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Post by kay on Nov 12, 2012 21:47:17 GMT -5
How do you cope with the stress of the holidays?
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Post by marielouise on Nov 12, 2012 23:08:39 GMT -5
I take a walk on the wild side------ LOL---- ok for real I do walk down into the woods on the back 40 and clear my mind just walking and muttering obscene words to meself about all the crap piling up.... its bettr than holding it in or saying the wrong thing to the wrong person and creating more drama . We do have drama queens so I let them stir and me stay in the back ground straddling the fence. May not be for everyone but works for me. So how do you deal with yours? share!! maybe I would like your method better than mine.
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Post by txdirtdawg on Nov 13, 2012 9:52:26 GMT -5
Cope? Who copes? I just motor through as best I can! Lol.
Actually the prep and making crafty stuff and baking and candy-making actually helps relieve the stress some.
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Post by nightmist on Nov 13, 2012 13:02:22 GMT -5
"I don't get mad, I bake" - Prom Night III: The Last Kiss
For Christmas at home and for mail outs I bake hundreds of cookies, a dozen or so fruit cakes and stollen, and anything else that strikes my fancy. This is in addition to making the majority of the Christmas presents I give. This year two sweaters, two quilts, an afghan, a pair of lace thigh highs, a Totoro hat, some assorted stuffed animals and dolls, and a woven woolen rug. I've a sweater and a half to go, but if I can wedge them in before Christmas I've been asked for a painting, and a painted silk veil.
If you keep constantly busy and focus just on the task at hand then you don't have time to fret, nor do you get overwhelmed. Plus you make some of the awesome extras a family affair and it just lends a more festive atmosphere to the whole holiday. Candy making is one of our things here. We spend a couple two or three days where the whole family goes into the kitchen and makes candy. We have a taffy pull, and popcorn balls made with molasses taffy, sometimes candy apples depending on the availability of clean unwaxed apples. We make assorted flavors of barley sugar (candy glass). We make fondant and do french creams, chocolate drops and various sculptures, we dip chocolates, everything from buckeyes to dried fruits, we make marzipan (need it for the stollen anyway), this year we are thinking of molded chocolates, and we are definitely doing Turkish Delight. One of these years I am going to do one of those baked marzipan dragons, stuffed with dried fruit and with almonds for teeth a' la Spanish tradition. I don't know how I have resisted making one this long. (Oh yeah! I remember! The cost of almonds or almond meal to make that much marzipan. These things are not tiny.) When you get everyone involved and make it a fun tradition instead of a chore it becomes stress free.
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Post by catgrass on Nov 13, 2012 14:36:38 GMT -5
Wine-and lots of it! Lol! Often!
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Post by capebuff on Nov 13, 2012 16:49:24 GMT -5
can't say the holidays stress me out, i just stay laid back. it never hurts to have a stash of strategically placed snowballs to fire rapidly at your antagonist. a preplanned escape route to someplace warm. duck in and lock the doors. grab a handful of cookies and eat them slowly while looking out the window at your victim whos yelling " i'm gonna get you when i get in ". always pretend you can't hear what they're sayin'. ( cup your ear,shrug your shoulders etc. it's imperative to maintain that dead pan look to maximize the effect. this activity always makes me feel good. ;D
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Post by roziedozie on Nov 14, 2012 9:27:39 GMT -5
i LOVE Christmas and celebrate it from the day after Thanksgiving until New years.
A calendar of events and 'to-do's helps me. A LOT.
It was always the gift buying that stressed me out; the cost, the effort.... Ieeeee!!! That along with the decorating and baking, so I streamlined it so I could enjoy myself without working myself to death or destroying the budget.
Money, time, and trying to fit it all in were always my stressors.
Now we draw names. We draw names for a 'serious' gift, a 'humorous' gift, and a 'food' gift. With just 3 people to buy for, it's sooooooo much easier and the stress level is zilch. I usually order online; don't even bother going to the store. Everyone has 3 gifts to open and it's fun.
I've also streamlined decorating. I have an 'instant' tree, all decorated that I roll out of the closet into the living room. I hang my fake wreath on the front door, put up the nativity on the fireplace, take out the 'fake' poinsettias, put out new fat candles with their glass globes and put them every where.... Takes about 2 hours one morning and that's that!
