Holiday Stress

I had an epiphany about Holiday stress as I was walking into a Starbucks for a little knitting meetup with my family on Christmas Eve.

Somehow, the holidays always seem to be stressful. List makers make lists, shoppers flock to the shops, bakers cover their counters with cookies, decorators decorate the heck out of their spaces and crafters work their wee little knuckles to the bone. People get short tempered and intensly focused which leads to holiday tensions in parking lots, shopping centers, etc.

For the past several years I have tried to do more handcrafting for Christmas gifts, which is its own kind of stress. It's the stress of wondering "Will I finish all this in time?!?" "Will they like it?" "If they don't like it, how can I ask for it back without seeming rude?" and so on. HOWEVER (and here's my epiphany) Crafting stress is the kind of stressing out that happens while you're in your pajamas at home on your couch watching TV show marathons or listening to music of your choice. It is NOT the fighting traffic, standing in lines filled with cranky people and listening to the same piped in holiday music that every store seems to play, but with a 1-2 song delay ensuring that you hear the exact same song at least 3 times in 3 different stores kinda stress. I would far prefer the Holiday Stress of a Crafter to the Holiday Stress of a non-crafter.

Here's a picture of one of the fun things I crafted for the holidays.

He was for my dad who we like to tease about his sneaky ninja-like qualities.

Dear Valerie,

Dear Valerie,

Tanya tells me that you have recently been hired by a prestigious accounting firm and are likely (someday in the future) going to be managing Hedge Funds. I thought, as I have a lot experience with all things "Hedgy", that I should move in with you to give you advice and encourage you on your path.

Sincerely,
Your new Roomie
Herbert the Hedgehog

10:19

10 is the number of knitting days that are left before Tyler's Christmas vacation. I am knitting his teacher a fabulous cowl using Jessica's pattern in the school colors of Red and Blue. I made myself one of these cowls and I LOVE it so I hope Mrs. Cha will too. As a minor side benefit, this will also be able to be turned in to meet a Nerd Wars challenge relating to all things British as it is 2 of the 3 colors of the British flag. As a question: I've just recently learned that Tyler is being deployed to a 2/3 combo classroom for reading 4 days of the week instead of the original 2. Does this increased contact with him warrant a teacher gift for that teacher too? even if I've never met/talked with her? I know teacher gifts aren't obligatory, but what's the general guideline on this sort of thing?

19 is the number of crafting days that are left before Christmas. Now, this is including Christmas day, so there's always the possibility that I'll be madly knitting/sewing/whatever ON Christmas Day, but I really hope not. That's stressful.

Lest this depress too many crafters out there, may I direct your attention to Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's blog yarnharlot.com where she is doing a daily series on what to give to knitters...AND she's talking about how she has tons of mitten knitting going on which I don't think is her Christmas knitting. I really wonder how she has the time/sanity to do non-Christmas crafting. I am in awe...