Ah the holidays… a time to take time off work, relax and enjoy your family. Who am I kidding? The holidays are probably the busiest days of the year for moms. It’s a confusing time for pregnant women especially. The abundance of food is tempting. Having two dozen family members commenting on the size of your baby bump is less than thrilling. The thought of not having to work and relaxing is great in theory, but oftentimes between all the visiting, baking, and celebrating, we end up more exhausted than we were before.
My solution is actually the same regardless of whether one is pregnant or not. It’s called pre-holiday hibernation. What you need to do is make sure you get everything done by midday on the 23rd. Then from the early evening of the 23rd until the late afternoon of Christmas Eve, you do as little as possible. Yep, for 24 hours, stay in your pajamas, don’t go anywhere, eat leftovers or make quick and painless meals, and lay around in preparation for the hustle and bustle. Go to bed early and sleep in if you can. Rest as much as you can before things get crazy. If you are well rested, the stress of traveling and everything else that comes with this time of year will be much easier to handle and you will enjoy your Christmas that much more.
Make plans to take a break or two during all the festivities, even if it means sneaking off to your room for fifteen minutes or running out to get more sparkling grape juice (depends on your definition of a break). Don’t be afraid to call it a night a little earlier than usual either. Everyone will understand! Finally, when family members off to help you, let them! You deserve to sit back and put your feet up; you’re growing another human being and that’s a lot of work.
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