Thursday, December 27, 2018

Post Christmas Blues?

Erica here:



If you're like me, the days after Christmas can feel like a bit of a letdown. All the planning, the anticipating, the partying...it's over for a whole 'nother year.

You're left with the post-Christmas chores. Cleaning up and packing away the decorations. Writing the thank-you notes. Exchanging the gift-clothes that didn't quite fit. Eating all that leftover Christmas baking before your new diet starts on the 1st. (Mmmhmmm, might be why the clothes didn't fit, Erica.)

Then for some of us, other things ramp up. In my case, there's all the end-of-year financial business to tie up. I am the company bookkeeper for our family lumber business, and the week between Christmas and New Year's means inventory and closing out the books and visits to the accountant and the bank and board meetings and minutes and time spent at my computer filing end of year reports with the government. Oh joy.

This can leave us feeling a bit blue. All that fun and festivity and now it's just a long, cold, flat winter ahead.



But does it have to be that way? What can we do to mitigate those post-holiday blues? Here are a few ideas:

1. Save a gift. Hold back a gift for each of your loved ones, keep it wrapped, and then surprise them with it a week or two after Christmas. (The trick here is to remember where you put it so you can find it when it's time to give it out!)

2. Start a new tradition...pick a night in January to schedule something special. A movie night, a game night, invite friends over....something to which you can look forward as you wrap those ornaments and put them back into the boxes. Maybe you push the party back to February. A President's Day party or Valentine's gathering? A theme party where you serve Mexican or Italian or Ethiopian food....you get the gist.

3. Practice 30 Days of Gratitude. Every day for the month of January, do these three things:

  • Tell someone you are thankful for them...and be specific what you're thankful about. Their cheerful smile, the way they always listen when you need a friend, the way they're always ready to step in to help....
  • Tell God one thing about Him that you are thankful for...His provision, His grace, His patience...
  • Do something nice for someone without letting them know it was you. Be sneaky, be thoughtful, and be kind.


I'm going to follow a a bit of my own advice here:

I've saved a gift for one of YOU! Leave me a comment telling me something or someone you are grateful for to be entered to win a book bundle of my three Christmas titles, The New York Times Bestseller, A Log Cabin Christmas, my last Love Inspired Historical, A Child's Christmas Wish, and my latest release, The Victorian Christmas Brides Collection!



Also, time's running out to enter to win one of TWO Kindle Fire tablets! Hurry and enter before it's too late!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

68 comments:

  1. Oh, Erica, I am stealing some of these ideas to use in January and February. And what fun it will be! To do random acts of kindness to ease ourselves through a too-long winter. That's brilliant!!!!

    And the gift thing. You know that works with sympathy cards/actions, too. Everyone reacts initially...

    But how special to get a card or flowers on the one month anniversary of someone's passing, when the busy world flashes by and doesn't notice one lonely person in the crowd?

    When the funeral is over and the friends and family have gone home and back to the essentialness of their lives.

    Thank you for this, sweet Erica! I know the year-end money stuff is crazy. I have two boys who are CPAs and for the next three months their companies will be hustling and bustling to do accounting reports....

    And then they get to breathe again.

    And I just finished writing a historical about a lumberman in South Dakota who gets lumber from his rich father's massive lumber operation in Minnesota now that the railroad has connected them.

    Gotta love those lumbermen!

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    1. Ruthy, you are so right about checking in/expressing sympathy well after the funeral.

      I'm headed to the accountant's today. Whee! :)

      And I have a total soft spot for MN Lumbermen. Mine's the bestest!

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  2. I really like your three ideas for beating the blues Erica!
    I'm thankful my husband is a morning person and every year makes Christmas breakfast for all the family while I enjoy my coffee and provide backup support :) Everyone looks forward to Pop's biscuits and it's become a tradition.
    A happy and blessed 2019 to everyone!

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    1. Our tradition is Christmas waffles. :) I'm the chef for that meal, and they turned out pretty good this year.

      Though, after reading your comment...I could really go for some biscuits! :)

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  3. Erica -- LOVE your post-holiday suggestions! I like turning the "let down" of UNdecorating a 'party,' and remembering a favorite Christmas memory as each one goes back in the box. :) It's a tradition going back generations on my Mom's side of the family that the tree is taken down and all Christmas trappings put away BEFORE January 1. OUT with the old and IN with the new! :)

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    1. I like that! An Un-decorating Party! Putting away the Christmas stuff is the order of the day around here today. (My daughter is in charge of that since I'm up to my eyeballs in bookkeeping.) We always have to have everything put away before we host a New Year's Day bash. There wouldn't be room otherwise!

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  4. What a wonderful post, Erica. I'm so grateful this year for my family. They have encouraged me in my writing and been there to laugh and cry with me during this kind of emotional year. I will take your suggestions to hear especially the ones about being grateful. Love that.

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    1. Gratitude certainly helps my attitude! :)

      Family is so essential in this writing life, isn't it? I don't know how some people cope without that support system!

