How are you surviving the holidays?

[sweetptater]

Feel free to post any holiday-hacks/family survival tips here.

[erinshelley21]

Booze.

[akafred]

I'm totally not.

[twinmomma]

Some of this is prep work that it's too late for.
But I started with a really detailed spreadsheet of who to buy for, budget, etc. Then I finished all my shopping before December 1st. It was intense, but so, so worth it. It's like a giant weight has been lifted and I'm planning to try and make this an annual thing. There's really no reason I can't, I just have to get my act together earlier.

For Christmas day, DH and I have finally got a good system down that makes the day not too crazy. We host a Christmas breakfast AND Christmas dinner, but we finally nailed it last year in terms of how much space to give ourselves between the two events. We end up with a good 5-6 hours in between the two batches of people so that we can clean up from one, relax with the kids and enjoy time together, and then throw in the food for the next meal. We had to put our foot down on how late dinner starts, but it's all adults coming over, so they can suck it up.

I also started outsourcing some of the cooking. Last year I bought breakfast foods and dinner sides from a local restaurant and it was the best! Totally worth the cost for the convenience.

This year for the big in laws family party, I'm going to just give up on the screen time limits we usually have, and bring the tablets to occupy my kids. It's a terrible party with nothing for the kids to do in a very crowded house. I might also grab a new movie to bring, so they can hide away in one of the bedrooms with their cousins and chill. There's only a half dozen or so little kids in attendance, so they all get very bored very quickly at this event.

[sudokufan]

DS and I are celebrating Christmas with my parents this weekend. Yes, it's early, but they travel to us and this way the roads and hotels aren't so crowded and the weather is still good, but all the stores are decked out for Christmas and it still feels special. I have a tiny tree that I used to put up at work that we'll decorate in their hotel, and I think it'll be a nice, low stress holiday.

Then for Christmas day, it'll be just H and DS and I, and we'll skype with family. No traveling, no coordinating schedules, and we eat whenever the ham's ready.

[sweetptater]

Dec 5, 2017 8:53:22 GMT -5 erinshelley21 said:

Booze.

Amen. 

[mustardseed2007]

Dec 5, 2017 9:02:52 GMT -5 akafred said:

I'm totally not.

+1

[waverly]

I am not really doing great with them. Thanksgiving with the in-laws of the in-laws was super awkward. The last two days of the weekend were nice though.

Because we are using hotel points for Spring Break, we decided that if we don't have enough built up that we will just book the cabin at the September wedding, but only for 2 nights. So it depends on point build- up, but I guess I have caved to that one so I don't have to listen to the wedding conflict anymore. I think I'll tell H not to talk about it with his sister anymore because it just turns into her getting mad that not everyone thinks her idea is awesome.

Yesterday was a tough day. I got pulled over by a police trap- no ticket though thankfully. Then DH had the pressure go out of his plane, and his vision issues. And MIL had her pituitary tumor surgery. So too much going on, I guess.

With everything going on, I have no idea if anyone is coming to my house for Christmas. I really hope no one comes, except maybe if my mom wants to come. And we just have a quiet Christmas at home. But with the fact SIL came for Thanksgiving and MIL had her surgery than maybe they won't come for Christmas? We aren't going anywhere.

Family survival tips- booze for in-laws of in-laws. Maybe I think I should have stayed home during parts of it because I was going to strangle SIL at the end, so opting out of some outings maybe. If no one comes for Christmas than, I won't need any tips for that.

[supertrooper1]

Avoidance. If I don't think about it, I don't stress...hahaha

No one NEEDS anything in my family, but I can't get people to stop buying more crap we don't need. My parents have scaled down some due to our request. DH constantly complains that we have too much clutter in our house and I've asked him to stop buy useless Christmas presents, but it hasn't happened yet.

We really didn't have much planned this holiday season, but the last few days, people have sent me invites to additional things. A birthday party on the 30th for a coworker, my SIL just messaged me this morning about my nephew's birthday party this Saturday. And if people would quit dying in my family, I wouldn't have so many funerals to fit in.

I did book an overnight trip a few days before Christmas with DH and DS, so hopefully that will take the pressure off the holidays.

