Jingle bells and New Year stress

Christmas snuck up on us this year. There we were in October with plenty of time on our hands. The shopping centres reminded us that the festive season (high retail season) was coming soon by putting up their decorations way too soon and I think that was partly the cause of my confusion - there were still many many weeks to go!

Then November whizzed past in the blink of an eye. Dante was involved in the NSW Dept of Education Schools Spectacular where practices and early morning drop offs ruled our lives for a few weeks. Before we knew it, the month was over and it was December. End of year work stuff (projects and parties!) combined with end of school (and pre-school) activities kept us rushing around. Finally school ended and work ended (two weeks' mandatory leave) and I thought "Great! I have plenty of time to get things ready for Xmas!". How wrong I was! More parties, present shopping, house cleaning. The time dissolved and it was Christmas.

We had our usual Dan's family shin dig on Xmas eve at our place. Presents out the wazoo. I think the girl scored best, and funnily enough I'd say the hit present of the day was the toy ironing board and iron which Grandma picked up cheap at a garage sale! Dan got an espresso machine (now that he drinks coffee) amongst other things, but surprisingly (my fault!) not a lot of Lego. Everyone else got lots of fun things as well as some practical items (underwear!!). It was a good afternoon/early evening.

Xmas day was spent at my brother's newly renovated place in Glebe. Thankfully it turned out to be a cool rainy day so the kids were happy to be kept occupied by the Wii and the rest of us ate until food was leaking out of our ears. Or so it felt!

Now a week has yet again flown by. I had a couple of projects I wanted to do, not even started. And now it's New Year's Eve! Less than 6 hours left of the year! Wow. I'm a little stressed by that fact. My mind is abuzz thinking of all the things I want to do and my heart is beating a little faster with the thought that I won't get to do them.

But, after an afternoon of stressing out and being unproductive, a sudden urge hit me. Lists. I work well with lists. There's something very satisfying about crossing things off a list. Lists and deadlines are what get me going. It's a stressful way to work, but eh, at least it works... sort of. That and a "oh, bugger it! That's good enough!" attitude!

So this is my plan for the new year. No silly resolutions like last year which are pretty much a guarantee that things won't get done.

Just this. I'm writing a list of things I'd like to do. Not big things. It's all cut down into bite-size pieces. And I'm going to try to tackle one every fortnight. Every week would be great but I know not to set my goals too high because then I just get disappointed in myself.

Now after making this decision, coming to this realisation, I feel like a weight has been lifted. Every time I start to feel stressed about something I need to do, I can just add it to my list and I know that some day it will get done and won't be forgotten about! I can feel myself calming even as I write this. And I feel a bit more motivated to get on with the house cleaning - I try to have the house tidy-ish if not perfectly clean (ha!) by New Year's Eve so that we can start the new year afresh. That's the plan. That's always the plan.

Hopefully next year it will be fulfilled.

I hope you all have a great night tonight and a happy and less stressful year in 2010!