I used to bake, bake, bake, all on one day. Now I bake twice a week, just something small that makes the house smell good. I bake enough to freeze and pop it out of the freezer for company, neighbor gifts, etc.
We have 4 Sunday advent dinners (good food, company, good wine), either at our house or with family. That's when we really enjoy the season. We start with appetizers and go through dessert. Takes a loooong time to eat and then we play cards, board games. Every body brings something and we take turns hosting it so no one gets stuck with all the work.
Spreading out the 'fun' really works better than concentrating it all into Christmas eve, Christmas day. When the kids were little, they loved advent dinners. They loved lighting the candles, saying the prayers, and afterwards we watched a Christmas movie or read a Christmas story.... makes the season last.
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Post by roziedozie on Nov 14, 2012 9:29:42 GMT -5
"I don't get mad, I bake" - Prom Night III: The Last Kiss For Christmas at home and for mail outs I bake hundreds of cookies, a dozen or so fruit cakes and stollen, and anything else that strikes my fancy. This is in addition to making the majority of the Christmas presents I give. This year two sweaters, two quilts, an afghan, a pair of lace thigh highs, a Totoro hat, some assorted stuffed animals and dolls, and a woven woolen rug. I've a sweater and a half to go, but if I can wedge them in before Christmas I've been asked for a painting, and a painted silk veil. If you keep constantly busy and focus just on the task at hand then you don't have time to fret, nor do you get overwhelmed. Plus you make some of the awesome extras a family affair and it just lends a more festive atmosphere to the whole holiday. Candy making is one of our things here. We spend a couple two or three days where the whole family goes into the kitchen and makes candy. We have a taffy pull, and popcorn balls made with molasses taffy, sometimes candy apples depending on the availability of clean unwaxed apples. We make assorted flavors of barley sugar (candy glass). We make fondant and do french creams, chocolate drops and various sculptures, we dip chocolates, everything from buckeyes to dried fruits, we make marzipan (need it for the stollen anyway), this year we are thinking of molded chocolates, and we are definitely doing Turkish Delight. One of these years I am going to do one of those baked marzipan dragons, stuffed with dried fruit and with almonds for teeth a' la Spanish tradition. I don't know how I have resisted making one this long. (Oh yeah! I remember! The cost of almonds or almond meal to make that much marzipan. These things are not tiny.) When you get everyone involved and make it a fun tradition instead of a chore it becomes stress free. Can I come to the candy making??? Please, please??? I would LOVE to know how to do all that. Sigh. I can bake like a champ but my candy consists of making the fudge recipe on the back of the marshmallow creme and that doesn't always turn out, either.
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Post by marielouise on Nov 14, 2012 15:09:36 GMT -5
Rosie ,,, good to see ya!
I love your """ instant "" decorating ideas ! Thats always been my biggest hurdle to get past. The cooking baking and candy making goes smoother for me. Hubs likes doing the baking so I do the candy making .
Hints for candy making --- try for a day with LOW humidity first off. Use a heavy cooking pan with some thickness to it, bottom and sides --- most those thin light weight pans just don't cut it for candy making .
I have used that recipe on back of the M. creme jar---- but I do not add the M. creme or choco chips til after the candy has reached the soft ball stage then I turn off the burner and add the chips , beat the fudge til its chips are melted and sorta glossy looking then add M. creme and nuts if using while the fudge is still hot and stir like crazy to get it all incorperated . To me that recipe calls for too much M.creme,,,( from my experiance,) I use about maybe 2/3 what is called for .
I don't have a jar handy to read over the instructions and it seems that theres another step I change. so check back in a day or 2 once I have a jar handy and can review the instructions and make up a batch to check what I do change up.. But for me the pan makes a big difference--- I have a very old 6 qt. P cooker that I use the bottom for all my candy making . The cooker itself will no longer hold pressure so its just used when I need an extra large heavy pan.
I have a already decorated tree, made for a tree contest 2 years back ---took first place..... I used some heavy wire to make a spiral , then attached it to a tall pole in a pretty pot anchored it down , covered wire with artifial pine garland and some holly leaf garland on top of the pine stuff then lights ... Neat looking ! Different looking and doesn't take up the whole room. LOL
I may just bring it in and voila ---it already has lights and ginger bread men for decos which I could quickly change them to snowmen just for grins . Then the swags over the doorways would go quickly.