[mommyatty]

I’m adamant that holidays are about one thing: family. And by “family”, I mean “family I like.” So we don’t do a bunch of parties and stuff, and we don’t buy crap for a lot of people.

We have MIL come to our house in the morning. We have coffee and Kahlua. This year we will have Apple coffee cake to munch. If MIL gets there before presents, great. If not, great. We don’t hold up. Last year the kids were still opening stockings when she came. Then we will have a light lunch, probably made of deli meats and good bread. Lunch is very low key. The kids get to eat anywhere they want.

We eat an early dinner. This year, DH has acquiesced to fajitas. So I have a 30 minute meal ready to rock.

[rere]

December 23rd is the cooking extravaganza at our house. We all load up in the kitchen to make appetizers, ham and turkey. I open a bottle of wine, for the adults. I usually let the kids have a coke which is not usual. We cook, eat, have a Christmas movie going. We love it. We then break out this food for the next couple of days. Usually we have sausage balls and such that we use for breakfast along with cinnamon rolls. That is actually one of my favorite days of the season.

[2chatter]

I’m liking these food related celebrations. Currently I’m a basket case over the calendar in that things keep popping up. Notably, the girls have almost all evening games - some of which conflict with Christmas parties. Who schedules Saturday night 8:30pm games during the holidays??? I was fine until Soccer and Volleyball schedules caused chaos.

The ten year old also has two Wednesday night games at 7:45. She’s usually in bed then. Should be awesome.

[186momx]

I'm with twinmomma, and made my list early and have finished up my holiday shopping which includes all the early January b-days in my family. Now all I need to do is wrap everything.

I'm lucky and we don't have work holiday parties to deal with. I'm refusing to travel in the snow or over the pass this year so we are not going to any fun friend parties either.

I've also am keeping things open and only going to travel to the cool light displays if the weather is nice. Zoo lights in the freezing pouring rain isn't fun for anyone. Also camping at the coast to see the big light display is miserable during a storm so am just keeping things open and if they happen great if not oh well.

[katrine05]

I never get too stressed out about the holidays. If something doesn't get done, I don't worry about it. I don't have many people to shop for. We usually do a secret santa with my family, don't buy for any of DH's family, only for a few friends and teacher/dcp. DH and I aren't exchanging gifts this year since we are going to Mexico as our family gift. Really it's just the kids, and we're trying to keep it low key this year. Christmas Eve I always host my family, and this year it's only my mom and sister (both are currently un-attached). We are going to do a fondu for dinner. I think they are going to sleep over so they can be with us when the kids open presents in the morning, I'll make an easy brunch. Dinner is at DH's aunts house, I'll bring a dish for that, but nothing else needs to get done.

DD's birthday is the 27th, the quick turnaround probably stresses me out more than anything.

[waverly]

katrine05, I agree with the quick turn around. When we host in the house I feel like I have to take down all the Christmas decorations and New years stuff since hers is after New Years and make it non-christmasy. This year we are staying at a hotel, so I may leave decorations up a bit later.

[xctsclrx]

I don't cook Christmas dinner. I host Christmas eve and Christmas morning (only grand kids in the family). I have usually lasagna Christmas eve and Hot Chocolate and cookies for dessert. Grown ups get spiked hot chocolate or coffee. I actually make real hot chocolate in the crock pot and it is delicious. We cook Christmas breakfast between nine and 10 and after that my "hosting" duties are over. It is all about managing expectation at this point.

[katrine05]

Dec 5, 2017 13:14:46 GMT -5 waverly said:

katrine05 , I agree with the quick turn around. When we host in the house I feel like I have to take down all the Christmas decorations and New years stuff since hers is after New Years and make it non-christmasy. This year we are staying at a hotel, so I may leave decorations up a bit later.

Last couple of years I've taken all the decorations down on the 26th!  This year she said she wants us to keep them up.  We'll see.  By that point I'm tired of the tree anyways.  I'm already fed up with telling DS to get away from the tree.  Especially with us being gone from the 2nd to the 9th.  I want the house back in order before we leave.

[ECB]

This year I'm surviving by hosting! Insane, right? My stepmother has hosted pretty much forever. But last year totally sucked. She gets stressed out way too easy and shes LOVES to be the martyr. It just took a lot of enjoyment out of it for me last year. All her huffing, puffing, crying, banging things around in the kitchen - and NEVER just coming in and sitting down during drinks and appetizer - it just did me in.

