GREEN AJAH'S FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS: DAYS OF RECOVERY

[Wildfire Sedai]

GREEN AJAH'S

 

FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS

 

DAYS OF RECOVERY

 

DECEMBER 26, 2011 TO JANUARY 2, 2012

 

COME IN, SIT AND RELAX.

 

 

 

THERE IS PLENTY OF ROOM FOR EVERYONE!!

 

 

This is the place, where if you have done any of the following:

 

Overindulging---whether with food, alcohol, or you name it.

 

Overshopping----Did you get up at 1am Black Friday and start your holiday shopping?

 

Overspending----Did you steal from Peter to pay Paul? Did you go way over your budget?

 

Overexerting----Did you do all the set up before the holidays, take down after the holidays, party planning for New Year's, push yourself to go to all the family parties, jam in all the extras in the last few weeks of the year to have fun?

 

that you need to be.

 

For here is the place where you can let out all the holiday's "overs" that you did and get and/or give advice on how to recover from them. I will be throwing in my 2 cents worth through out the festival. So come one, come all and lets recover together.

[Lessa Nikia]

*falls onto one of the couchs* Spending too much time with my dad's family gives me a headache. And I'm pretty sure I lost my sanity.

[Nyanna al'Meara]

*ploofs down into a big beanbag*

 

Too much good food...I still can't bear the sight of meat in any form XD

Exhaustion and an all around sense of wellbeing after all the hassle before. Mmmmmffff this is a good feeling... *dozes*

 

[charis sedai]

oh, I love Christmas, but I always over EVERYTHING!

 

Pulled an all nighter on Black friday.

 

overspent and over decorated. (but it was worth it!)

 

definitely overate... (new eating plan starts Wednesday...)

 

and now I am over-exhausted!

[Rhea]

plops onto the comfy couch and lets out a big sigh of relief

 

 

I am recovering from overspending (which will take months), overeating (see the resolutions thread!), and overexerting cuz of the traveling I had to do that was not planned!

 

Whew! I need a vacation after the vacation!

 

slowly falls over onto Lessa lap and falls asleep

 

 

ZZzzzzz....

[Kathleen]

I think I over-everything too! I haven't had time enough to just sit and process it all. But I know I know I over spent for sure, I know I definitely over ate, I over stretched myself trying to get to every family function, and the only under I can think of is under rested and I absolutely did that for about a week straight!

 

Its not quite time to flop on your wonderful couch yet as I still have tidying up to do. Then I can finally rest!

[Basel Gill]

I think I've had enough holiday parties. I'm looking forward to not doing much of anything this weekend, unless I go out for dinner.

[Wildfire Sedai]

Lessa Nikia: What is it about your dad's family that makes you feel like you've lost your insanity? Is there alot of drama? fighting? stuff like that?

 

Nyanna: If the sight of meat is not pleasing to the eye right now, how about eating salads for a couple of days. You can make them very creative and you don't have to use iceburg lettuce. I use spinach or romaine. Unless of course you like iceburg lettuce. I just find it tasteless and goes bad so fast. How about adding apples, raisins, strawberries (if you can get them in good condition at a halfway decent price), almonds, etc.

 

Charis Sedai: Black Friday seems to pull almost everyone into its sinuous grip. You say you overspent and overdecorated but it was worth it. However lets plan on how to recover from overspending: BUDGET, BUDGET, BUDGET!! If you have a family with kids you probably "stole" from peter to pay paul. For example let the cable bill go so you could get that special gift that the kids wanted. Now its time to get back on track. And the best way to do that is to BUDGET. Overdecorating isn't so bad UNTIL you have to take it all down. You already have a plan for overeating so thats covered. Now the overexhaustion: SLEEP!! Thats the only remedy I can think of.

 

Rhea: Well you seem to know what you need to do: knowing that it will take months to recover from overspending. I am going to give you same advice I gave Charis Sedai: BUDGET, BUDGET, BUDGET!!. and actually that could help with next years overspending as well..Make a seperate "account" it could just be an envelope marked Holidays that you put some money in every week/month/whatever and you don't touch it until its time. Also having a direct deposit into your savings account if you have one works wonders too. You never miss it cause it was budgeted and what you don't have you can't spend..until its time. Overeating: seems like you have that in hand. As for the overexerting, I think I am going to repeat myself....SLEEP!!

 

Kathleen: Again for overspending I will repeat myself: BUDGET, BUDGET, BUDGET!! For overeating: I would say take a few walks, eat some salads for a couple of days, etc. As for getting to every family function, I would say maybe plan ahead and take a couple of days to do what you probably did in one or if you did do it in a couple of days maybe wait till new years to get together with famiy that maybe you only see during the holidays. As for the tidying up maybe you should sit with the fact that the house is a little or maybe a lot messy and RELAX. heck even get some: SLEEP.

 

Basel: You have the right idea. Rest and relax. Take a seat on our wonderful couches and just sit and relax.

