I’m sorry for two introspective, raw posts in a row. Except, no I’m not. My name is up there at the top I can do what I want. And as I sat looking at all my blog post ideas for today’s post I just didn’t want to write about any of them. I wanted to write about this.

I am the literal worst. I do this thing where I get SO EXCITED about a holiday or event. I don’t want to miss out or let it pass me by or feel like I’m not taking full advantage of all it has to offer. So I make big plans and long lists. I brainstorm and research. And then when it comes down to it I usually end up cancelling or failing on a few of my ideas and feeling bad.

It’s usually awesome and I have a great time/season! But there always seems to be this unnecessary level of stress and failure attached to it.

Tomorrow is December 1st and I’m already starting to feel it about Christmas.

I know I’m not alone in this. People post all the time about “simplifying the season” and all that jazz. I’m not a “simplify” person. I’m a “complicate” person. I want to live up the season! Make great memories! Take fun pictures! Create cool opportunities for my family and friends! It’s important to me. I still want to do it.

But Thanksgiving weekend was amazing. And you’d think “Hey! That’s a good sign, right? You had the best Thanksgiving break and lived it up and feel good!” Except that I’m exhausted and I had some uncool cramping/pain/Braxton-Hicks(?) by Sunday and I was totally gassed. My mom and The Beard and my OBGYN encouraged me to take it easy and just rest a little. “You’re probably just going to0 hard. This is your body’s way of saying ‘slow down’ so slow down.” Booooo.

But you know what? The 5 bullet journal planning pages, 1 evernote page, and 1 gift management app I have already in full swing agree with them. I don’t want to stress this season. In fact, it’s probably not super safe for me to stress this season. Do I want to have fun activities with Reese to celebrate Christmas? Yes. Do I want to ruin it by scheduling each and every day? No. No I do not.

So today I thought I would reaffirm and reprioritize what really matters to me this holiday season.

• Family Time. Yeah this might be doing Christmassy activities, but honestly I just want to be with Reese and Ryan. I need to remember that. It’s ok if it’s just on the couch watching the Christmas Office episodes. That rocks.
• The Savior. I was a little worried about adding the #LighttheWorld advent to my already long Christmas to-do list… until I punched myself in the face for forgetting the entire purpose. Earth to Danica: you’re the worst.
• Keeping my house clean & festive. I know this sounds dumb, but I’m really really bad at it and realizing more and more how much of an impact a clean (or messy) house has on my nerves and energy level. It may not seem as urgent as a scheduled play date or party, but that’s why it gets forgotten and pushed back.
• Getting enough rest & feeling healthy. Because without that, no plans happen. And I need baby girl to stay chill in there.
• Scheduled Parties & Events. I want to present my best, happiest, most festive self to the parties and events we already have lined up. They shouldn’t suffer due to the random “fun” over-scheduled activities I try to squeeze in around them.
• Less focus on “things” and money. This means getting my shopping done early and actually STOPPING for once. Spending less time in stores and more time at home. (Wow I spent a LOT between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but I really am getting pretty close to done!)
• Blogging good content. Sorry, blog. You’re all the way down this list, but I think everyone will understand. I am going to try to share good, helpful, uplifting content. I’m gonna continue to work on my photography course and take lots of pics. But I don’t want to stress about it or miss out on important things because of it. Ya feel?

And Finally… 12 Outfits of Christmas

This has been causing me some stress the last week or two. It takes lots of planning, prep, and work to put together 12 outfits, plan them, take photos, get them up on the blog on appropriate days, and have it all done ~before Christmas so it actually is helpful. So this year I’m scaling down. I’m doing it on Instagram, with a weekly roundup on the blog just for my sanity. Feel free to join me! I’ll be using #12OutfitsofChristmas on Instagram to share me & Reese’s outfits. Hopefully we get to 12. Maybe we won’t. We’ll try to share most of them here. But this year I’m making a conscious effort to avoid the “extras” that make Danica hate Danica.

Yeah, I want to do Temple Square and see Santa and drive through the lights and watch all our Christmas movies. But I’m doing a very unDanica thing and trying to NOT rigidly schedule them into the month. I want Christmas to be magic, not managed. And if you’ve got tips on how to stop my itching fingers from reaching for pens and post-its… halp.