Beating the Post Christmas Blues

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sweetpumkinpye

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We were talking quickly a few days back about tackling the post Christmas Blues.
To me it is a real thing, I really suffer getting back into the swing after Christmas has passed.

Was wondering if anyone else feels the same and how you tackle it?
Any great ideas I will make sure are posted in my planner for the beginning of the new year to help with getting back on track once the excitement has passed.
 
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Miss JoDee

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I think planning a trip or a project helps. School holidays were just long enough to get use to a new routine and then bam your are back to the old routine and memories that another year is gone. Last NYE we went to northern MN on a short holiday, then I went to my mom's for 3 weeks ( I had just retired from school job and need to get away.) that really helped.

I have a goal of repainting all the rooms in my home. Hoping to get the living room and kitchen before Christmas then after Christmas I will do the rest of the house.

Do you have a bucket list? Maybe you could pick something from it and do it just after the holidays.
 
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FrostyShimmer

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I agree that a new project helps. I used to delay taking down the decorations...just dreading packing it all away.

We celebrate the period between Christmas and New Year's now. If you're religious, you can use that time to explore older traditions and acknowledging Epiphany,etc.

If not, my thought is, new year, clean slate. I like to plan a big clean-up and reorganizing day for the day after New Years. I also put fresh paper in my notebook and write about what I want to do differently next year. It's a reminder that everything has its season, and next year's Christmas needs attention now.

I also like to listen to Brad Paisley's "Only 364 days to go" and the song from Elmo's Christmas "Every Day Can't be Christmas"
 

Minta

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When we take the Christmas decorations down we leave the snowman stuff up. Outside we leave the white icicle lights up along with the light up snowman. These will stay up until the beginning of March and it helps. When we come home from work the house is still lite up and pretty looking. In Jan I shop the clearance sales looking for gifts for next Christmas and I start thinking about what worked this past Christmas season and what didn't What changes I want to make and what new things we could add.

I also make up a list of projects around the house that I want to tackle. Most of the time Jan to March is the least busiest time for us and is perfect to handle the inside projects which helps to make the time go by quicker.
 

Skippy1707

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I agree with finding a new project. I really struggle with post Christmas blues as well so I find having something else to focus on is key for me.

Much the same as everyone else - this year I want to decorate the house. Downstairs has been freshly done although the living room could do with redoing on the bottom as some of the paint is scuffed and chipped. But it is mostly upstairs in the bedrooms. Our bedroom has been baby pink and white since we moved in! And we have no carpet in our bedroom.

The kids rooms are ok but my son isn't 13 now and is finding his own identity and my little girl is in an all white room and she wants some colours on the walls. I'm thinking I might ask for decorating vouchers as Xmas gifts so I can get it done and it gives me a focus.

Besides that I make my New Years resolutions. I'm hoping this year as well to set myself a goal for the month - whether it's a bucket list thing, something in the house that needs doing, somewhere I've wanted to go etc.

And there's always preplanning for next Xmas. Also my decorations come down on the 12th day so by the 7th January Christmas is well over and done with.
 
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sweetpumkinpye

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Certainly some great ideas here. I will get my new 2018 diary very soon so I will pop a few ideas in there for the first weeks after Christmas.
Will give it some thought.
 
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AuntJamelle

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Great thread!

I also tend to leave up white lights and snow/winter theme items through at least January - helps keep that cozy feel, ya know? :) And candles, have to leave out the candles!

Perhaps think about what you want your post-Christmas soundtrack to be - make a playlist of favorites that you know will make you smile. I usually listen to Christmas music while taking down/putting away all the decor but after that I am ready for a change!

I also look forward to "playing" with any new items I've received for Christmas, watching any new DVDs, reading new books, etc.

DS's birthday is Feb 5th so THAT is my personal project once the holidays are over!

Volunteer work is another idea - I'm sure the help various agencies receive drops off sharply just after the holidays. Whether it's a donation to the food bank or of your time - nothing pulls one out of the blues like helping others, IMHO in any case!

You could also plan ahead a treat for yourself - a massage, or pedicure, or time to sit in a coffee shop and write in a journal, whatever floats your boat that you don't get to do often or just don't have TIME to do during the holiday season.

Perhaps plan for a simple family event/outing post holidays? For those that can't afford an actual trip as mentioned - which would be awesome of course! A movie night at home? A game night (playing new video games received for Christmas) + snacks? A trip to a local museum? Or go out to the movies? If planned and budgeted for now it might be more likely to happen...

