When Should I Get Ready for the Holidays?

Did the Holidays Already Happen?

Because I’ve only just gotten the dining room table cleared off from Halloween decorating, and already Christmas stuff is 1/2 price at our local drugstore. I was actually relieved to see that the other neighbors left their Jack ‘o Lanterns out for a number of weeks after Halloween, even if all the ghouls disappeared soon after November 1st. I guess pumpkins are Thanksgiving related, but there are a couple of people who already have their Christmas lights up, not to mention that there are Christmas songs being played on the radio, and well, it’s already snowed here on the North East shore of the Lake Erie.

But we haven’t even had the great feast of Thanksgiving! What’s going on? I feel like I missed a memo! And yes, I know that retailers are always going to get their stuff out early for all those early bird Classics who feel better having everything ready than for actually enjoying the process like us Funs, Organic Freedoms and Smart Freedoms. But hey to each their own. All I’m saying is that every year it feels like the Classics — who make up 1/2 the population so of course make sure everything is ready for them way ahead of time — start getting ready earlier and earlier and earlier. What’s next, Halloween decorations available in August?! Wait maybe that’s already happened.

But there’s something to be said for getting ready early. As a personality type who’s not great at “time” there’s been a couple of years that I’ve gotten ready way early. Makes life much less stressful and easier to enjoy when it actually arrives. There have been years when my holiday cards actually went out before my Classic sisters or my Organic Structure mother. It CAN and does happen. The photo is from last year when the girls went over to my mom’s to help her bake pies the day before Thanksgiving. Wouldn’t have been as sweet a memory if it had been happening in a busy chaotic Thanksgiving day kitchen. But when I’m in charge, these getting ready ahead of time things don’t happen consistently, which is what makes my personality type seem so unstructured.

And I am unstructured. But I still get ready for the holidays every year. It’s just each year is very very different. Part of it is that I have a chronic illness — which is in our top ten reasons for being disorganized in our book, Organize Your Way and a great gift for this holiday season by the way, shameless plug intended! — and so when and how much often depends on how I’m doing physically.  But when the holidays do actually arrive, often months after many of us have gotten ready for them, I still celebrate, no matter how ready or not I am, or how good I’m feeling.

The hardest part for people with my personality type is that we often spend too much time feeling bad that we’re not ready yet, when it doesn’t really bother us personally. That’s when we need to remember the PixiesDidIt! No Shame, No Blame motto. In fact if I get ready too early I start to feel like the holiday doesn’t give me the same sense of special that it does when I get ready in my own good time.

So, sure, Thanksgiving is next week, the holidays are definitely upon us. I’m busy rehearsing in choir for our Christmas concert, and I suggested a division of labor for the big feast ahead and my sister created a spread sheet.  I signed up for the dish that is pretty much set it an forget it — the turkey. Which suits my personality and my health issues! And since none of our men responded to this rota, they’ll be in the kitchen cleaning up, while we laugh and joke around the table and eat our pies.