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December is notoriously busy for everyone, and even though it is an exciting time – particularly if you have children in your life – it can also be very overwhelming, stressful and bloody exhausting.
So instead of sharing my usual goals for the month (especially as it is now the 12th anyway!), I thought I would share my simple aims for December; with no pressure, just things I am hoping to get done, without all the stress so that I can enjoy Christmas and feel okay about taking a bit of a break.
Last year we got a tree super duper late. I think it was actually on Christmas Eve, which did mean we got a giant bargain, but also meant I was a bit (lot) stressed that we wouldn’t actually be able to get one at all and I would ruin Christmas for my poor daughter and scar her for life. It also meant that when I should be spending Christmas Eve with a Baileys or seven, whilst wrapping a million presents, that had to wait until I’d decorated the tree with Ava (ie slowly). My plans for a 10pm bedtime strangely didn’t materialise.
This year I would really like to get our tree this coming weekend before everything gets a bit crazy and I consider cancelling Christmas.
Speaking of having a million presents to wrap on Christmas Eve, I would really, really like to wrap some of them ahead of time this year. I think it’s probably unlikely to happen, but I’d like to try. The trouble is that it’s never a priority until it absolutely has to be done, which is the story of my life to be frank.
I never used to really food guilt in the past: if I ate something and enjoyed it then I was okay with that and it was worth it. But for the last year or so I really overthink what I put in my mouth (ahem), and feel pretty crap about myself if I’ve eaten the entire big bag of crisps (crisps are my new nemesis) all in one go, or had pudding for three nights in a row.
I love food and I want to enjoy it without the guilt. I have started exercising a lot more regularly again, so I am hoping to keep that up so I have more energy and feel a bit better about myself, so hopefully that will help. But I really want to get rid of this bloody food guilt, especially over this season of over-indulging if we damn well please.
I want to give myself a break, and need to remember that taking a nap during the day isn’t actually wasting time if it’s what I need. I struggle in winter and so I need to take care of myself and get plenty of rest, otherwise I’ll just keep getting ill from all the stress. I find it hard feeling like I’m wasting the day if I go back to bed for a bit after the school run, but I’m sleeping terribly at the moment and I’m so unproductive anyway, so I might as well help myself to feel a bit better. Plus, my work is pretty quiet at the moment anyway so it’s alright for me to hibernate a bit.
Do you have any specific aims for December? I’d love to hear them.
Welcome to Birds and Lilies! I'm Lou: mother, blogger and freelance writer. This is my lifestyle blog, where I talk about motherhood, infertility and IVF, beauty, my love for food and wine, as well as my thoughts about stuff, and our real-life and travel adventures.
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