This is the time of year that the Internet starts to hum the tune of holiday stress. Now, I know I’ve got all sorts of other stress, but holiday stress not so much. Every year, it seems the same. Everyone is panicking and I’m not. I don’t have gifts for some people yet. I don’t know if my inlaws are coming into town or not. My shipment to Canada is sitting on my kitchen table. My gifts aren’t wrapped.

I’m chilling.

I should probably be stressed out, but during the holidays, I try to take the opinion that it isn’t worth it to be stressed. Everything will get done – it always does. John and I are both excellent last minute holiday people… Honestly, John moreso than I am. He has this incredible knack of picking out just the right gift for a person, and he seems to work better at the last minute. I don’t know how he does it, but I am in the fortunate position of being his wife and being able to use his powers for good!

Part of it, too, is that we’re cutting back a tad. We decided, with some of my inlaws, to only buy for the kids and to spend the money we’d put toward gifts into a trip to see each other instead. The trip was a few months ago, and it was a blast. The kids loved the gifts, and we loved watching them tear into everything! What more do you need? We have also decided to do a joint gift instead of needing to figure out what to get each other – we’ll buy tucking a bit of money away and, sometime between now and the spring, we’ll finally get the bikes we’ve been wanting so we can go riding. No need to get them right now, since they won’t be used immediately, so that takes some money off our holiday cash flow and some time off our holiday schedule.

I must say, as well, that it’s kind of nice to do our big Christmas shin-dig a few weeks early. Christmas is next week, but the biggest part of it is already out of the way! Whether or not we have company, our holiday will be spent close to home, and we will be relaxing. I feel for the people who have to bounce from house to house on Christmas, visiting four or five different sets of relatives, having two different Christmas dinners. I’d gladly do it – I’ve gladly done it, in a fashion, with our whirlwind trips to Kansas and then Nebraska all in one weekly – but it’s nice to kick back and just have a few people to our house.

So to all those with holiday stress, I salute you, and I feel for you! I’ve kicked my feet up and am letting the last things fall into place as they will. I’ll probably sneak home early Christmas Eve to do my present wrapping this year. Gifts will be bought, and shipped, here soon. And my boys will wake up Christmas morning in their own beds … probably none the wiser this year, Danny sometime mid-morning, Eric far too early to come into our bed and curl up for a little while longer.

Oh, by the way, it’s blog blast time and I’m playing along! The Parent Bloggers Network is teaming up with FFDA this time, an organization that offers support to those who are struggling and feeling overhwhelmed, and together they’re looking to hear how everyone is handling their holiday stress! If you blog, join in!