The holiday season can be a busy and stressful time. Overwhelming even. I am unsure why that is! December is such a beautiful month, filled with season changes, the hustle and bustle of Christmas approaching, get-togethers and parties with family, friends and work colleagues, holiday baking and cooking, the list goes on and on. Perhaps that is exactly why it gets to be such  a taxing time of year. There is just so much of everything. Usually I approach the season with a positive and ambitious mindset. I make gift wish lists in advance, get out the holiday cards nice and early, plan out my baking in the early days of December, and am organized on all of the Christmas activities and parties we intend to participate in. This year has been a very different story! Just so I feel somewhat accomplished, the holiday cards and shopping were taken care of in a relatively timely fashion. Thankfully as I sit here on the Monday before Christmas, those two pesky tasks are not on my to-do list. Go me! The baking however did not get completed so over the next two days I am planning on turning my kitchen into Santa’s cookie workshop. I am sure we don’t need the sugar (or the extra calories) but there is something about having all sorts of cookies on hand at Christmas to nibble on. It’s almost mandatory. I also have some gift-baking to do today and tomorrow so even if I manage to talk myself out of the self-indulgent cookies and cakes, I still need to do the gifts! Activities and Christmas parties seemed to be a far off idea this year as well. A few things contributed to this. One being that we are now living in Kamloops and know very few people. When you don’t have many friends around you don’t have many party invites to RSVP to! We attended one party at our realtors house which was lovely but short lived. Lets just say it was not a party tailored to toddlers and there were far too many stimulating things for the Little Miss to get into. We managed to spend about 40 minutes at the party before she broke three ornaments and tried to redecorate the parlour bathroom with toilet paper. That was our only party! We did go to see Santa Clause and we did make a day out of getting the Christmas tree. There were a couple other activities going on round here but either I didn’t have my act together or the drive to get the family out to them. Next year I aim to do better. With two kids! My oh my. Lastly, I think one of the biggest contributor to being a little less organized than usual this time of year is that fact that I am three months pregnant. Mommy brain remains and pregnancy brain has returned. What a vicious combo! Today for example I look around and see a pile of clean laundry I need to fold, baking ingredients for one recipe out on the counter, a slow cooking dinner in the oven, three crafts on the table that have been started yet definitely not finished, and a pile of gifts and wrapping paper, another task started and forgotten. Pregnancy brain brings an entirely new meaning to puttering (Puttering reads: doing many things at once and not really completing anything properly!). To top it all of, this momma can’t even relax with a Christmas glass of wine! Which brings me to my next few points. I have rounded up a few pointers on how to keep your shit together this time of year, even when you are a crazy and hormonal pregnant lady.

Weight Gain – Embrace the fact that everyone else is trying to watch those Christmas calories, but YOU are expected to pack a few on. Now is not the time to stress about it. So enjoy that extra cookie and don’t feel the need to hide the chocolates. This is one time you can absolutely get away with it! Not to mention seconds of turkey dinner.

Get To Know Your Cocktails – I don’t know about you but Christmas time for me just looks so damn good as a bold glass of red wine, sitting by the fire. I shed a few tears when I realized I would not be merrily clinking my spiked eggnog glass with my family and friends. Luckily, I feel a bit too yucky right now to really miss all the tasty cocktails. However, that doesn’t mean I want to feel left out with my sparkling water and lime. Get to know what sort of cocktails are out there! There are plenty of fancy drinks you can simply minus the booze from and they still taste delicious – throw them in the right glassware and they look good too!

Side Note – stay hydrated! It is easy to think when the weather is colder that maybe you do not need as much water. You need even more! I seem to be constantly thirsty for water with this pregnancy too. I keep my reusable Starbucks Refresher Cup with a straw filled with ice water all day long.

Buy Plenty Of Tissues – Hormones, hormones, hormones. Soppy Christmas movie, holiday commercials that hit the spot, the sight of my baby girl trying to put the ornament back on the tree (or sneakily taking it off), the sight of my husband and baby girl cuddling together watching Rudolph…. All of these beautiful holiday moments seem to reduce me to a leaky mess of tears! Embrace that this sort of behaviour is encouraged this time of year and is meant to be that mushy time of year where you spend all of your moments with people you love. Just keep the tissues nearby.

Rest Up – Winter is the perfect time to grab a cozy blanket and curl up. Pregnant? You are ever more deserving of such an activity! While exercise is important, so is rest. Put those feet up and take advantage of the fact that you can ‘sit this one out’. You are pregnant and do not have to do every bloody Christmas inspired activity that there is. It’s called the Preggers Flag – WAVE IT!

Here we see the art of ‘relaxing’ like a true pro!

Some DIY Gift finished products:

Had to share.. My father in-law is a painter adhere is my attempt to create a painting for him this year! (Rookie work!)

Hope you are enjoying Christmas Week!