Can’t say I’ve ever felt them before but it’s been an especially difficult year and I’m finding the holiday season a bit sad. Doing everything I can to make it magical for the littles but quietly struggling on my own.
Anyone else ever experience the holiday blues?
pomegranate / 3595 posts
@Autumnmama79: hugs, mama! I am doing okay this year but 4 years ago I struggled through the holidays. I had just had a miscarriage that November and was still really raw and emotional about the loss. I didn’t come up with one super awesome way to cope—some days I just gritted my teeth and gutted it out and other days I tried to make space for tears.
The holidays can be great, but they can also be stressful, and can highlight things we don’t always have to address or focus on. My only advice is to be kind to yourself and remember that this too shall pass. I will be thinking of you!
pear / 1593 posts
@Autumnmama79: not normally but yes x100 this year. Been a hard year and probably got a touch of depression because of it all, and now I’m layering on the guilt for not making the holidays more magical for the kids.
grapefruit / 4455 posts
I don't know about holiday blues but we just spent almost a couple weeks sick and I've been super nervous about going into labor while home alone with two sick kids (and I've been having nightly contractions) and I just feel very sick of being stuck home but too nervous to take my kiddos out much when baby will be here very soon. Beyond that we have missed holiday parties (because of how much pregnancy pain I've been in and because of being sick) and we don't live right near family/friends that we would usually spend holidays with. So I don't know if it counts but I feel like with the new baby coming and Xmas in a couple days I should feel a lot more excited and happy but I mostly just feel stressed out lately! Trying to slow it down these last couple days and hopefully it'll work out. We have managed to get all the shopping/wrapping done and when the kids were sick I drove them around the neighborhood looking at decorations. But just didn't get around to a lot of things I thought maybe I could.
pear / 1703 posts
@MamaCate: thank you for that favorite reminder ‘this too shall pass’ - it’s helped me get through so much. Glad you’re having a better year this year.
@runnerd: sorry you’re having a tough year too (we’re we in the same birth month last year?) As far as making it special for the kids I just read that kids won’t remember the gifts you bought them or how clean the house was but they will remember the mood you’re in and how you made them feel. I’m going to muster all I can for Monday - here’s to hoping you can too. Hugs!
@2littlepumpkins: that really is a lot going on! With one imminent birth and two others under the weather, plus the added stressors of holiday season - gah, you must be looking forward to settling in with three healthy kiddos in the new year. I hope you’re able to get some small rests in here and there.
pear / 1558 posts
Oh yes. I'm feeling melancholy & even kind of "Scroogy". I think I've been dealing with some depression, DH & I are fighting more than we ever used to, I'm feeling like I can't even get basic stuff done--let alone "special" holiday stuff--and I'm facing a 48hr marathon with tons of in-laws instead of being with my small out-of-state family who suffered a sudden unexpected death a few months ago. I can't wait for the holidays to be over, unfortunately. I'm trying to be festive for my 2yo, but she feels like my only true joy at this moment. 
And that sweet little girl is sick, so she's not even feeling that festive, either. 
pear / 1703 posts
@GoGoSnoGirl: it is a lot to get through isn’t it? I too find the family time, dinners and events tough when DH and I are constantly fighting, as we are now. My almost two year old and 8 year old are pretty much all that keep me going too! Like everything else, the holidays will be over before we know it. I hope your little one feels better really soon.
pomelo / 5084 posts
Not exactly down, but a little guilty that I didn’t get it together to buy nice matching wrapping and decorate the house much. Literally wrapped half our gifts in non-Christmas paper. Mom fail.
wonderful pea / 17279 posts
We’re traveling right now and I’m not blue, but feeling a bit defeated. DH has been a weekend dad for the last 4-5 months. Now, that everyone is out of their comfort zone he is blaming LO’s difficult toddler behavior on me. Apparently, he hadn’t noticed my parenting fails on Saturdays & Sundays all this time :bummed:, yet I tell him all the time LO is a handful.
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21628 posts
@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: however your LO is acting is not your fault. Toddlers are challenging! My LO got more difficult around 18 months. Sometimes people don’t know what developmentally appropriate behavior looks like and have too high of expectations.
I am excited about Christmas, but ready to leave 2017 behind. It’s been a hard year.
cherry / 235 posts
This year is exciting but hard too. I was due 12/27 and LO arrived 12/10! We live out of state and normally go home for the holidays but obviously are not making the trip this year. We're overjoyed to have baby girl home for her first Christmas, but it's not the same to not get to see all our loved ones, especially with being so far we won't see a lot of them till maybe next summer. Plus DH's parents really do the holidays, 12' tree and everything. Meanwhile with our big surprise, we didn't even finish buying gifts for everyone and nothing is wrapped. Which I know is superficial, but it just doesn't feel like Christmas. We do have a tree up and are doing our own traditions and it's great, but just not the same. And then his mom texts that she's sad they won't get to see LO's first Christmas. They were here last week and are coming again next week so at least we are getting to celebrate with them just not on Christmas.
Hugs to you. We put so much pressure on a day, don't let it wear you down.
pear / 1767 posts
Two years ago, I had a d&c on 12/21 and was crazy with work until 12/31 (took off the day of the procedure but then was back in the office bright and early the next morning). My son was 3 at the time and I felt like I did a horrible job of slapping on that happy face for him as hard as I tried. We left Santa Oreos (no homemade cookies that year) and I just powered through as best I could and tried to look forward to the year ahead. Sorry you’re feeling blue. I hope 2018 is a much better year.
grapefruit / 4455 posts
@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: hugs to you. My Dh makes critical comments about the kids just being "spoiled" sometimes (eta especially my two year old) and it drives me nuts because the implication is that I'm the one doing the spoiling since I work very part time and spend way more time with them. Toddlers can be difficult enough at home- traveling is not easy!
@Autumnmama79: thanks! I'm trying not to be ungrateful, it's been hard doing it alone (Dh has had a busy schedule lately..) Here's hoping its onward and upward from here. I hope your 2018 is better than your 2017, and I hope you and everyone here can just get through a couple more days! We're almost there one way or another! 
wonderful pea / 17279 posts
@Mrs. Pickle: @2littlepumpkins: thanks ladies. After speaking with his pediatrician just last week I know this is a toddler thing and DH needs to adjust his expectations somewhat. We were spoiled with a very chill baby and now have a typical toddler. 
grapefruit / 4466 posts
Similar to @2littlepumpkins: and @starchild: , my due date falls too close to Christmas for us to travel to see family, and no one is coming here. Christmas is a big deal for my family, not so much for DH's (though MIL still manages to be annoyed that we would not take an 8 hour amtrak ride to see her for Christmas, argh). But anyways, between things being crazy at work getting ready for mat leave, being sick, and my husband not being into it at all anyways, I haven't managed to do much for the holidays, beyond picking up a ready to heat Christmas dinner at the deli, which I'm calling a win. The weather is super gross too, with ice everywhere, so getting outside is not a great option. Trying not to be a crank at my husband...
grapefruit / 4466 posts
@Autumnmama79: I think so many people feel this way, and for so many different reasons. You are definitely not alone, or atypical at all... I hope things look up in 2018
pomegranate / 3127 posts
@Autumnmama79: I'm sorry. I hope next year is better.
We're in the same boat, my MIL is facing a very scary diagnosis and the holidays don't feel like holidays. We're just keeping the celebration plans for the kids' sake, and also for hers, because now we just don't know what the future holds.
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