Christmas Stress

[eratmama]

Can I just vent that I am feeling stressed about Christmas already?

Money is tight tight right now. (not that we are foster parents for the money, but the money allowed us to lose our rental income. Due to a paperwork snaffu, we haven't gotten paid for Zucchini in three months.)

We buy small gifts for family members, but now need to buy gifts from the kids for family members (I am hoping we can make something...) and gifts FOR the kids. And gifts from Santa. And things like stockings...

And, I am so worried about how the kids will handle the stress of the holidays---nothing like some temper tantrums in the middle of gifts!

[ct]

I totally get it. We all survived somehow, but I dont exactly have "fond" memories of our first couple Christmases together. I hope it goes better than expected!

I'm also feeling you on the $ stress...but you are so wonderfully talented - homemade gifts? Oh yeah, i supposed you'd need free time to do that...

[hensmum]

The holiday budget is stressing me too. I'm worried about the stress/cost of our Thanksgiving trip (though the stress will be more painful than the money in that case, lol). But for Xmas? I don't know wtf we're going to do. We did mostly homemade gifts last year (except for Hen, but we don't/won't spend a lot on him - he's small enough that a little goes a long way), and i felt like they sort of sucked. My family, who we'll be with this year are pretty gift oriented. There are lots of gifts, even if they promise to stay low-key, and it feels crappy to not be able to reciprocate. I gotta get brainstorming/pinteresting.

[twotrue]

I really don't want this Christmas to be a spending Christmas so I'm with you on that part. I think staying here this year is really going to help us have a simple Christmas.

[rikkiandjulie]

This is always stressful


Rikki-iPhone

[ElsaVonM]

I flat-out told my mom that I doubted we would have money for gifts, and the babies are young enough that we're just getting them one toy each. I'm going to try to figure out something thoughtful and small for my closest family members and two or three friends, but everyone else is getting a card. Having no money is actually making me *less* stressed about Christmas - much less to do. I just decided that everyone has to be understanding this year, and I don't doubt that they will be.

[joyseattle]

This is why we don't celebrate Christmas. Well, not entirely, but a big part of it is the stress/financial aspect. I'm sorry you're feeling it and hope you can find a way to minimize the stress and make it all meaningful.