WMW: I Challenge Myself to Enjoy a Holiday

People keep asking me "How was your Christmas?" And I'm not quite sure how to respond. I think mostly I feel guilty, and I must move past that, like yesterday.

The truth is, I didn't enjoy Christmas this year. I tried to force myself to, and I had my moments like the Friday night date shopping with my husband and stopping for cupcakes at a downtown shop afterwards that were absolutely memorable, but overall, I felt so stressed, so overwhelmed, and so let down by the weather that I just couldn't move past it.

I think I set up a lot of expectations for my son's first "real" Christmas (he was 4 months old last year) that I forgot all about just letting myself enjoy the season, no matter what traditions we accomplished. I really wanted to take my son to go see lights this year, but every weekend it rained or snowed, which is in no way normal for NC and really thrw a kink in our plans. I'm sure we could have figured out a way to go on a weeknight, but December was a tough month at work as well. Demands and goals and expectations have changed, and lately it has not been the kind of job where I can "take off early" one afternoon on a whim.

I also was excited to put our Christmas tree up, but again, with the weather, we never got around to it and the last weekend we were left staring each other, saying "it's not worth it to go through all that effort for one week". So my sweet toddler did not have a tree in his own home. Santa had to leave his presents laid out on the couch. My husband at least managed to dig out our stockings, so that was a tradition left unharmed. (Sidenote, kind of gross: apparently at some point in Dec 2009 my son spit up on a corner of his stocking...ewwww...what a surprise!!!)

We also started some new traditions of sorts: we attended the Christmas Program at our church, and invited our closest friends and their kids over for a spaghetti/Festivus gathering. I hope that these will be added to our busy Christmas event season, because I actually enjoyed them so much.

Jacob's nap schedule threw a kink into our plans as well: we ended up showing up anywhere between 30 minutes and 2 hours late for our family events. I'm not even kidding: we made it to exactly 2 out of 6 actually on time. This is not what I want to be known for. I also stress-ate my way through the holidays. I am not lying when I say I gained almost 10lbs since Thanksgiving.

Despite all of this, I feel very blessed to have a healthy, loving son who was the life of the party all December, a wonderful husband who has been my equal partner the last few months when it comes to childcare and getting everything done, amazing family on both sides of our marriage, a home, two jobs, two cars that run, and plenty of good food.

And my challenge this year to myself is to let these things go. I have to get past trying to get everything perfect. I stress so much, that I spend valuable time worrying about stress and what I have to do next that I forget to just live in the moment and enjoy it. Even if the kitchen is dirty. Even if I don't have a plan for dinner. Even if I shouldn't be taking a 10-minute break to blog because I have a deadline at 5PM that I cannot miss today.

To quote my friend Candy, this year, I will own you.

(Prompted by Working Mommy Wednesday. Please join us, it's FUN!)

On the 2nd Day of Christmas...

A plea.



Simply this: if anyone you know is planning to adopt a pet for Christmas, please encourage them to adopt a shelter pet. I know you are just one person, and how much difference can that really make, but trust me, it does.

I have a college friend who works here: http://www.humanesociety.org/ and while I don't agree with some of their more far-fetched political lobbying, I do believe in the work they do to stop tethering, puppy mills, and other forms of animal abuse and cruelty. Feel free to donate to them, or google your local chapter of the SPCA and donate.

My local SPCA (check out this cutie who I daydream about bringing home to keep my high-maintenance, neurotic 4 year old mutt company) has a Black Dog and Black Cat club. Until I started donating to pet causes, I had no idea that black dogs and cats were the least likely to be adopted out. If I was a good, prepared Blogger, I would include a picture of my girl here, because one look (or cuddle) with her and you would be wanting your own black shelter dog today.

(Edit: I couldn't resist throwing her on here after I got home from work.)

I know some people are all about their AKC-certified yappy lapdogs or whatever, but I can honestly tell you that any pet you get from a pet "store" or flea-market stand is likely to come from owners who only care about whoring out their mature animals to make money. That is just not right to me. I have seen enough of what happens with pet overpopulation to ensure that any pet I ever adopt will be a rescue. Use caution when answering craigslist or newspaper ads for "puppies" as well. While a lot of those are legitimate, make sure you visit where the pets are actually housed to ensure this is not someone who consistently allows their dog to get pregnant so that they can sell the litter. If you have to pay anything for a dog or cat, it should only be the adoption fee from a certified rescue shelter to cover their vet bills and operating costs. NEVER pay money to someone selling a littler of puppies at a roadside stand.

And finally, as Bob Barker always said, once you bring that lovable lovely home, PLEASE spay and neuter your pets!