Then we went into an almost 2 week period where she didn't talk to me - although I tried to reach out to her. Then when we did talk, she tried to blame it all on me. For once in my life, I actually defended myself and refused to take ALL the blame and pointed out (as gently as I could) where what she was putting on me wasn't fair. She backed down.

Luckily my son, who is 8, wanted to have Christmas at our house this year. It gave me the opening to talk to her about it and she - surprisingly - very readily agreed to it. I'm sure to some degree, she's sad to not be doing it all, but I think she also realizes that last year just was NOT good and she needs to take a step back.

We'll see how this year goes!

[mommyatty]

Omg, ECB, I totally get it. That’s part of how I deal: by controlling as many variables as I can. Which means my house, my food, my schedule.

[campermom]

My anxiety goes up every December 1. This year I'm delegating a lot my my H and holding him to it. It's been rough, but he is following through.

[divanerd]

I signed up for spa membership.

[saraml13]

I’m in the camp of just managing to keep my head above water. This year has been the perfect storm of too much stuff going on.

This past weekend we went to 2 holiday parties (plus DH went solo to a 3rd that I bailed on). Next weekend DH and I are going to our separate holiday parties on Friday, baking cookies with my family Saturday, and doing brunch with Santa on Sunday. Next week I have an overnight work trip to exciting Erie, PA. The weekend after that is a family wedding and DH is an usher so we are also going to the rehearsal dinner. Our anniversary is the 18th and I don’t know if we will even bother celebrating. Then we have 2 weeks of daycare closure to coordinate various backup care for.

I’m just trying to hang in there until January. But then I remember that January includes my niece/goddaughter’s baptism, a largish 70th birthday party for my mom, a work team post-holiday dinner, MIL’s birthday, and at least 1 work trip by DH.

So, yeah, booze.

[HeartofCheese]

My tip: don't cook. To the extent that I have to, I control the menu. I only make what I can get excited about making and doesn't confine me to the kitchen. To stay afloat, it's the gift-giving. I love to shop for gifts. If it wasn't for gift-giving, Christmas would be a pain in my ass.

[phdmomma]

I'm not....It's the absolutely bonkers time of year at the university. Thankfully my final isn't on the 23rd this year, like it was one year, but the 20th. It has to be graded and the grades posted within 48 hours per university policy, so fun fun. It's also the season for graduate students who are graduating this semester to defend, on top of my normal teaching stuff. And then Christmas.....I went out on Black Friday with my mom and got all of the major gifts for the kids. I still need stocking stuffer stuff, and stuff for everyone else including DH. And Christmas cards....I have them, but I need to sit down and send them out.

[sudokufan]

We found a bat in our room last night.

So, I'm planning to burn the house down, then drink.

[supertrooper1]

Dec 6, 2017 11:38:38 GMT -5 sudokufan said:

We found a bat in our room last night.

So, I'm planning to burn the house down, then drink.

Yikes!

[mustardseed2007]

Dec 6, 2017 11:38:38 GMT -5 sudokufan said:

We found a bat in our room last night.

So, I'm planning to burn the house down, then drink.

Holy shit. 

[rere]

Dec 6, 2017 11:38:38 GMT -5 sudokufan said:

We found a bat in our room last night.

So, I'm planning to burn the house down, then drink.

So hotdogs and s'mores it is.

[waverly]

At this point I am not even trying to get through the holidays. I am just trying to get through my day or this week.

[2chatter]

Is anyone else experiencing online shopping issues? One item was transferred to USPS on 11-27. It’s lost. They are resending a new item, when I call them to verbally confirm. Of course, I have to call.

Another item they charged me. Then they emailed me to say it was delayed. Now the charge has disappeared and I needed to call them. Super weird. They said they cancelled the order and offered no reason as to why. As this was a cyber Monday deal I was ready to launch but amazingly amazon had the same
price today.

And finally...we are missing an amazon package that shows delivered and another amazon package arrived last week and they keep updating it online with later dates like it hasn’t been delivered.

Overall - crazy making.