Stressed with the holiday push

I have officially gone into a panic.

Some promote give to the max this time of the year. I promote stressed to the max.

Christmas gifts to buy, presents to wrap, lights to string, tree to chop down and decorate, holiday cards to send, goodies to bake, parties to enjoy and the list is overwhelming.

It’s supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year. Bah humbug!

I don’t like the sounds of turning into Scrooge, but I think it’s happening to me.

For some reason, I just can’t seem to get ahead of the game this holiday season.  I feel like I have been in a perpetual state of stress.

The calendar wasn’t in our favor this year. Thanksgiving was the latest it can ever be, the 28^th of month. For starters, that didn’t help matters one bit. I have this mental block in my mind that I can’t start with anything Christmas-related until after Thanksgiving. Well, by my accounts, that means I lost an entire week this year by doing so. Shame on me! Why didn’t the calendar Gods consult with me?

We had a live nativity event scheduled at our church a few weeks ago that I was really looking forward to attending. Sadly, I hate to admit, I was glad it was cancelled because of inclement weather. It gave me a few extra hours to tackle the above list.

What complicates my push toward being ready for the holidays is this week. Between the two newspapers in Dodge and Steele counties, I have to put together four newspapers in five days because of early deadlines for next week. I feel like I’m suddenly running a daily newspaper operation. Boy, Santa sure gave me a doozy of an early Christmas present. There goes whatever extra time I could have had for holiday preparations.

As I was editing this week’s paper, I came across the Dodge Talkin column by Amy Caron from Dodge County Public Health. Just in the nick of time, she provides suggestions for helping us all deal with the inevitable stress that comes with the holidays. Check out her column on Page A2.

One of the suggestions she provides is taking a breather by listening to soothing music. That’s exactly what I have been trying to do over the past few weeks with holiday music playing in the background.

I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling the mounted stress and pressure this holiday season. I know this is easier said than done, but don’t let yourself get stressed out. Enjoy the season for what it is and embrace family members around you. The true meaning of Christmas is celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ and being together with family.  

For me, it’s going to be a mad dash to the finish line on Christmas Eve. That’s only six days away.

Maybe once it comes I’ll go in hot pursuit of settling in for a long winter’s nap and then some.