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This holiday season is my favorite time of the year. Although, I get myself caught up in so many projects. Making blankets for family, making cards, making ornaments, etc.
With a full-time job, I need to schedule out how to get everything done. I have sure many of you have your cards and gifts done already, but I am still plugging away. (Well, the cards are pretty much done...just need to address and mail.)
How to do you get all of your projects done? Start in June? lol. I know there are full-time working moms out there too. What is your secret to a successful and sane holiday season without giving up the traditions that you hold dear?
I am interested to hear what everyone has been up to in this season of stamping and creating.
I wish I had some great advice - but I don't. Hopefully, I'll finish my cards this weekend! And, my dining table is covered in projects. We'll go to my in-laws for dinner, so at least I don't have to clean house!
I am a mother who also works full-time and it is definitely hard to get everything done. I did start my Christmas cards in July this year and just kept working at them until mid November when I was done. Come January I'm gonna get some scrapbooking done ... I've been neglecting that hobby for a good long while, need to get somewhat caught up!
I hear you loud and clear. I was up until 2 last night making cards. I'm still 14 short. I have only half of my shopping done. It will all get done because it has to. I try not to worry about it too much because then the holidays aren't fun. If I don't finish my cards tonight, I will buy some. It won't kill people to get a store bought card from me. Last year I had all of my shopping done before December, but that didn't work out so well because I just bought MORE stuff! I just try to relax. It is comforting to know I am not the only one sending cards out now...or next week! Happy Holidays!
O.K. The holidays are upon me, I have five kids, and company coming next week. I was out of electricity yesterday for over 5 hours due to the storm, and here I am sitting at the computer.
I feel your pain! I am making a lot of my gifts this year, mostly 6 x 6 calendars, holiday name frames, and money/gift card holders. I am also covering and stamping the dozens of formula cans that have lived under my sink for the last 3 years to fill with goodies for the homeless as my own personal service project this Christmas. I started right after Halloween and I'm still not finished, (it seemed like such a great idea at the time)! I am determined to de-clutter the house, so I have been on an ebay selling frenzy this week to get as much out before Christmas as possible. My husband is out of town, and will be again next week, I impaled myself on barbed wire and had to get a tetanus shot on Monday, (which hurts way worse than the barbed wire did), my cat that had been missing for 2 days came home covered in pee and poo and had both eyeballs missing, (still at vet), and my son had the diarhea/pukey disease earlier this week. School has been canceled the last 2 days due to illness, so they are bouncing off the walls. Oh, and tonight we have a Christmas party to go to, (and I am going, because I have been making gifts for 2 weeks now), and I still have to pick hubby up from airport 1 hour away, take the recycling to the recycle center, ('cause it's near the airport), and get back home to get dressed. My goats have busted through the fence and are on the front porch leaving little poopoo pebbles all over it, the other cats are batting ornaments off the tree, (which still isn't completely decorated), and the dog has eaten the door jam off not one, but 3 doors this week because she was left home alone and didn't like it. Oh, and my birthday is next week, and I know it sounds crazy, but 36 seems so much older than 35, (I'm on the downward slide to 40 now!). But, hey, it's the holidays! Nothing to do but tuck those saggy boobs back into my sweatpants, square my hunched-over shoulders, crank up Bing Crosby, and spike the eggnog, (there's a reason housewives secretly drink), and get it all done. How? Who knows? But we're the mommies of the world! We pull it off every year - we make everyone else's Christmas magical, and then we collapse in a heap until February. So fasten your seatbelts, ladies, 'cause it's gonna be a bumpy ride! Merry Christmas and Bah Humbug, too -
Kristine
__________________ Adjusting your thermostat by 2 degrees saves over 2000 lbs. of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere each year, plus $98 savings for you; think of the rubber you could buy!
OH Kristine I feel for you! It does seem like when it rains it pours doesn't it. Makes you wonder should I laugh or cry?