[Moon Sedai]

Ham. Too much ham.

 

The day that I brought home a honeybaked ham, Mr Moon went grocery shopping and brought home a ham that we made at home.

 

THEN, his mom called last night and told us "I got you guys a 9 lb honeybake ham for christmas."

 

*groan*

[Kathleen]

Great advice WF! I did have a bugdet for Christmas, but I thought I had 100 dollars more than I really did. I came home thinking I was under budget 20 dollars to find out that I had really gone 80 dollars over budget. And I thought we were done getting gifts with my trip out but apparently he still had more shopping to do too! However he did get 4 extra shifts at the end of the month and we'll get his unused vacation and sick day pay with his first paycheck in Jan, so we should end up with the budget issues fixed and a little more money too :)

 

I absolutely wish I could have put off the parties and family time till the new year, but since I'm not planning them (well I did plan two of them, but they were the kid's parties and I spread them as much as I could) the others were planned between my family and hubbies. On Christmas eve one of my aunts had a party. It was the first time she ever did...she's pretty high strung so a party was hard for her to host. She is like a mom to me since I lost my mom, so I had to go to her's. But it started at 3pm and went to 8pm. I had to pick my daughter up at 6pm so I was able to leave early, but once I had my daughter I had to go to my dad's to do our christmas gift exchange with him. He does it Christmas eve because he knows we'll be in town to get Goose then anyway and to free up our Christmas. It's usually great timing but this year with my aunt's party before it it made for a really long day. Still i couldn't say no, cause it's my dad.

 

Then on Christmas we had to go to hubby's mom's house, but we weren't supposed to go until supper time, but she called us at 830 to go up for breakfast, so we had to rush our christmas morning, then go there for breakfast. We then had to stay there until 730pm to have supper and visit with his aunts. Then hubby had asked his mom to watch the kids overnight so we could go to a party with his friends (that I didn't know about). We got there at 8pm and I was just partied out! I left at 10 (and walked a 30 minute walk in cold snowy weather home, just to be done!).

 

Then today my aunt had her annual boxing day party. I felt obligated to go, but I knew once I was there I would end up enjoying it. We did leave late and get there an hour into the 2 hour party. Then I came home and had the house a mess to clean. I was going to clean it up, but I did just what you suggested and dropped down into a chair and relaxed in the mess. I can do it tomorrow, tonight I'm going to rest, finally!

 

I don't have family functions often, in fact other than thanksgiving and Christmas, I really don't have family obligations other than with my husband and children, so while its a hard time of year of me, and it all gets jammed together, I know I shove a years worth of family time into 3 days and then I'm done for another year. And I guess when I look at it that way its not so bad. But I usually feel like I need to get the place tidied up and everything completely done so that I can really relax and just know its all done and there is nothing left to do. You are absolutely right though, the best thing for my mind and sanity is to just leave it be. I overworked myself this week enough already. The mess isn't gonna go anywhere I can clean it tomorrow just as I would do it tonight so I am gonna let myself relax and not worry about it!

 

/end novel post

[charis sedai]

 

Charis Sedai: Black Friday seems to pull almost everyone into its sinuous grip. You say you overspent and overdecorated but it was worth it. However lets plan on how to recover from overspending: BUDGET, BUDGET, BUDGET!! If you have a family with kids you probably "stole" from peter to pay paul. For example let the cable bill go so you could get that special gift that the kids wanted. Now its time to get back on track. And the best way to do that is to BUDGET. Overdecorating isn't so bad UNTIL you have to take it all down. You already have a plan for overeating so thats covered. Now the overexhaustion: SLEEP!! Thats the only remedy I can think of.

 

 

 

 

oh, I will manage the budget. I'm single and employed and didn't overspend that much, really. I spent some of the money I got as a gift on other people, but that's my preferred method of operation. I'd rather buy for others every time. Overdecorating I don't mind... most of it is simple and I can take it down in an hour or two (the joys of a little tiny apartment!) And sleep is sleep, I don't believe in it :P

[Aiel Heart]

I'm still getting over some hard stuff from last year still. Mostly over it but still learning to just let it all go and get over it

[Lessa Nikia]

They're loud, espesically after they've drink a bit. And they cross the line with comments...alot

[Wildfire Sedai]

Kathleen: Thank you for the low down...wow you were busy. All I did was go over my mom's and be ignored but I am glad you had some fun. I am also glad that the budget issue will get straightened out for you with hubbies overtime and vacation pay. I am also glad that you took my advice and RELAXED.

 

Charis Sedai: For some reason I thought you were married and had atleast one kid..LOL I tend to do your mode of operation as well. I have enough stuff that I don't need anymore. As for the decorations: again I thought you had a house and that you did outside decorations and inside and it would take forever (well maybe not forever ) to take down. As for the sleep issue: *starts tapping foot* just cause your young (again another assumption I suppose you could be 80 LOL) doesn't mean you can go without sleep. Everyone needs sleep to function. Yes and here I am at 2:25am on puter, BUT thats because I got too much sleep earlier LOL. Anyway if you can't find it in your heart to actually sleep, resting on one of the green couches with some soft music in the background (if you like music) is a good way to get rested without actually sleeping.

