I am at the point where I really dread Christmas and am glad when it ends.
It is the same stuff I get caught up in by relatives who want to go to the same Christmas events at the same places and are always on the lookout for new ones just like the old ones to reinforce the experience. They are always on days where I want nothing more than to be left alone to do things I want and need to do.
I can forget a free weekend throughout the month of December. If I can have a couple of hours on a Saturday or Sunday, it is a miracle.
I will do my shopping online this coming week and get the few stocking stuffers and I should be done.
I know how you can halve a portion of your tedious work.
Christmas shouldn’t be this way either. - Neither should Thanksgiving. - Lately, we’ve established a tradition of going over to a nearby state park (Thanksgiving evening) and having the Thanksgiving buffet; sometimes to Shoney’s or other places. None of the cooking like we did for many years, none of the mess of pots and pans. (Fun for the guys; the WOMEN not so much.) This year, I got manipulated into getting back into that trap since my husband’s very elderly cousin insisted on us coming over there. It was OK; I was glad I could help her out in that (she is 84 or 85!). I told husband afterwards that it was not going to become a TRADITION, not for me (like things tend to do with him); that it just WAS NOT RIGHT. He agreed; and I was surprised.