Holiday stress

First of all, I want to wish my dear readers a very blessed holiday season. Whatever holiday you are celebrating, may it be filled with peace, good times, and hopefully no rages. I got the chance to spend some time with my friend, Elaine, and her wonderful family and experience some of the Hanukkah traditions. It was quite beautiful. It was also quite different being with a family of eleven, when we have a small family of three.

On the next note… I normally post 43 blogs a month on this site. That will be down this month. With the insanity of the holidays, my in-laws coming in town this weekend, another court date for Sammy, a new wrist splint for carpal tunnel syndrome, and various activities for church, I barely have time to breathe. Please stick with me until the new year and I will be back to “normal.” At least I hope so, if the problems with my wrist clear up.

I suspect my days are not all that unlike yours. With the holidays, we have so much more stress and so many more responsibilities. If you live in a colder climate like ours, you are probably battling cold and flu bugs as well. Saturday night I missed my husband’s fire department Christmas party while I took Hannah to the emergency room to get checked for bronchitis or pneumonia. She is fine; just an upper respiratory infection, but it was an added stressor, and a missed night out with my husband.

Wednesday there is another court date for Sammy. He is facing municipal charges of truancy and disorderly conduct. This is a different county than we live in, and I’ve never dealt with municipal charges before, only criminal charges. He will likely get a fine, which will add to the bill he already has for the stolen cell phone. Part of the problem with this is that for me to be there, I have to arrange schedules with my husband, because court is over an hour away and I need to leave before Hannah gets on the bus. Let’s start the juggling act now.

Then there are the church commitments. There is the children’s Christmas program, which I will be helping with, a community service night for the fifth and sixth grades that I am heading up, two services that I am a crucial part of since we no longer have pastors at our church, and this past Sunday I did the children’s sermon during both of our Sunday services.

Then there are the school commitments. It seems that Hannah brings home a note at least once a week of something special we need to send to school, a gift we need to buy, a field trip or something else. It’s 15 minutes for us to the nearest grocery store and/or Wal-Mart, so weekly trips for special items get to be a pain. And the kids’ Christmas program for school is next week as well.

Then there’s all the holiday shopping, Christmas cards, gift wrapping, decorating, parties and other things holiday.

Is this sounding like your life at all? I bet it is. The holidays take their toll on us, as parents, physically and mentally. Throw in a child with a trauma background, and you get more than you bargained for, or can handle. Hannah has been showing me some little signs that she is uneasy. It was this time last year that things really went bad with her previous family. The anniversary issues, along with the holidays and not knowing we do things, has her a little worked up. Fortunately, it is just a little and I can remind her that she’s staying here, and that she can talk about things. This does not work with all kids.

If you are doing therapy with your child, you may want to increase the frequency of appointments during this time. It will help both you and your child to relieve some of the stress. Work in some quiet time for you and for your child, and add in lots of cuddle time. It will be good for both of you.

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