to think Xmas is only stressful if you make it so?

[Bogeyface]

DISCLAIMER: I am talking about a normal Xmas, not if you have illness/money problems/family feuds etc which do make things difficult.

I have a large family of my own (6 kids inc baby) and a large extended family to shop for. I am hosting dinner for 12 on the day and DH will be working until the last minute on Xmas Eve so no help there (thank you new area manager )

But I am not stressed, and we do have a few money issues actually (again, thank you area manager)!

What would be the point in getting myself het up to boiling point about it when its going to happen anyway and I just need to get on with it?

There have been alot of posts recently where people have talked about getting stressed about Xmas and I genuinely dont understand it. "Got to do this and that and my stress levels are going up...." but surely getting wound up just makes the whole thing harder to do? If I went crazy about cooking the lunch then I would be more likely to forget something and more likely to make a mistake. If I got antsy about making sure everything was perfect so everyone was happy then I would be more likely to bite someones head off and cause a row! I have seen my mother running around like a headless chicken when she has been shopping and has always forgotten something important because instead of calming down, focussing and being methodical she flaps and get in a state!

I wonder if some people actually like being seen to be stressed out as it means that they are putting more effort into the perfect Xmas!

Well said, OP.
We have only had one Christmas hosting guests since DS was born in 2002, as we love our quiet, chilled out time for just the 3 of us, doing and eating what we want and when we want. A couple of times we haven't even had our Christmas dinner until about 7 p.m.! (Although it's usually between 3 and 4 p.m.)
I am a perfectionist too and stress easily, so in making the choice we have, it's prevented a lot of the stress.

I think it's hard to let go of your idea and memories of perfect family Christmasses of the pas - but I'm sure that if we were all to ask our own mothers whether family Christmasses had indeed been perfect, they'd remember them as filled with little disasters and things that didn't go as planned. But the point is that we remember them as perfect, because they were such happy family times, whether or not the gravy was a bit lumpy.

Based on one of my friends, I think it's worth trying hard to overcome a tendancy to be stressed and to work out a couple of strategies that you can use to relax. It isn't much fun being around someone who's clearly very stressed about making the day perfect.

Its more that other people make it stressful by their flapping and unreasonable requests :)