November-January is officially “Holiday” Season. Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas Eve, Christmas, Friendsgiving, work holiday parties, etc. Some of these holidays get celebrated multiple times, with different sides of the family or friends. There are Secret Santa gift exchanges, theme days at school, cookie exchanges, Elf on the Shelf, and all things “holiday fun”. You want to make the holidays magical for your children. You want to celebrate with every side of the family and friends and neighbors and there’s so much holiday cheer how can you say no to anything?!
My list looks like this- My husband’s list looks like this-
| Host Holiday (multiply this by how many holidays you host) -Clean the house -Menu plan -Shop -Cook -Coordinate with guests | Buy gift for wife |
| Prepare meals for all parties we are invited to | |
| Buy all Christmas gifts for kids | |
| Stocking stuffers for kids | |
| Buys all Christmas gifts for relatives | |
| Donations for school and work holiday collections | |
| Decorate | |
| Travel logistics Pet sitter Pack Unpack | |
| Stock up on wrapping paper, tape, batteries, etc. | |
| Kids to see Santa | |
| Kids to see lights | |
| Make gingerbread houses | |
| Make gift idea lists for a the kids for relatives | |
| Christmas card | |
| Holiday outfits for kids | |
| Teacher gifts | |
| 100 other things not listed above but also necessary |
Do you know what doesn’t pause during the holiday season? Menu planning, grocery shopping, packing lunches, cooking meals, house cleaning, laundry, work deadlines, meetings, kids’ sports, kids’ schoolwork, library day at school, snack time, pets, dishes… ALL THE NORMAL THINGS.
And so, in the midst of the hurricane shitshow inside your brain that is desperately trying to keep track of the normal list and now the holiday list too, something (seemingly not that big of a deal) happens, and then next thing you know, you are MELTING THE FUCK DOWN because someone just suggested a last-minute white elephant game. You just need $10 gifts for each member of the family- wrapped and ready to go by tomorrow.
And your husband, who doesn’t seem to have a clue that your list and his list are WILDLY DIFFERENT says something like, “what’s he big deal?” and your head spins ALL THE WAY AROUND while steam shoots out of your ears. Because you’ve already been to Target 14 times in the last 2 days and you were just barely keeping your head above water and it’s not the one thing, it’s the 150 things collectively over the course of just a few weeks. And you just can’t be responsible for one more thing, even if it is a simple request.
And so I present HOLIDAY MOM BINGO.
My sincere wish for all moms everywhere is that you make it through the holidays without checking any of these things off the list. Because even one of these can push you over the edge and result in you shoveling handfuls of candy into your mouth while crying while yelling while stomping around while… whatever it is that you do when you’re DONE.
Share this with your friends. Don’t share this with your husband. He won’t understand.
