Anyone else find this time of year a bit stressful?

[FletchFan]

I always feel a bit stressed October to January. Is it just me? I just feel like there's a never ending to-do list. Once we've got over the back to school madness and start approaching October, there's:

• My daughter's birthday mid October so sorting her party out and presents (even though she has far too much shit and we've also got Christmas shortly after)
• Halloween and parties so costumes to sort and the guilt of really not wanting to go pumpkin picking or decorating our house all over even though we live in the middle of nowhere and get nobody knocking.
• Various family and friends birthdays
• Christmas, and the fact it's forced down our throats late September and is a harsh reminder I've got to spend yet another few weeks wondering what the hell to get everyone and my husband having his birthday three days before Christmas, and he is the man with everything.

Is it just me?

Just to add, this is light-hearted. Of course I know there are far worse things to be stressed about.

Yes me. Christmas for 4 teens and 3 birthdays too.
It seems to come round so fast and I feel I never have enough saved or am never as organised as I would like to be.

I do like Christmas but it's so stressful as a parent.

i love autumn and the run up to Christmas - autumn colours, the weather being relatively mild, bonfire night, thr run up to Christmas….

i don’t like january - March as there isn’t much to look forward to until Easter and thr summer holidays.

A bit, but there are things you can do to make it less stressful.
is your daughter having a party every year? You don’t have to do that. And presents don’t have to be complicated. I find the something you want/need/wear/read very useful. If they have too much stuff, get an experience instead. Same with Christmas. I save an amount of money all year and start Xmas shopping in July to spread the stress out a bit! Don’t buy gifts for adults. That way madness lies.
im a single parents of 5, two kids have birthdays in the week before Christmas, it would be easy to get really stressed. But (as twee as it sounds) the best gift to my kids is a not stressed mother so this is how we roll.

Not really I find October a complete drag, November i have birthdays and my wedding anniversary then it’s Christmas.

I hate this time of the year.

I’m a sun lover and probably suffer with SAD (if it exists).

I love Christmas and work in a school so the second half of the term is always busy and fun, but the first half term is always awful. Everyone is ill and for the past ten years my youngest son has always been ill in October (3 years in hospital).

Roll on sunnier days.

I agree with all the above, coupled with it always seems to be the worst time of year for illness, and rounds of bugs make everything feel harder.

Not really. I don't do anything Autumnal or Halloween related. December is quite a lot with DD's birthday 2 days before Christmas but it's not that much to organise and DH does more than his fair share.

I'm a single parent to 3 children, the youngest of whom is disabled so life is always high stress for me (it ebbs and flows but there is generally always something going on!)

Throw in looking at secondary schools for DC2 over recent weeks and I'm actually on my knees. We've been to 5 schools, had a dance exam, an entrance exam, and two banding tests. So that's 9 other things on top of all the usual life shit.

Thankfully it all calms down now on the school front.

Although I do have a planned hospital admission for DC3 x2 nights, DC1 birthday, 3 hospital appointments for myself and DC3 and a few other ad hoc appointments within the next 5 weeks.

Its sadly not just this time of year for me!

Christmas is generally a quiet time for us. Clubs / hobbies / appointments all stop. We go to local family, we have lots of PJ days. But yeah the lead up is pretty intense.

I avoid a lot of this angst by opting out of all Halloween/autumn decorating bollocks. Somehow the kids still reached adulthood. Just don’t do things you don’t want to do.

I know what you mean OP. It's a busy time at work, all three of my DC and my DH have birthdays between Sept and Dec, and then Christmas to organise. I spend this time of year feeling like I have slightly too much on my plate.

No, this is my favourite time of year.

But then I opt out of most of the bollocks on your list, lol.

Yep op, mothersload is real. I find Dec a real slog.

No, but we just have a couple of family birthdays in January, and none at all in Sep-Dec. We're busy most weekends in Nov/Dec doing Christmas activities, we always book lots of theatre shows and concerts. But it's quite easy entertainment as I just turn up with the dcs and sit there! PILs usually visit in the school holidays which is busy, but they treat us to meals out so I cook less than I normally would, and DH takes leave to spend time with them, so I have more adults around to look after the dcs.

I think if it is to much for you, opt out, or do whatever is within your comfort zone!
Have a lovely birthday party for your DD, keep Halloween to a minimum and don't start Christmas until last week of November!

