Many of us simply adore the holidays. It can be a time of celebration, reflection, family, friends and beloved traditions. It can also be a time of stress, extra pounds, travel and lengthy out of town visitors. So even though we enjoy our holiday celebrations, there is sometimes a sigh of relief when they are over. A group of our collaborators put their heads together and came up with a list of reasons they are glad the holiday season is over for another year! What items would you add to the list?
Contributors: Cyndia Rios-Myers, Rebecca Alwine, Erin Whitehead, Stacy Allsbrook Huisman, Ashley Broadway-Mack, Katie Foley, Ingrid Herrera-Yee, Wayne Perry, Patrick Patt Donaldson, Diedra Lee Stubbs, Morgan Wood Slade, Kate Dolack, C Jovan Williams, Samantha Dean
35) The guilt of living far away from family and not spending the holidays with them goes away.
34) School starts again. We can hear the collective cheer from parents!
33) Can once again focus on eating healthy now that all of those holiday meals, parties and goodies are in our rearview mirror!
32) Can get back to working on our savings account.
31) No more baking cookies! Or any other baked good for yet another cookie swap or event.
30) Bye, Bye Creepy Elf! We love that our children behave, and we know you are not real… but still, we dream about you… and it freaks us out.
29) No more guilt over taking good Christmas card pictures.
28) No more guilt about not getting a single Christmas card mailed.
27) No more in-laws and visitors! We love our company… we also love having our houses back to ourselves!
26) No more sweeping up/vacuuming pine needles and watering the tree.
25) No more stress over keeping pets or small children from knocking down an entire lifetime of Christmas memories hung on your tree.
24) The more acutely felt painful sentiment of a deployed service member abates just a bit.
23) No more spending money on special foods that are not in our normal budget or meal plan.
22) There is something to be said to getting back to your tried and true routine, especially with kids!
21) Christmas carols on the radio stop!
20) A reprieve from the mania of the shopping mall!
19) We can stop watching commercials that feature businesses talking about ‘getting into the season’ by buying their wares.
18) We get our television shows back! No more mid-season finales!
17) No more feeling like crap because you aren’t as crafty or Betty Crockeresque as your ‘friends.’
16) No more sitting straight up in bed in the middle of the night with the sick realization that you forgot to move the elf on the shelf.
15) No more phone calls and junk mail asking for donations for the holidays or the guilt that we can’t give to as many as we would like.
14) No more resenting the spouse’s co-workers for taking so much darned leave over the holidays while my husband (not taking leave) has to stay late to pick up their slack (which they would do if the situation was reversed, but still).