 

Aiel Heart: I understand really I do. I know you were going through alot of tough times this past year. I just want you to know though that we never really do "let it all go." My clinician at day treatment says that wording is very important in treatment. He says that people think when they "let it all go" that that's it and that they will never worry about it or think about it ever again. He says that it is your past and you will probably never totally forget it. However you can "hold it less tightly." What he means by this is acknowledging that it is there but don't hold on to it so tightly that you can't get on with your life ie. get over it. I see that you are working on this but I just wanted to point out to you that having the expectation of: letting it all go, might set you up for a let down when lets say 6 months from now you start thinking about it again. It just pops into your head and you can't figure out why. Or something happens or someone says something that will trigger the memory and you might get upset cause you thought you, "let it all go."

 

Lessa Nikia: Have you thought about talking to your dad about this? I mean saying, "dad, you know I need to talk to you about something important." See what he says to that. I am hoping he would sit down with you and say something along the lines of, "OK honey, what's up?" Then you could say something like, "I don't want to hurt your feelings however whenever we get together with your family I feel really (list how you feel)." If he asks you what happened tell him. However don't use "they do this and that" Use 'I' statements: "I get embarressed when I hear the crude (my word but you can substitute your own) comments that are made." , "I get scared when the noise level gets really loud." stuff like that. You don't want to get your dad on the defensive by accusing his family cause its his family. However you need to get your point across. And I wouldn't wait too long before having this conversation either. I hope this helps.

[Aiel Heart]

I get that. I guess getting over it and stop letting it have a hold on me is more what I meant. Thanks though :)

[Lessa Nikia]

Oh they all know the line but once they start drinking it's gone

[Wildfire Sedai]

Aiel Heart: OK...just so long as you know.

 

Lessa Nikia: I am sorry. I still think you should have a talk with your dad about the issue and if you can remove yourself from the room when the drinking starts if talking with your dad doesn't help. I know it would probably mean a lonely day however if you bring reading material, drawing material, music, etc. You could have your own little party away from the drinking. Are there any other people your age there that this affects? Maybe you could get together and have fun away from the drinking and comments.

 

 

I am brain storming here so if anyone else has any ideas to help Lessa Nikia out they would be greatly appreciated.

[kukasö]

Holidays haven't started here so I'm just tired of making and buying and searching for presents

 

Looking forward to the holidays when I'll sleep!

 

Lessa, the same feelings about the dad's family Well, maybe not exactly the same. They are just too noisy and there is something hysterical in how they behave.

I just try to communicate as little as possible with them.

[charis sedai]

Lessa, I don't know how your parents are, but keep in mind that this is your last holiday in High School. once I was free of that, my parents viewed me as an adult, and although they hope I will come to family functions, they wouldn't press the issue. If oyu don't see a way to solve it, then avoidance may be the answer.

[Wildfire Sedai]

Kukaso: Don't be so optimistic... Just KIdding... Do you really think you will get to sleep through the holidays? You'll be travelling or maybe not with Russian winters and partying all day and night...sleep please...LOL I hope you do get to sleep through the holidays but I wouldn't get your hopes up too much...LOL

 

I am teasing you Kukaso. I really do hope you get to sleep through the holidays like you plan to.

 

Charis Sedai: Thank you for giving such good advice to aiel heart. I did not think of that. Sometimes it takes a concerted effort to come up with good advice.

[kukasö]

 

I'm going to the village on holidays. And there is our magic house where you can only eat and sleep It's impossible to do anything else there. We tried

[Wildfire Sedai]

kukaso: Well I guess you got me good Cause I didn't think there was any place where all you could do was eat and sleep during the holidays that wasn't a hospital or someplace like that. And even in hospitals you have all sorts of tests and stuff. LOL

[Wildfire Sedai]

WHERE IS EVERYBODY???

 

I know more people need to recover from the holidays than showed up here!!

 

Come on in..

 

 

have a drink!!

 

GIVE advice if you don't need to recover from anything You can even comment on past comments. That's what this thread is about: HELPING EACH OTHER!!

[poetstorm]

Hiya everyone. :D

 

Well the holidays aren't quite over for me yet, but it has been crazy! And work has been insane to boot. I so need a vacation from the holidays. ^-^

 

*snuggles onto a cozy corner on the couch*

 

Only a few more days to go, and one more party on New Years Eve.

 

Anyone have any New Years Resolutions?

[Wildfire Sedai]

poetstorm:Welcome to the days of recovery thread!! Have some punch and relax. Mind if I ask what kind of work do you do? Are you going to go and watch the ball drop on NYE? And I believe there is a seperate thread for new year's resolutions. Stay awhile and relax.