Can it really be November 1st already? That’s the part about the mad dash towards Halloween that always seems startling, the very next morning it’s November 1st and in my family, that means heading in towards the holidays. What lists we may have compiled, what gifts we may have already purchased or picked up and what plans we may have already made go under the microscope as we get ready for the last eight to nine weeks of the year.
In three short weeks, it will be the week of Thanksgiving and on the very last day of the month, we’ll celebrate our daughter’s sixth birthday. The holidays can be a stressful time for families and for married couples. There’s a saying that suicide and depression rates soar during the holidays. Yet the holidays are a time when we will actually look at our neighbors and bid them a good morning, a happy Thanksgiving or a very merry Christmas.
Distant relatives appear on our doorsteps and they come for a few days to celebrate the Christmas season. We compose long letters talking about our families and letting them know what we’ve faced, accomplished or overcome this year. We get our holiday photographs together, we make lists for sending out Christmas cards and we start haunting the sales at the various stores for our Christmas shopping.
Surviving the Marriage Stress
So as we greet the first day of November and we look forward to the coming weeks of holiday rush, we can also keep the lines of communication open. We can diminish the possibilities of heart break and the endless cycle of arguments. Talk to your spouse about your holiday ideas and dreams. Talk about the plans you need to make. Work together to achieve them whether it’s the shopping, the cooking, the decorating or taking the pressure off yourselves to compete with every other household and couple you know.
I remember, last year, my husband I spent one evening a couple of weeks before Christmas just going over everything we’d purchased and wrapping each and every gift. We got them done and then tucked away again. A handful of items went under the tree and in those last two weeks before Christmas, we weren’t rushing or feeling the pressure of what we needed to do – we were just enjoying the Christmas music, drinking the eggnog and watching the holiday films.
So welcome to November and the holidays, I can’t wait to spend the holidays with you. What are your big plans this November?
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