<p>Anyone get the after holiday blahs? </p>
<p>The Thanksgiving to New Year time frame can be hectic and overwhelming. At the same time it is fun, exciting and wonderful. Time spent with family and friends, holiday events, bright lights, etc. </p>
<p>Then it is over. And it is a long stretch of winter where I live. Grey, cold and dreary. I get down. </p>
<p>If this is you too, what do you do to counter?</p>
<p>I actually look forward to after the holidays.
Since I am the chief planner/ decorator/ cook, it is enormously stressful as nothing lives up to my expectations.
I am relieved to not have to worry about it for another yr.
The days are getting longer & there are seed catalogs.
;)</p>
<p>Sewing class starts Wednesday and chorus rehearsal starts the first week of February.</p>
<p>Come for a vacation to sunny HI! Actually, start a gratitude journal–it will help prolong your life! You can also make January a time to catch up with loved ones–drop a line to someone you owe a not to, make a phone call to someone you haven’t seen or spoken to over the holidays. Start a new project. Buy full-spectrum lights for your home–makes a difference! Had a touch of SAD when I lived in the Pacific Northwest, only noticed it on the first really sunny, warm day in the spring–each year!</p>
<p>Thanks, HIMom! Sadly, we are about to leave your wonderful island. But it was a fabulous week, so nice that Mr B is already making plans to come back. Agree with EK - soon I will be able to start some seeds indoors. In a couple of months crocuses will pop up from the ground. :)</p>
<p>I’m with EK. I crave and need the return to normalcy. Jan. 2 is one of my favorite days. I also like the feeling of a fresh, new start on this day.</p>
<p>I’m with EK and kitty. I find fall and the holiday season very busy so I look forward to the quiet time. I come up with a list of projects , make plans to get together with friends for lunch, go to movies, read, etc.</p>
<p>Another supporter of the return to normalcy here. I love this time of year.</p>
<p>Another one who likes the quiet after all the stress and work entailed in the holidays. I’m the chief food, shopping, & holiday planner (travel planner too if we’re going away). I’m usually REALLY ready for this break in the action.</p>
<p>Yes, Morris, I have blahs too. I think it’s because I wonder if this will be the last Thanksgiving/Christmas that my kids will come home for the Holidays. Their lives are shifting to the Midwest and EAst Coast. Happy for them, but still pouting/feeling sorry for myself a bit.
Will try to keep busy with the Bag a week club!</p>
<p>I always say my favorite shopping day of the year is something like January 15. The stores are put back together, the crowds are gone, the shopping is no pressure and some stores start putting out the spring/summer wear!!! </p>
<p>While I enjoyed a little time off, I really prefer “everyday” life to the holidays. Happy to have everyday life back (though do miss the extra people - kids and family - who are around more during the holidays).</p>
<p>I like the return to normalcy, but, like gosmom, I’m wondering if this will be the last holiday for awhile that we’ll all be together. S1 will likely be 2000-3000 miles away by next Thanksgiving/New Year’s. S2, whose current office is closed for the week between Christmas and New Year’s, is looking for a new job, so who knows what his schedule will look like for future holidays.</p>
<p>I get the blahs every January. I hate January. I even got married in January so I would have a reason to like it. Now I like one day in January - my anniversary. My blahs haven’t hit this year yet - I still have my daughter home and my houseguest is just leaving today. But I’m sure they will find me soon.</p>
<p>I’m adjusting to being back at work all day every day (had to burn a bunch of vacation time at the end of the year), but sort of relieved that I can get back to a routine. </p>
<p>I start a new performance project on Sunday, and that will keep me busy during the winter. Even though we run the risk of having to cancel rehearsals due to bad weather, I think it’s a great time of year to do this. Plus, it will be a VERY busy time of year for DS and that should keep all of us from getting bored!</p>
<p>Our S now lives about 5000 miles from our home. We have been seeing him more these days than we did when he lived only 2500 miles away. He has flown to HI 3 times in the past 3 months. We also met him at his place as well, so try not to be bedeviled as our kids find their jobs and places in the world. You will have new places to visit and sometimes the birds come back to visit the nest with new and interesting insights. ;)</p>
<p>For me, this is the holiday season that won’t end. My extended family will be gathering here at my house this weekend. Then its back to school and work for all of us on Monday. That’s when I will feel the crash!</p>
<p>In order to welcome in the new year, I hope to quit my habit of cocooning myself at home when its a gorgeous day. Here in SoCal, I have no excuse to be inside. Its in the 70’s out there right now.</p>
<p>I had a very lovely holiday even though I only took off Christmas Day and New Years day; but a small part of me just wanted to get back to routine, it was hard to work a week with a day off in the middle and get everything done (I work in a research lab, and many things require several days in a row. It irks me when I don’t accomplish anything.</p>
<p>I do enjoy the lights and decorations and lead-up to Christmas, although we do not have many parties and festivities to attend. I start getting the blahs and down feeling Christmas afternoon. I enjoy getting back to normal but it’s semi-dread since it’s now going to be tax season. 28 years of knowing that is immediately following Christmas. I love my clients and firm, but look forward to a Christmas where I don’t rush into 80 hour weeks.</p>
<p>Having said that, being a CPA is a great way to get through winter. Working that much is a good way to get through February, a month put here only to try our souls.</p>
<p>I knew I always wanted a M-F, day job. I got it. Unfortunately I did not think about my kids getting rotating shift, public safety jobs. It means a lot to me for all 3 kids to be with me on Christmas morning. It didn’t happen this year due to their work and will be a problem the rest of their careers. I know it’s only one day, we live close, and I should “get over it”. But…sometimes that’s easier said than done!</p>
<p>I love the fall and Christmas Holidays and all the lights and decorations. I like returning to normalcy but I hate the dread of a long, cold winter. What I started doing in January, which made the winter go by a little easier, is going to the movies and dinner every weekend. I catch most of the movies that end up getting nominated for an Academy Award and watching the Awards later in the winter is more exciting. I also belong to a book club, plenty of indoor tine to read. Another thing I do is BEAD and make jewelry. This all keeps me busy and engaged during the winter months. My H and I used to cross country ski every chance we got when we were younger, but our aging knees don’t cooperate anymore.</p>
<p>^ Great idea about the movies, milkandsugar! I get more agoraphobic than usual in January, but a good movie is one of the few things (other than my job and subsistence grocery shopping) that might get me out of the house then.</p>
<p>I don’t necessarily enjoy all the work associated with the holidays, but it does distract me from how much I hate living in this area during the winter. The weather really is that bad - the lack of sunshine is worse than the snow and cold. Come January, it all caves in on me and I could happily spend the month in bed. Thanks for the good coping suggestions here.</p>