Or what about photo albums/scrapbooking the holiday memories? Plan time to get photos ordered and then insert them into a simple album or go all out and do a Christmas scrapbook.

Do some basic planning now for meals - are there healthier, simpler meal options that you'll be happy to have following the richer meals we'll all have been eating for a few months?

For those that like to garden, January is a GREAT time to start looking at catalogs and dreaming of what you want to grow come spring. Really dedicated folks can start seeds indoors around March so that is something to look ahead to and prep for.

It really helps me to visualize all those types of details, SEEING how I want things to be, then making lists and plugging things into my calendar to hopefully actually create that vision, at least as much as possible.
 

jollykelly

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Great thread Katrina!

I too, suffer from Post Christmas Blues. I think a lot of it has to do with taking down the decorations, it is just a chore that I do not enjoy. Here is what I do to try to ease the blues:

  • Immediately start planning for the next years Christmas (I find a lot of good deals on Christmas things, supplies and novelty gifts that I can scoop up for sometimes 90% off and save for next year)
  • Start planning for my summer vacation - just like Christmas, my summer vacation takes a lot of planning to make it easier on my budget. I need a cleaning plan because I have some one stay at our house with the dogs, start a budget plan and saving, etc. Sort of like HGP for vacations!
 

sweetpumkinpye

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AJ and Kelly, marvelous ideas.

Kelly, I am going interstate in April 2018 for my sports National Championships. I will use the after Christmas period to plan that. Thank you.
 
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housewife2

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i start planning for the next christmas . i look at pic taken from this year. try to look at what happened that i liked or want to change for next year
 

sweetpumkinpye

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HW2 I have always been a fan of planning the next event straight after Christmas. I do like to jot in my planner what worked, what didn't, recipes to try again and quantities of baked goods that we used.
 

sweetpumkinpye

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I am going to try this year to record some Christmas movies when they are showing and when I am feeling a bit glum in January I will pop one on and indulge.
 

MinnieCo

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Not that I'm happy everyone is blue, but this makes me feel so much better and realize I am not the only one. Seriously...I thought I was.
 

Holiday_Mom

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I thought I had responded to this post but maybe it was the other one. Any way, it just kind of dawned on me as I read through the responses, that what I tended to think the blues after Christmas to be more of a winter thing really is a Christmas thing since Katrina deals with this as they celebrate Christmas in the summer. It's just something that helped clarify what exactly it is that makes me feel blue.
 
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sweetpumkinpye

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Not that I'm happy everyone is blue, but this makes me feel so much better and realize I am not the only one. Seriously...I thought I was.

I thought that I was alone in this phenomenon.....glad that I am not . Maybe this year we will all be able to handle the PCB in a different way as we will all be aware what we are going through.
 

sweetpumkinpye

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Not yet a week after Christmas and I am feeling a little glum.....I feel so let down after all the excitement is over and it is so long until Christmas 2018.
I am going to spend the next few days with my planner and make some notes for the new year.
I also need to get all my Christmas gifts and put them away.
Just trying to keep busy and focused to try and keep the blues at bay.
 
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AuntJamelle

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Katrina - ((hugs))!!!! I hope you can find little ways to lift your mood! We spend so much time and effort looking forward to Christmas-time and then poof - it's over!

I've been making Christmas gift tags, working on little ornaments of felt, trying to hang onto the cozy feelings. We have lots of snow and the Christmas lights all still look so pretty at night!

I also try to remember that in times past, Christmas day was the START of the 12 days of Christmas. I'd like to do a better job of planning ways to recapture that old way of thinking/celebrating!

My sister and her boyfriend are coming tomorrow for our gift exchange - so that will be nice!

Thinking about and planning for next Christmas is a great idea! And the pressure is off because you have plenty of time, lol!
 
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sweetpumkinpye

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AJ, keeping busy is the key. After I have put most of my gifts away I will then spend the next week or 2 tidying up spaces that are a little congested. I think it will take a while to get the house back into some order. I know that by mid January I will be into full on planning for next year and the "blues" will be gone.

Looking forward to a few events in January, Australia Day on the 26th and then DD and my birthdays at the end of January.
 
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luludou

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I plan, plan, plan in January. DH has more post-Christmas blues than I do... of course it is usually so cold it's harder to go outside so that might be it.