The Downside of the Holidays

I know that Christmas time and these end of year holidays are usually a time when everybody is so happy and in good spirits and feeling great about life.

Well NOT ME. 

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Christmas, it's tied for my favorite holiday with Halloween. I love the decorating, the music, the lights and displays, and the gift giving.

But then there's the other side. The seedy, shady side of this time of year. I don't know why, but this year I'm really struggling with some things that haven't bothered me that much in the past.

The darkness. Literally.

Normally daylight savings time doesn't do anything for me in the winter. It's never really bothered me that it's dark when I leave work. But for some reason this year, it's practically crippling me. It's dark when my alarm goes off in the morning. It's dark when I take my dog outside. It's dark when I get off work. It's like I forget what daylight looks like. And the fact that it's so dark all the time makes it really hard for me to do anything that requires me to leave my house. I don't go grocery shopping. I don't go for walks. I don't workout... I literally feel like I should be sleeping all the time. I got home from work today, sat down on the couch, and promptly fell asleep for about 10 minutes. AT 5:30.

The goodies.

I don't usually go to too many holiday parties, so I'm not really talking about going to a party and having some cocktail weenies and a cookie or two. I'm talking about the stuff that people bring to you or send you. At work, we get all sorts of stuff sent to us by vendors and companies that we work with, and members bring us cookies, and I can't seem to pass them up. Go to the bathroom = eat a chocolate. Fill my water cup = grab two cookies. Grab a loan file = eat a cookie on the way in and a chocolate on the way out + one for the road. This is particularly troublesome when you refer to my previous point that I don't feel like doing ANYTHING before or after work, so I'm not getting my necessary cardio in to work off these extra calories. My doctor will NOT be happy with me in January.

Breaking the Bank.

Every year, I try to plan ahead. I take advantage of the opportunity to skip a loan payment and use that money for Black Friday shopping. Yet EVERY YEAR, I find myself struggling to get everything purchased and still put gas in my car. I've been better this year and have actually given myself a budget for everybody on my list, but it adds up so fast... hopefully I get that deed to a platinum mine that I'm always singing to Santa about...

Anyways, with all that said, I do love this time of year, and I'm looking forward to having a week of vacation next week to do my own holiday baking, working out during the daylight hours, and getting all my pretty decorations up. Maybe I'll even have more DIY stuff to post like last year.

Toodles.