I’ve spent many a holiday season too exhausted to enjoy it. I’ve worked through the holidays, traveled, and two years ago, moved across the country about five minutes after Christmas, promising to be set up and be ready to work from home by January 2. (I did it; and every box was unpacked.)

I’m embarking on my 18th year of wading through the holidays as a working mom. Here are some tips I’ve learned from the mistakes I’ve made over the years.

1. Don’t try to do it all, or do it all yourself. Ask for help. Order out. Hire someone (to clean, to watch the kids) if you can or beg family to step in and give you an assist.When they were younger, my kids’ afterschool program hosted a parents’ night out evening which was a lifesaver.
2. Kids don’t really need everything on their wish list. It’s good to want things. It’s not good to get it all.
3. Buy online for out-of-town gift recipients. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again — the internet has saved my sanity. Shopping in stores (with people and parking challenges) makes me nuts. Buying from places like Amazon allows me to direct ship, often for free, thus saving me time and money wrapping and toting gifts to UPS to be shipped all over the country. Amazon will wrap and include a note, too, for a nominal fee. It’s worth it.
4.  You can’t go to all the parties. Prioritize. Then send your regrets.
5. Trying to save money? Spend a day baking breads and making fudge. Neither costs much or takes much time — get your kids to help, too! People appreciate home made gifts and it’s great to have these items on hand when invited to a last-minute get together or when presented with an unexpected gift.
6. Stressed out over creating the holiday letter or getting cards in the mail? Bag it all and create a blog/write a post with your family news and a photo. You’ll save a bundle and it won’t take long at all. Don’t forget to e-mail the link to friends and family, then cross another task off your holiday list.

If you’re one of those moms who is done shopping, who has mailed the out-of-town gifts, who is luxuriously embroidering a new tree skirt and hand stamping 200 cards, who is wondering what all the fuss is about, well GOOD FOR YOU. But the rest of us don’t want to hear about it.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 25th, 2007 at 3:03 pm and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.