I did so good last year. I made all my Christmas cards in the summer. This year I barely got them done and I still need to do the ones for the Christmas card exchange at stamp club. Its not until Tuesday surely i can get that done ;)
Part of the holidays is feeling the stress...it's like wedding planning, kinda. All that stress that you won't get ANYTHING done let alone done RIGHT and then on christmas...it's the most perfect day of the year. How DO we do it?? I unfortunately had to sacrifice homemade cards this year (I know, it's a sin!) but i'm making so many cards with the girls from work that i still get my fix in. My cards were at least designed by me with a picture of my puppies on it...they were just printed somewhere else. Don't worry, i'm still stamping the envelope!!
Making blankets is tougher when you realize that more of the yarn you need is only available at a store one hour away. Ugh!!
Don't worry ladies, we'll get through it!!
__________________ Jen Z. in Elysburg, PA...not quite stampin' in Atlas anymore!
How to do you get all of your projects done? Start in June? lol. I know there are full-time working moms out there too. What is your secret to a successful and sane holiday season without giving up the traditions that you hold dear?
I am interested to hear what everyone has been up to in this season of stamping and creating.
Definitely start in June -- if not sooner. LOL
There was one year I was planning a huge cross-stitch project for a friend that I knew would take a LOT of time. I started it the day after Christmas and finished about a week before the next. The only other big project I worked on that year was a wedding picture for my sister and BIL, which was about a week of not stitching on the other item. Kind of funny -- our UPS driver at work knew I was working on this and asked me frequently through the year how work on the "dish towel" was coming. You'll be relieved to know that it does NOT hang on her bathroom or kitchen wall, but in a place of honor in her living room. I'd have to kill, or at least maim, her if it came anywhere near the kitchen or bath. :twisted:
I try to work on cross-stitch projects throughout the year instead of leaving everything until the last few months -- the exception being ornaments, which I work on right up until Christmas, then start right in on the next year's. I try to get my Christmas cards finished by the end of November and those going overseas out as early as possible. I do most of my stitching and stamping while watching TV. Amazing how much you can get done during the course of a movie or football game!
Heather
(PS. There are both card and cross-stitch projects posted to my blog)
__________________
When you follow the sheep, you end up in sheep dip.
This year I'm trying not to pressure myself to do "everything". Christmas is meant to be peaceful, not stressful. Who's going to notice or care if I don't bake 30 different things or send out all hand-made gifts. Moms are allowed to relax and enjoy the holiday and just cherish time spent with family & friends.
(at least this is my aim this year LOL, not saying I won't go nuts on the 23rd)
Well I am done stamping, shopping and wrapping but I have been going so fast I have hurt myself twice.Two weeks ago I feel bringing packages in from my car and yesterday I broke my little two when I was putting away the boxes for my ornaments and hit the ottoman in my downstairs so now I have to slow down because you can't do anything for the toe but deal with it and I am a hairdresser and of course I have to work it is the holiday season. I have a full day today and half a day tomorrow and a full day Saturday and it hurts so bad. I have to wear flip flops no shoes for two weeks. So everyone slow down I wish I would have. It will get done no matter what and like someone said who will know if you didn't bake all those cookies and make all that food. I just wish everyone a happy holiday Shawnee
You're not the only one scrambling to get things done. I still need to wrap everything and I have 3/4 of a scarf to finish crocheting for my DD birthday tomorrow. I brought to work to crochet during my lunch break. Oh, and I still need to make her birthday card.
__________________
~ Kelly ~
In riding a horse we borrow freedom. - Helen Thompson
I can relate...because I work full time and am "mom" to a foster boy. This year I thought the extra weekend would make things a bit easier. :rolleyes: Did not really feel the "pressure" until this past weekend. I did start shopping earlier in the year August or so. Still working on the decorations, xmas cards, and baking. Need to pick up the last minute stocking stuffers and stuff for the meal. I live in hope that I will get it all done...but I try to keep it all in perspective too...this is a time for being together and family. ;)
__________________ Have an awesome day!
Loretta Rathert~
I cheated this yr on the cards. I went through the swaps I had and resorted them decided which ones to keep (which wasn't much) and which ones to "use". I put aside a lot of card fronts to "use". I used them along with going to my demo's stamp a stack.