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Post by nightmist on Nov 15, 2012 10:08:02 GMT -5
Can I come to the candy making??? Please, please??? I would LOVE to know how to do all that. Sigh. I can bake like a champ but my candy consists of making the fudge recipe on the back of the marshmallow creme and that doesn't always turn out, either. Sure you can! I will even share my old recipe for gelatine free marshmallows! Just remember I live in western NY where you are liable to find some "traditional" winter weather. We are way past due for a hardcore blizzard, and with the weather as wonky as it has been there is just no way to tell if Christmas day will see sub-zero temps and six feet of snow, or 75 degrees and green grass. I use my quilt friend Kate's marzipan recipe, and it is very simple. Even easier than the "No Fail Fudge" recipe on the marshmallow cream jar. Which I have also seen fail, I think it's an altitude thing. If I haven't already posted it, or just posted a link, I will dig the marzipan recipe out and throw it over into Cooking. Marzipan is just excellent for so many things. I tend to prefer it over fondant for cake decorating. Plus since the recipe I use is strong in the almond meal, it has a lot less sugar than most other moldable candies. The sticky kind you get in the plastic rolls at the grocery have way too much sugar and not near enough almond. Oh, and DD1 has promised to bring over her marble slab which is much bigger than mine. Hers is about 16"x20", big enough to make a good many things easier and to dare some challenging things. Having two slabs available will speed things right along all on it's own.
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Post by w8n4dave on Nov 16, 2012 8:46:50 GMT -5
I get stressed but then I just do it!!! I just say stay away from me for a while so I can get this done!!! I usually work better under pressure "geterdone"
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Post by marielouise on Nov 16, 2012 22:50:35 GMT -5
Like you Wendy, the work isn't the big deal on stress for me , that I can usually handle by shooing people out of my way or put them busy which also works to get them gone from my """space"""! Its a coupla certain family members who like to make a mountain out of a mole hill. Especially around the hollardaz ! One is rather immature and has left over oh poor me type thinking , her childhood was not real great. But now shes an adult and its time to for her make her life what she wants rather than letting old wounds seep into new relationships . We can't change what happened 20 years ago but we can go on to bigger and brighter rather than rehashing the old...
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Post by garrett on Nov 18, 2012 19:14:38 GMT -5
i compost and plant....lol
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Post by txdirtdawg on Nov 18, 2012 19:18:51 GMT -5
i compost and plant....lol Just make sure you "compost" him or her deep in the pile. ;D Remind me to never stress the Big G out!!!
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Post by marielouise on Dec 31, 2012 1:53:06 GMT -5
now theres an idea ----- I do have a really great ole BIG compost pile!!!!
I have really enjoyed this Holiday season !!!! But then I usually do.
Son came in from Afghanistan this past Saturday--- the snow back east delayed his flight from Bagrum into Dubia , then on to U.S. of A, any hooo he managed to make it home after only changing flight plans twice . So today, Sunday, was another celebration .... We all had lots of fun hugs and kisses!!!
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Post by txdirtdawg on Dec 31, 2012 13:44:07 GMT -5
Yay! Glad he was able to make it in to see ya'll.
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Post by LinFL on Jan 1, 2013 16:24:23 GMT -5
Hurray! I know that got your New Year off to a great start. :-D
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Post by directsunlight on Jan 2, 2013 3:21:07 GMT -5
I catch the flu. No, that was just this year. It does help with stress in that you cannot go anywhere or see anyone, so you're free to pick up the phone or just lay on the couch, talking to family from a distance. I went to the urgent care place on Christmas Eve, having a hard time with the whole sitting up for long periods of time thing. In a short 3 1/2 hours I was home with some tamiflu and cough medicine.
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Post by LinFL on Jan 2, 2013 19:59:29 GMT -5
Aww...hope you feel better soon.
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Post by garrett on Nov 27, 2013 8:59:07 GMT -5
happy holidays youse guys and gals.
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Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Nov 27, 2013 14:13:15 GMT -5
Get as many foodie things done for my bucket-list as I can before bariatric surgery...
Wallow in visitors and people-drama.
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Post by garrett on Nov 30, 2013 18:12:31 GMT -5
surgery?
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