Hi My Forum Friends,
Thanksgiving and Christmas time are my favorite times of year. Things were always a little better in my dysfunctional home at this time of year so I have pretty good memories of everything Christmas...decorations are my personal favorite! I'm trying to enjoy it as much as usual this year but I don't have to tell you, because you know, having this condition makes everything harder...even enjoying yourself! Starting to get ready for Christmas had me wondering how all of you have been able to adapt and still do what you want for the holidays. That includes Hannukah too if you celebrate that :) This is the first holiday season I've had to deal with feeling this bad so I'm kind of feeling things out for the first time. I don't have kids so I know it could be alot busier and for that I am thankful. Anyway, here's what I came up with for me so far:
Decorating: I don't go crazy here at my house so I don't have to scale back much but I did postpone it from last week when I normally would have done it because I was just too tired last week. One thing I am doing is putting less on the tree...mostly because my newest little sweetheart, Tigger the cat, is an awful rascally 1 year old. It's his first year here at Christmas and he can't keep from getting into whatever trouble he can find. There's no doubt I would come home one night, or several nights, and find the tree on the floor and have to clean it up! I don't want my breakable ornaments gone forever so I don't want to tempt fate by even putting them on the tree this year.
Shopping: Shopping is my favorite thing in the world and unfortunately, my biggest trigger. Being on my feet for that long just sends me into a tailspin and between that and getting warm and the hypoglycemia...well Christmas shopping of the past can be no more. I've been picking up things little by little as I saw them. Of course I've been doing alot of on-line shopping and plan to finish most of it there too. That meant starting earlier than I usually do, so it took a little more forethought. If I do go to a store like I did today I have a plan...know what I want to get and get in and out. I got a little tempted today at Michael's Crafts and got in trouble but know when I am so I got out of there. I also decided that saving a few dollars by "having" to get to the stores that have the biggest bargains, isn't as important as feeling ok. So if I pay a few dollars more, I'm ok with it...luckily I can do it without much financial hardship so I'm thankful for that. A few more people are getting gift cards this year too!
Baking: I bake for my neighbors and some people at work. Cookies were always too giring so I make some kind of loaf. I was thinking of cutting that out all together but the reason I started it was because I couldn't afford to buy something for everyone I wanted to remember at Christmas. I think I'm just going to scale it back and pick an easy recipe. I have collected a few small, inexpensive gifts I can dress up for the people I'm not baking for.
Parties: I'm just not going to go! The one that really drained me last year was the office party and I just don't have it in me this year. My husband's fine with it because he didn't want to go at all last year! I'm not an overly social person anyway, so parties were never really my thing anyway. We'll be going to my sis-in-laws Christmas Eve and probably my sister's Christmas day so I don't have to "do" it at my house...which is the biggest energy saver of all!
That's all I can think of for now. I'm also planning on enjoying all the other decorations, sights, smells and feelings of Christmas around me which don't require me to DO anything! I'd love to hear everyone else's thoughts :)
Stephanie