Done, done, and done!

On Monday, I had a migraine. I was feeling quite stressed about my holiday to-do list plus the things that needed to be done for everyday life. I couldn’t concentrate on my work, which needed to be done, as I was going to be out of the house for the day on Tuesday. I was desperate to finish on Wednesday, so I would have Thursday to myself, but it just didn’t look like it was going to happen. On top of the migraine, I was sleep deprived and feeling like I was coming down with something. All I could think about was seeing myself up all night the night before we were to leave for Christmas trying to pack and wrap presents and spending our entire week away desperately trying to catch up on sleep instead of enjoying the time off. I found myself having thoughts of “I hate Christmas,” which is so not me, as I absolutely love Christmas, and it really made me truly sad to be having those thoughts.

I had been so proud of myself for being nearly finished with my shopping by Thanksgiving. When I finally place my last Amazon order and was finished, I was so busy patting myself on the back that I neglected to think about all the wrapping that needed to be done. I kept thinking about the packages that needed to be shipped, but I never made any move to get those done either.

And then there were the Christmas cards. I picked out the stamps way ahead of time; we bought them before Halloween. We always go with a “Season’s Greetings” card instead of a strictly Christmas card, and we usually get something with a snowman or snowflakes. So the snowflake stamps this year were perfect for us. I spent November planning for our family picture, picking out clothes that would be complementary without being too matchy-matchy. We took the picture Thanksgiving weekend, and we picked up the cards last Friday. The only thing missing was the letter. I already had the paper and matching address labels (snowflakes, natch), but I just did not feel like writing the letter. We had only done a letter once before, 2 years ago, and the main reason for that one was to let everyone know that we were expecting. I wanted to write a letter this year, especially since I had everything coordinated, but I just didn’t feel like it.

Well, I got my act together. All I have to do to ease my migraines is to dispel the stress. It’s like magic. In the past, I’ve had migraines at work or school so severe that I could hardly stand up straight. As soon as I got the okay to leave early and left the building, the migraine was gone. I almost felt bad for going home, but I knew that if I went back inside, the migraine would return.

Not feeling well…skip yoga and make chicken soup for dinner. The trip to the store is added stress…call Pete to pick up the necessary ingredients. Worried about getting work finished…sit down and do it, get to point x tonight, do y on Tuesday, finish up with z on Wednesday. Christmas letter…feeling better after dinner, stay up and just write it. Presents need to be wrapped, laundry needs to be done, dishes need to be washed…get work done Wednesday night and have Thursday for everything else.

And it all worked out. My work took a little longer to get done that I had hoped, and I thought I was going to be working on it into Thursday, but I sat down Wednesday night and got it all together. I folded the remains of 3 weeks’ worth of laundry on Thursday and wrapped nearly all of the presents. Right now only 1 present needs to be wrapped, and that’s because I still need to knit half of it. Pete and I edited the letter throughout the week, and it was ready to be printed Friday night. I stayed up Friday night folding and stuffing and sticking and licking, and Pete dropped them all off at the Post Office Saturday morning. I also got the presents to be shipped wrapped and packaged on Friday night, and Pete mailed those on Saturday, too.

Shopping, wrapping, and shipping…done, done, and done!

Now, let the baking begin!