As far as gifts go well we went back in Jan. when Kohl's and Target has their Christmas stuff on sale for 70-80% off and we get some stuff then and that helps a lot. That leaves parent/grandparent gifts (which is a calendar of the kids and something else), teacher gifts (and I do make the kids help with that) and the kids stuff.
Haven't done any baking, don't really plan on it maybe a batch of fudge and some Italian Iced cookes. But nothing big. Still have to plan dinner for Christmas.
I have some ideas already running through my brain for gifts for next yr and this Christmas isn't here yet.
Maybe I'm the 'negative Nelly' here...but I do not make my Christmas cards. I know that 99% of Christmas cards will be thrown out. And at this time of year my time is worth more. So I buy Christmas cards (at the $1 store...and I got Scooby Doo ones this year!) I did have some of my projects started as early as the summer. And honestly, I'm not finished with all of them yet, either. I have one more to go (a set of cards with a holder for a man) but I don't think I'll see this person till after Christmas so I'm not stressing about it.
Last year I tried www.organizedchristmas.com for the first time. I didn't start until well into November, but it was very helpful. I started my Christmas cards in Oct this year and I started the plan on the website at the end of Oct. The printable sheets are a lifesaver. FLYLADY offers something similar. It's been extremely helpful in setting priorities and keeping expectations reasonable. The most valuable part was last year when I wrote down what I'd do differently. I managed to "fix" some of those things this year. I'm hoping in 5 years I'll have it down to more of a routine :-)
For me, it's meant simplifying everything. I'm having the most peaceful week-before-Christmas I've ever had, but I also had to let go of some things this week in order to do that. I'm not missing any of those things, either. I actually feel happier now that I've erased them from my list.
Oh I so know the feeling, but I only did christmas cards for family members and a dear friend. That is it. And I didn't make any Christmas presents this year. I was meaning to, but no time. Guess I have to start in July next year. I work full time and homeschool my son, very little free time and I have been sick since before Thanksgiving. It has been a big bummer.
I feel your pain! I am making a lot of my gifts this year, mostly 6 x 6 calendars, holiday name frames, and money/gift card holders. I am also covering and stamping the dozens of formula cans that have lived under my sink for the last 3 years to fill with goodies for the homeless as my own personal service project this Christmas. I started right after Halloween and I'm still not finished, (it seemed like such a great idea at the time)! I am determined to de-clutter the house, so I have been on an ebay selling frenzy this week to get as much out before Christmas as possible. My husband is out of town, and will be again next week, I impaled myself on barbed wire and had to get a tetanus shot on Monday, (which hurts way worse than the barbed wire did), my cat that had been missing for 2 days came home covered in pee and poo and had both eyeballs missing, (still at vet), and my son had the diarhea/pukey disease earlier this week. School has been canceled the last 2 days due to illness, so they are bouncing off the walls. Oh, and tonight we have a Christmas party to go to, (and I am going, because I have been making gifts for 2 weeks now), and I still have to pick hubby up from airport 1 hour away, take the recycling to the recycle center, ('cause it's near the airport), and get back home to get dressed. My goats have busted through the fence and are on the front porch leaving little poopoo pebbles all over it, the other cats are batting ornaments off the tree, (which still isn't completely decorated), and the dog has eaten the door jam off not one, but 3 doors this week because she was left home alone and didn't like it. Oh, and my birthday is next week, and I know it sounds crazy, but 36 seems so much older than 35, (I'm on the downward slide to 40 now!). But, hey, it's the holidays! Nothing to do but tuck those saggy boobs back into my sweatpants, square my hunched-over shoulders, crank up Bing Crosby, and spike the eggnog, (there's a reason housewives secretly drink), and get it all done. How? Who knows? But we're the mommies of the world! We pull it off every year - we make everyone else's Christmas magical, and then we collapse in a heap until February. So fasten your seatbelts, ladies, 'cause it's gonna be a bumpy ride! Merry Christmas and Bah Humbug, too -
Kristine
Thanks, I need that little bit of inspiration. :mrgreen:
Hectic Holidays