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  5. Erica, I love this! I was feeling blue yesterday and your post has really encouraged me to do something to new to keep the holiday spirit going. Thank you!

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    1. Aw, I'm glad you were encouraged! My family likes the 'give a gift later' part. ;)

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  6. I also meant to say I hope the year end goes smoothly! May your books balance perfectly. :)

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    1. Ah, thank you! That's my hope! Good thing I have a most excellent accountant to help me out! :)

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  7. I am grateful for Seekerville. I am also grateful for friends and family. I finally feel like reading and writing again.

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    1. Wilani, we're so grateful for YOU! You are such a faithful reader and encourager here. I pray that 2019 is a year of refreshment and progress for you.

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  8. I love your post-Christmas ideas! I may have to steal some of those.

    I am grateful for a beautiful Christmas spent with family. I am incredibly grateful for my husband and my mom that both help to make special memories for my kids and help ease some of the busyness from my shoulders during the holiday season. I am so blessed to have them.

    My post-Christmas is fairly quiet (usually) and this year I am using it to catch up on reading some good books that I had put off while I was working on editing projects. It's so nice to have time to get lost in a good book.

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    1. :) You don't have to steal. I'm giving them away. :D :D :D

      Post Christmas reading is the BEST! I have two books going right now, not including research and history books.

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  9. Thankful for this post and the great ideas you’ve shared!!

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    1. MJSH, :) So glad you enjoyed the post. Happy New Year!

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  10. Erica, I love these suggestions. This particular Christmas was more stressful than most. Heck, most of this year has been more stressful than most. Part of me is ready to tie a sloppy little bow (because that's what I tie best) on 2018 and call it done.

    But, I love your ideas of how to hold onto the good that is Christmas, the Christmas spirit. What fun ideas you've shared here. I am definitely choosing to count my blessings through January. And maybe next year I'll remember to hide a little something for each of my loves to share the following January.

    Have a productive week and a happy New Year!

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    1. Jeanne, 2018 should have been taken by oral vaccine as far as I'm concerned.

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    2. Jeanne, praying that your 2019 is blessed and less-stressed!

      Kaybee...now there's a thought. :)

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  11. Great ideas, Erica. The Christmas celebrating isn't done yet for me. My family will be gathering this weekend for our family Christmas, with family from 3 states. We all just have to get through the blizzard first. We are having a real blizzard right now. Today is also my dad's 84th birthday. We will celebrate tomorrow when everyone is together. So I am grateful for him today.

    Please enter me in the drawing. I would love to win the books.

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    1. Happy birthday to your Dad! We're getting the blizzard too...but it's falling as rain! In December! In Minnesota! So weird. Melting all the snow...but it's supposed to turn to snow again tomorrow, so there's that.

      You're in the drawing, sweet lady!

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  12. You speak my language, Erica. "Whole 'nother... " Love it.
    My daughter would probably love to instigate a game night at least once a month. She's gotten several new games lately that we haven't had time to try. Candyland, here we come!

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    1. Oooo, monthly game night is a great way to blow away those winter blues! Though Candyland? There is a special place in heaven for parents who play Candyland with their little ones!

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  13. Erica, I'm grateful for my husband who fully supports my writing.
    Our family celebrates Twelfth Night with a small party, so that stretches the season out a little. Also, we don't meet with my extended family until after Dec. 25. Too many people going in too many directions. So that stretches it out a little more. My husband usually takes the week after Christmas off, so we go out and do things like movies and museums, so that makes the Week Between kind of special. And we absolutely do not take the tree down until Jan. 6. Not after all the work of getting it up. I like your ideas too. Next year we're going to celebrate the Twelve Days even more, and have a small gift or surprise for each day.
    I had a good Christmas. The weather held so we didn't have to fight with the snow, I'm sorry but after a lifetime in this climate it loses its charm, if I want to look at a white New England I can buy a calendar, ha ha.
    My computer crashed before Christmas and I'm dealing with the fallout from that. I managed to save my novels to Dropbox and a thumb drive, but I lose some photos, some ancillary material to writing (marketing plans, back cover copy etc.), all the tax files I've been keeping in Excel since last January, and about two dozen guest blogs I had made up in case someone asked me to guest blog. We may be able to hire it out to get stuff restored, but everything we and our geek daughter tried has failed so I'm resigned to doing reconstruction work over tne next couple of weeks. I would not want to go back to the pre-tech days, especially the huge iron Underwood typewriters you had to be a bodybuilder to pound the keys, but we do have our moments, don't we?
    Have guests coming for holiday tea in an hour, may be back later.
    Kaybee

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    1. Yay for extending the holidays.

      Boo for a crashed computer! I'm so glad you saved the essentials ( your novels) but oh, all the rest! Perhaps the Geek Squad can resurrect the data for you! I sure hope so!

      Enjoy your tea and company!

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    2. I also wait until Jan. 6 to pack away the tree. This year it is on a weekend so I can probably get it done. Some years it is a few days after before I can get to it.

