be over.lol Actually we just keep it real simple at our house. We mainly just do family things and keep a kind of open door thing going on so that friends and family can just take a chance and drop in. I do all my shopping early in the morning and I always use a list. Christmas dinner is all prepped the day before so the day is easier. Christmas baking is a family thing, sometimes with the kids and sometimes my mother and sister and I take a day and bake up a storm together and then we share it all and freeze it for Christmas. If you remember that Christmas is not about gifts and make it more of a family thing the stress just goes away. My older kids rememeber the things that we did together when they were small not what Santa brought them. If this doesn't work there is always the beer. |
|