It's liberating to do what suits you, and from my experience, other people don't really care what and how you do things!

I love October and in theory don't mind the winter and the dark, but what I really resent is from 1 Nov everything starts as a countdown to Christmas, a season I don't particularly enjoy. So I have two months of a year, one sixth of my life surrounded by something I used to vaguely dislike, now actively hate. It stresses me because doing ordinary jobs like grocery shopping require me listening to the music or passing all the tat, I'm a radio fan but need to turn it off for that period. I don't mind so much in December but it really stresses me in November.

A bit, yes. I don't have small children, so Hallowe'en isn't too much of a chore. I just need to make up some treat bags for the trick or treaters. My adult DD got very excited the other night and took down/put up the Hallowe'en decorations by herself.

Christmas stresses me out though, even though I love it. Having to buy (and wrap) so many presents. And having to clean my house/make up beds for guests etc. And everyone wanting to meet up with you "before the Christmas". I always get there in the end. But it is stressful.

Yep but only because some people try to force stress onto me. I’m like go away and I’ll do things my own way for Christmas!!

Not just you. I don't have children (I'm currently pregnant), but there is so much traffic to contend with where people are getting prepared for whatever the next thing is.

Halloween, Black Friday and then Christmas and then any events or 'dos' at work, all within 12 weeks, give or take. It's a lot.

I love the run up to Christmas, and I have loads of family birthdays (including my own) which I enjoy. I hate the dark evenings and the fact it's getting colder, but I do actually really like this time of year on balance.

Yes! When term starts in September and i start to see Christmas things in the shops, i think I've got ages and choose to ignore it all. Then comes October and the pressure starts, and by November I feel like I need to get Christmas gifts sorted ASAP because December is just far too busy to still be shopping!

I agree it’s busy, but I don’t really find it stressful….we have our youngest’s birthday mid-October, similar to you, but have always just done parties at home on our farm (this year we had some of his friends over, swam in the pool and they stuck a tent up and camped out in the garden). We also don’t go mad for gifts, he had some rugby training stuff, a few books, Pokemon cards and various other little bits and bobs.

For Halloween I usually throw together a costume for each boy in the few days before from things we’ve had in previous years (or buy one from a charity shop). They are old enough now that they don’t really go to Halloween parties (11 & 14), but they do go out trick or treating in the village with friends. We don’t decorate the house as we’re on a farm and no-one can see our house from the road. The kids carve pumpkins usually the day before Halloween and we just light them in the evenings by the woodburner, until they start going mouldy!

There are a lot of friends birthdays in Oct & Nov, rugby season is in full swing, plus cross country races, swim galas and winter triathlon. We just limit it to one fixture / comp per child per weekend and make sure on the weekends they don’t have anything on, that they get some down time just relaxing at home etc as school is also very busy with sports stuff too. It feels quite good to say no to things sometimes too - the kids want to do everything, but I prefer them not to be overstretched.

I’ve just booked our annual ski holiday over Christmas which is something to look forward to but also means I know have to organise house sitters or kennels for the dog & a groom to come in for the horses, plus cover for the farm animals, for that week. To be honest though, I think spring is our busiest time and so autumn doesn’t feel too bad in comparison - I don’t like the darker evenings and colder weather though which is why I’m a bit anti-autumn.

I'm stressed. We have 3 birthdays and two wedding anniversaries (including mine) in one week in October. Plus Christmas looming far too early. The anxiety of who will be here and who won't and mostly they won't. The days of 13 round the dinner table are long gone, this year it will most likely be me, my DH who has dementia and my youngest DS. How do I ignore the voice (and all the ads on tv and media) that say it will be magical? When the louder voice says, no it won't.

Yes lol.
Though I do like autumn & winter & know we’re very lucky to have our families, September & October are busy / expensive coming out of busy / expensive school holidays, with back to school, a few birthdays / anniversaries on each side of our families, Halloween, then November 5th, then Christmas, and my birthday is on Christmas Eve. I like Boxing Day as everything’s over! 😂… apart from NYE which isn’t my favourite either 😅 #scrooge

It is easier when children grow up.

I love an autumn walk, especially when we stop for a brew with the twig stove.
I love cosy jumpers and warm stripey socks.

Halloween goes totally over my head, I don't buy or do a single thing.

Christmas is so low key it hardly registers, and some years we don't do it at all.

Hang in there OP, it gets easier, and remember that none of it is compulsory.