Thanksgiving Holiday Ho-Hum

So how was your Thanksgiving? Mine was fine...

I guess.

DH’s cousins always have us over for dinner, so I don’t have to cook a huge meal or get my house cleaned or stress out or anything.

I love having the extra two days off and since I don’t have to cook or clean or stress out, and I like to be ready for Christmas before Thanksgiving so that I can enjoy the holiday season, I had a lot planned for this weekend. I’m not going to say that nothing was accomplished, but I’m not where I want to be with my plans.

This happens every year. I have grand delusions of what I can accomplish in the four days of the Thanksgiving holiday and I make big lists and have high hopes, only to have them completely dashed.

I really needed some time off this year. I was due for a holiday in the worst way. I’ve just been really raked over the coals emotionally, burned out in other ways, and just plain exhausted.

I guess I just took my time getting to the things that needed to get done. I was really tired and needed some down time, so I took it. I can’t even remember what I did on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday other than I got up at the usual time, and went to bed at the usual time. On Thursday we spent the bulk of the day at the cousins, and on Friday I went to see The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 by myself. I know that I did some laundry and some dishes and some ironing, and caught up on the shows that I recorded because I have no time for live television, but other than that, I guess I just did nothing?

Finally on Saturday, when I realized that my holiday was going to be shot if I didn’t get my butt moving, I got something accomplished. My knees are still hurting. I spent the bulk of the day on my hands and knees scrubbing things. I even washed walls and baseboards. It felt so good on Sunday to have clean floors and counters that I even did the dishes right after dinner!

I think that the issue with Thanksgiving is that I need time to stock up on my energy in order to get things done. I need that down time prior to Thanksgiving to gear up for the holidays. It was a combination of having rested the two days prior and of desperation to have a productive holiday that gave me the energy that was needed to work all day Saturday to make my home a lovelier place to exist.

I was going to get down on myself for not having the house decorated, the presents purchased and shipped, the letter written, picture taken and cards posted, but I decided to not beat myself up this year. Since every year is the same, I have realized that I need that relaxing time to gear up for the pre-Christmas clean/errand rush. I have also recently decided to focus on the things that I actually DID get done (even if you can’t see the results), rather than get upset that my to-do list actually grew instead of shrunk over the holiday.