Another Thanksgiving has come and gone. Another Thanksgiving that flew by too quickly. Another Thanksgiving that involved an obscene overindulgence in food and alcoholic beverages. Another Thanksgiving that ended with a need for a vacation from my vacation. And now that Thanksgiving is over, we can all move on to December, a month filled with holiday magic and glee. Or for people like me, stress, stress, and more stress.
I’m well aware that a lot of my holiday stress is self-induced. But how can I NOT be stressed when I get on Facebook and read about the holiday feats of my amazing friends around the world. Thanksgiving turkeys are being stuffed while Christmas trees are simultaneously being trimmed and Black Friday sales are being pursued and Christmas cards are being signed, sealed, and delivered. And my Facebook friends have photos on their walls and status updates to prove it.
Despite the fact that I was visiting family and wasn’t the one required to prep recipes for 4 days, I still felt like a slacker every time I signed onto Facebook and read of the spectacular culinary feats of my cohorts. Facebook was stressing me out! So I decided to unplug for the Thanksgiving weekend so I could enjoy the holiday without feeling as if I was failing to live up to some sort of bizarro world Facebook expectations. I didn’t see photos of Food Network-worthy turkeys and lists of Black Friday deals and retellings of Christmas tree trimming ceremonies. It felt almost liberating to divorce myself from the computer, like I was living my life instead of narrating it on Facebook.
Now that Thanksgiving is over and I’m home from my road trip, I’m back on Facebook. But now, instead of Thanksgiving turkeys, I see photographs of beautifully decorated Christmas trees. And I imagine the photos of holiday preparation and status updates checking off holiday to do lists will only increase in the next couple of weeks.
I guess I can’t avoid Facebook for the next month so I’ll just have to embrace my inner slacker and ignore those in high holiday gear. Who knows, maybe next year I’ll join the ranks and have my Christmas tree up before the Thanksgiving dishes are washed. I can dream anyway.
I seriously don't stress when viewing the amazing things on FB! I love to see them and might possibly want to try some of them (especially the food!) But mostly I can just know that whatever I do is good enough and probably even better than that:) Relax and enjoy!!
My turkey was a bit dry and the chocolate cream pie totally sucked, if that makes you feel better! 🙂
This year, we are the ridiculously early birds. Hubby and I completed all our shopping and wrapping of presents and putting up the tree by 11:45pm Black Friday. I know, it was a little overboard, but it feels good to know it's done. No boasting on facebook, though… I feel it's a tad tacky. I also get stressed out seeing the pictures and the food!
I will admit I had my tree up in early November because we wanted our daughter to get used to it before decorating it. However, I am a slacker for the most part. I have some gifts, but not wrapped. I have my Christmas cards, but no envelopes addressed. My tree is definitely not the most elegant tree in the world. It is filled with Grinch and Disney ornaments. However, it is my tree and I like it.
I like to try to have my cards done by the week after Thanksgiving so I can mail them the first week in Dec. But cards are my thing. I wait all year to send them. And our tree is up only because I'm almost 38 weeks pregnant and it was either decorate the house now, or not at all this year. And honestly I sat on the couch and watched my husband and daughter do it. FB doesn't stress me out since it's usually just a boost-fest anyway. =)
I had to unplug myself too. It wasn't so much facebook as the perfect thanksgiving/christmas posts on blogger. I'm a total christmas slacker and don't believe in truly celebrating it until the second week in December…so I hated feeling like the grinch haha. My weekend without the internet was awesome! I'm definitely doing it again.
I admit I sometimes do get stressed when I see peoples pictures. I do try to not let it bother me. I have to remind myself that everyone likes to talk about the good stuff and not the bad. They might have a perfect Christmas tree but maybe their kitchen is a total mess. Most people won't post a picture of a messy kitchen on Facebook 😉
I'm a total slacker…I don't even have the Christmas decoration boxes out of storage yet. Maybe later this week. I do have our cards done, but that's only because we had an OpLove session done in October and I ordered cards from that, otherwise those would still be left undone! As much as I love Facebook, it sure does make me feel pretty lazy this year! I think I'm OK with that though! 🙂
I do feel stressed whenever I see all my friends with their tree up already. Truth is, my hubby isn't home so to get me to put up the tree by myself is a reminder that I have to do things by myself. I wait until I am in the perfect mood to decorate, that way I don't bum myself out. Here in Hawaii, people start putting their Christmas trees up BEFORE Thanksgiving. That to me is nuts!
But yes, I keep seeing photos of everyone's tree and I think to myself, oh man I got to do that soon!