It’s almost been a year since I made my first blog post, “I Think I Have Holiday Induced PTSD”. If you haven’t read it, I think you’ll find it very amusing.
I wish I could tell you that this year was different, but once again, it’s the first week of January, and I feel like I’ve been held hostage by Christmas. I fell behind on my blogging, my work-outs were cut short, I ate horribly, and I severely neglected my husband, kids and even the poor dog. I feel over spent (Can you believe I don’t even have the slightest urge to shop?), over eaten (Even my Spanx are too tight!) and overstimulated (Please put me in a quiet room with four blank walls; I’d be so happy!)
Between endless gift buying, parties, baking, card writing, decorating and gift wrapping, I’m completely burnt out and I can’t wait until next week when I start getting back into a normal routine. Oh, but wait. That won’t happen until I’ve spent two full days dismantling and packing away all the Christmas decorations, UGH!
I just love it. Every year, I get so stressed over Christmas and every year my husband shakes his head in bewilderment and asks all confused like, “What’s the matter? I don’t get why you’re so stressed out.” No, of course he doesn’t get it because as I say, “if Christmas was left to men, there’d be no Christmas.” I mean how is it really that Christmas day arrives and magically there are beautifully wrapped gifts under the tree, the house is fully decorated, there are batches and batches of homemade cookies, over 100 Christmas cards have been sent and there’s a piping hot Christmas feast to boot? It’s amazing, isn’t it? A Christmas miracle I’d say!
This year I actually fared better than most. I mean instead of being short tempered all month and having at least one major all out crying break-down, I just woke up every morning with tension headaches and TMJ from clenching my teeth all night in my sleep. It’s the most wonderful time of the year all right!
I did end up with one pretty funny story that came from all of this, and I must share!
One night about five days before Christmas I was in my usual December stressful stupor when I decided to make a quick run to the UPS store to send a last minute package. I knew their pick-up truck usually came around 4:30pm, so I was rushing to make it. My box was quite large and I had a bunch of stuff I was trying to carry to the car, so to make things easier, I just threw everything in the box.
When I arrived at the store, the pick-up truck was being loaded. I figured I had a pretty good chance of my box making the truck. I filled out all the paperwork at the store and they sealed up my box for me.
As I was pulling away, I decided I to check in with the kids at home. I reached for my cell phone, and it wasn’t there. I checked all over the car and it was nowhere to be found. My first thought was, “What if I left it inside the box I just sent?”. How am I going to explain that one to the hubby?
I have an On-Star phone in my car, so I tried calling my cell from there thinking if it was at home, one of the kids would answer it. No answer. Then I decided I would just call home andhave the kids look around for it in case for some reason they didn’t hear it ring. No one could find it, so I was convinced I left it in the package.
I quick turned around and headed back to the UPS store. I was relieved to the see the truck still being loaded.
I ran into the store and told the owner, Don, (yes, I’m on a first name basis with the UPS store owner, big surprise, right?), that I thought I packed my cell phone in the package I had just sent. He grabbed his cell and we ran out to the truck. The men were just about to pull the door closed when Don explained to them what had happened. At this point, I’m feeling like a total schmuck! (Haven’t heard that word in a long time, have you?) Don said he was going to call the phone and we should all listen for it. So here I was the frantic, frazzled “dumb blonde” standing inside a UPS delivery truck with three men listening for my cell phone to ring in one of several hundred packages.
Silence… silence… and then “Hello”. Hello? Yes, “Hello”.
Don looked at me all confused and said, “Someone just answered your phone. It was a guy.” I looked at him with a blank stare. He hung up and said, “I think I must have dialed the wrong number. Let’s try again.” He dials and sure enough, “Hello”. This time I recognize the voice…It was my son. The phone was at home the whole time! OMG, so here I was with three men on a cold winter night listening for a cell phone to ring in one of the hundreds of boxes in a random delivery truck only to discover my phone was at home. That’s not embarrassing at all! I politely thanked all the men, who I’m sure by this point were convinced think I was half crazy, and I hightail it out of there. I just love Christmas!
So, I’m curious…does Christmas eat you alive or are you one of those people who has their shopping done by Halloween and spends the month of December joyfully searching for appetizer recipes and holiday crafts on Pinterest? Misery loves company, so if you’re like me I’d love to hear your stories of stress filled days and nights. If you’re the later, please share with me your secrets. I’m in need of counseling!
