Survived the Holidays!

Christmas is officially over at my house. It ended when Lils and I took down the tree today and shoved it out the front door. It will look lovely in the New Year's Eve conflagration on Saturday. 

For all my grumpiness around the holidays, I actually did quite well this year.
I managed to Christmas shop without breaking the bank. I've got a marketable skill as a massage therapist and am convinced that a good massage is all anyone really wants for Christmas. I hit up a couple of local business owners and bartered gift certificates to gift shops, boutiques, and even a hair salon. I even gave some massage gc's directly to some people who I know would use them. There's a good gift at little cost to me. We also gave out cookies and cranberry chutney to folks. I even baked some gluten free cookies for those people in our life that eat that way.
So, as the gift giving tends to be the most stressful part of the holidays for me, I am happy to report that it went quite well this year! Kiddo's best gift from us was a handmade doll changing table. For $10 at the thrift store, we got this:

 And turned it into this:

I love that she is still at that age where the biggest gift she asks for can be got for very little. We were pretty proud of ourselves for making it, too. 

I feel like I made out well this year, stressed way less than usual, and didn't go broke trying to make things just right for everyone. 

For now, I will look to 2012 with great anticipation. We bought our airfare to Europe as a gift to ourselves this year. 

Surviving These Holidays.

So I wrote a post last week about how much I dislike the holidays. Then it got deleted. It was a great post and I'm not going to attempt to re-create it.
I do get all weird and grumpy during the holidays, but I'm doing a few things to combat my inner Grinch and they seem to be helping.

•  I'm giving in- the Mr and Mini Me really dig Christmas so I decided to surrender to it. I went along with getting the tree and didn't whine too bad when they wanted one that was bigger than the 3 foot tall balsam fir I was keen on. We saw a performance of the Nutcracker Ballet and it was actually really lovely. We've been watching Christmas movies. (Well, I've been cruising Pinterest while they watch movies.) 
• Handmade stuff that I want to make. I've been able to leave the paper snowflakes and gingerbread cookies to the others while I focus on the mindlessness of handmade paper bows and the culinary delight that is my cranberry chutney.

• I surrendered (a bit) to the commercialism of the season. I went shopping. This year, I was lucky enough to have some good friends along for the shopping day. They are the type of friends that can talk me into or out of buying just about anything. Sometimes, that's just what I need. Plus, we got to have a big yummy lunch out. I live for lunch with my girlfriends.
• I've been working out. Not too extreme, but exercise is a great way for me to combat the doldrums of the season and I'm doing a bit more than usual these days. Hooray for endorphins! 

You won't catch me caroling around town any time soon, but I am finding ways to be less grumpy for the holidays. Who knows? Maybe someday I'll actually look forward to the season.

Until then, Here's my favorite Christmas song ever: