A Very Slow Christmas

This is my third Christmas with M.E., and I think I'm getting better at pacing myself festively. In other words, I'm letting go of the idea of a perfect Christmas.

Previously I was a bit of Clark Griswald and Buddy the elf when it came to Christmas. While I believe that Halloween is every day, December is for Christmas. Christmas with skulls, maybe, but Christmas nonetheless. I love traditions, I love decorations, I love preparations, and I love food. I love Christmas! So naturally, I want to be able to do all of the Christmas things. Unfortunately, most of those things trigger my symptoms.

This year I started early in November so I could send out Christmas cards that I designed. I put up 3 mini trees on the mantle and I started shopping earlier than normal so I could space it out. More than half of the gifts were ordered online so I could conserve my energy. I'm trying to stress less about gift buying, because I tend to worry a lot and put unrealistic pressure on myself. I'm also trying to let go of the idea that I need to make everything myself. My Mom does an amazing job of baking dozens of different types of Christmas cookies from scratch and gifting them to everyone. I always wanted to do the same, but now I'm settling for store bought or box mixes. This year I bought a pre-made gingerbread house so I could assemble and decorate it. I did that today while watching Elf. It did take a bit out of me because I needed to have a death grip on the piping bag and keep my arms lifted, but I was able to sit down while I did it.

Also, my wonderful sister-in-law volunteered to make some cookie dough for me to bake (reminder to self - find my cookbook!), and my neice offered to make spritz cookies for me.

Another part of my slow Christmas is an advent calendar. I get a piece of chocolate every day (vegan, hooray!) and it's helping me count down to the day so I don't lose track of the days and get blindsided by finding out I only have a day left.

I'm pretty sure that at this point the only thing I have left to do is watching more Christmas movies. Says the woman who may have watched both Christmas Vacation and A Muppet Christmas Carol 5 times each in the past month. I might also put some decorations on the mantle, but I'm keeping in mind that everything I put out will need to be put away. But for the rest of today, I'm going to relax and pace myself. And finish watching A Muppet Christmas Carol again.