Holiday Stress/Coping

[buckytom]

omg! i am so tempted to post off color, insulting, and deeply disturbing jokes right now...

ok, now i'm stressed. thanks alix, you just reminded me that my freedom of speech is being infringed upon, and i am therefore unable to pursue happiness.

happy freakin' holidays...

 

[pdswife]

Bucky.. I want to give you karma but the powers that be won't let me....

 

[kadesma]

Ahhh, Alix, what we all need to remember, when we post here the person reading our post cannot see our face..So it's sometimes hard to tell if we are angry, serious or just pulling your leg..that is why I'm a believer in the smiley faces provided for us and also taking a moment or two re-reading what we've written and asking myself how will this be recieved? This time of year can be stressful but it can also be magic if we all take a look at our little ones...Right now mine flock to the tree to see what else has been put there and who it's for..They love sticking fingers into batter and tasting, everything to them has a special glow..I to had a thread pulled when I first came her and I wondered wow, I bet they don't like me..But I hung in there and refused to let my feelings be hurt..I'm so glad I did..Now I've many new friends a support system that is so helpful, I feel a wonderful love for all of you...Take a minute and look through the eyes of a child and all the little things that bite you will dissapear and you will find warmth and love in your hearts.
kades

 

[pacanis]

Ahhh, Alix, what we all need to remember, when we post here the person reading our post cannot see our face..So it's sometimes hard to tell if we are angry, serious or just pulling your leg..that is why I'm a believer in the smiley faces provided for us and also taking a moment or two re-reading what we've written and asking myself how will this be recieved? This time of year can be stressful but it can also be magic if we all take a look at our little ones...Right now mine flock to the tree to see what else has been put there and who it's for..They love sticking fingers into batter and tasting, everything to them has a special glow..I to had a thread pulled when I first came her and I wondered wow, I bet they don't like me..But I hung in there and refused to let my feelings be hurt..I'm so glad I did..Now I've many new friends a support system that is so helpful, I feel a wonderful love for all of you...Take a minute and look through the eyes of a child and all the little things that bite you will dissapear and you will find warmth and love in your hearts.
kades

Well sure you are. You were given access to "the button".

<<<<<<<< indicating an attempt at humor

 

[Claire]

My way to reduce holiday stress comes in two parts. First of all I "do" Thanksgiving dinner, then throw a big Christmas bash the first or second Sunday afternoon in December. When we first moved here (8 or so years ago), we formed friendships that work well for us. We do Thanksgiving and that early holiday party, other friends do other holiday dinners or parties. By the tenth of December, I'm pretty much done.

Then, about ten years ago I pretty much gave up buying presents. Yup. We took the commercial right out of Christmas. I don't much like to shop, period, and the first time I started hearing Christmas before Halloween, that was that.

So now the shopping I do is for our local food bank and anonomous gifts for needy families. My husband, my sibs, nieces, nephews ... I just don't. Not ba humbug, just that I was spending money on stuff no one really wanted, just so that they'd have some box under the tree. The gifts everyone really wanted were well over my budget. None of the kids actually liked to read (books would have been my gift of choice). Having to find just the right gift for someone I hardly know any more, and who as far as I can see are priveledged enough ended the year I found myself in a trailer (by choice, not because of poverty, just for love of travel) next to a family that wasn't sending their kids to school because they couldn't afford to buy them clothes. We stopped buying for each other and for family, and started taking an annual trip to Wal-Mart for these needy families. You cannot imagine the release it was to not be trying to find the perfect gift for the person who has everything they want already.

I minimized decorating, which works well when you live in an antique home, help where I can, but gave up on buying stuff for people who don't want or need it. The stress, voila! went away! I now have maybe one or two hours of stress between Thanksgiving (when I try to keep the table at a manageable 6-8 people) and my Christmas party (where the rule of 40 applies! It is a family joke. I invite 20, 40 show up. I invite 80, 40 show up). Then I hit a discount store and drop my buys at a local bar. I get someone with all-wheel drive to help deliver the food bank items that I charge for "party admission". By mid December I'm done for the year and can truly enjoy my holidays.

 

[Uncle Bob]

Ahhh, Alix, what we all need to remember, when we post here the person reading our post cannot see our face..So it's sometimes hard to tell if we are angry, serious or just pulling your leg..that is why I'm a believer in the smiley faces provided for us and also taking a moment or two re-reading what we've written and asking myself how will this be recieved? This time of year can be stressful but it can also be magic if we all take a look at our little ones...Right now mine flock to the tree to see what else has been put there and who it's for..They love sticking fingers into batter and tasting, everything to them has a special glow..I to had a thread pulled when I first came her and I wondered wow, I bet they don't like me..But I hung in there and refused to let my feelings be hurt..I'm so glad I did..Now I've many new friends a support system that is so helpful, I feel a wonderful love for all of you...Take a minute and look through the eyes of a child and all the little things that bite you will dissapear and you will find warmth and love in your hearts.
kades

Reminded me of the song "Christmas Was Meant For Children" ------- Children Like You and Me!!

 

[kadesma]

Well sure you are. You were given access to "the button".

<<<<<<<< indicating an attempt at humor

It worked
kades

 

[jpmcgrew]

JoeV, I'm very glad you decided to stick around!

There were some really blatantly insulting posts recently (I couldn't believe they lasted as long as they did), but I didn't see anything offensive in any of your posts. I may have missed it, but I pretty much read whatever you write.

You are a valuable contributor!

As for coping with stress, holiday or otherwise, when I get home, I get into my pj's, have a glass of wine and try to find something funny on TV. Two and a Half Men is always good for a laugh!

Lee

Not to worry a couple of times I have gotten a bit ugly but it was aimed at someone new here that got ugly first and yes there was a couple of times I felt like I did not do anything wrong. But I got over it.

 

[pacanis]

Not to worry a couple of times I have gotten a bit ugly but it was aimed at someone new here that got ugly first and yes there was a couple of times I felt like I did not do anything wrong. But I got over it.

Just to clarify without getting into details... because I don't know all of them myself.

JoeV did NOT get ugly. He made a tongue in cheek post directed at me, in a thread I started, and with a type of humor that someone apparently found offensive. In other words, they read his words literally, so got accusational or "reported" the post and dragged others into their train of thought. Geez, if anyone should have taken offense, it should have been me, but I read the whole post and took it for what it was.... a little Mad Magazine style humor.

Like has been said (basically), some people have a hard time reading the written word without the use of smileys/emoticons to help illustrate the poster's thoughts as they type.

<<<< blank emotionless stair

I just don't want anyone to thing anybody posted anything ugly or was wrong here. Because it didn't happen. Not in this case. Like I said, I would have been the first person to notice.

 

[GB]

Like you said pacanis, you do not know all the details. What you posted in your last post is really not correct at all. Quite a few people found Joes words offensive. It was not just one person. No one "got accusational or reported a post or dragged others into their train of thought". You are making assumptions that are just flat out wrong.

And to say you would have been the first to notice really is not true since you didn't notice, but many others did.

Joe has explained that what he said was a joke. This is all water under the bridge as far as Joe and the staff are concerned.

I am locking this thread as it has completely turned into something other than what Alix had intended.