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  14. Erica, I loved this post. And your first paragraph sums me up perfectly. At least while radio stations have gone back to playing regular music the Hallmark channel still has me covered with Christmas movies.

    You have some great ideas. After all, Christmas is a season, not a day. Our extended Christmas begins today and continues through Saturday, so I guess I'll simply have to play Christmas music from my phone.

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    1. You are partying hard with your many Christmas celebrations! After all your company and the multiple Christmas gatherings, I would probably only be fit to lie down in a darkened room! But you party on, girl! Enjoy your girls and their families!

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  15. Good morning, Erica. Thank you for this lovely post.
    This year I am most grateful for the simple kindnesses of people. While my husband was sick and dying, so many people blessed me with simple gestures that showed they cared. In the midst of my grief, that helped me focus on the importance of being kind to others. One of my favorite quotes has always been one of the variations on being kind to others because you never know what they are going through. This year taught me to make that kindness take a tangible form as well.

    Wishing you all a blessed 2019.

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    1. Cate, I am so sorry for your immeasurable loss! I am also glad that people have been kind, and that you've recognized that kindness, even in your grief.

      Praying that God will cover you with His limitless grace, peace, and comfort.

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  16. I'm thankful for the opportunity to see my sister, even though our visit was brief. And thankful for the chance to go on a vacation in February with a dear friend of mine.

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    1. Yay for sisters! I have one sister by birth and many sisters of the soul! All are precious to me!

      And yay for vacations in February! I hope you escape to somewhere warm and sunny!

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  17. The after Christmas blues hit us a few years ago and we implemented the "after Christmas party" for our family. We now wait until after Christmas to have our personal family celebration. We can shop the after sales and enjoy a relaxed holiday. This year, since we are moving in a week or so, we are doing our whole Christmas at the end of January. I love it!! Our kids have loved this tradition. Then there isn't so much over stimulation all at once. You have listed great ideas, Erica!

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    1. Susan P it sounds like you've got this post-Christmas thing on lock! :) I love that your kids are on board with it all, too!

      Happy move and may your new home be blessed!

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  18. Thank you, Erica. These are some very helpful suggestions for chasing away the blues. I'm especially thankful for a spouse that supports my writing and knows all things techie. But also so grateful for all those who've supported me as I move toward seeing my debut novel published in Feb.

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    1. Pat, how super exciting for you! Congrats on your debut novel releasing in just a few weeks!

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  19. Hi Erica:

    What let down?

    I've always loved the weeks after Christmas. Never a let down.

    There's more time off. That time off from school was great. Time off from a pressure job is even better. You get to enjoy your presents.

    There's the best football of the year for the next few weeks. Some of the best movies come out for the holidays. You even get days to think about and prepare for the next year.

    If you are retired you may be getting a pay increase the first of the year and your 'doughnut hole' goes away until later in the new year if you happened to have fallen into it.

    I like to think in terms of positive affirmations. I also try to learn to enjoy what opportunities are all around me. Stationed in Italy? Learn to love opera and soccer. There is plenty there to enjoy. Think of the healthy new discoveries you are going to make in the new year that can bring you joy and enhance your time on earth.

    Have a dream. Follow a vision. Let the energy of the holidays act as a booster rocket to lift you to a higher plane of existence or at least a greater appreciation of this glorious journey we are all on to the Lord's house.

    Be thankful. Be blessed.

    Vince

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    1. Vince it looks like you've already gotten a head-start on the gratitude thing! :)

      You're right, there's so much to do and look forward to in a new year.

      And...Go Chiefs! :)

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    2. Love the Chiefs too. I've seen Bo Jackson play both in baseball and football. Great stadiums there in KC. Hank Stram use to have an office just down from mine in Tulsa for years. I'd love to see KC and Rams in the Superbowl.

      Time will tell.
      Big, big, big games this Sunday!!!!

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  20. Thanks for your post Erica! It`s true about feeling the let down after Christmas is done but I enjoy spending time with the kids while they are home. For us, Jan is a birthday month so there`s still three special people to celebrate. :) Blessings, Lee-Ann B

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    1. Lee-Ann! Happy birthday to your three special people! I've got a Jan. birthday, too. And you're right, it sure helps with the post-Christmas let down.

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  21. Erica, thanks for your post! I took down all the decorations today and carried them to storage. I love your idea of saving a gift - I ordered my husband one more gift today that will arrive after the New Year. And, I'm going to entertain more during these long and cold months - perhaps a tea party!

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    1. Edwina! I came home from uptown to find my daughter had packed up all the Christmas decorations here, too. I bet your husband will like his gift. And a tea party! Perfect for the cold winter!

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  22. Christmas isn't over at my house. The tree and the presents are still here. :)

    A mild touch of flu hit one of my sons, so with itty-bitty babies, we decided to put it off for a few days. Tomorrow night we get to rock babies and open gifts. Too fun!

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    1. Ah, better safe than sorry when it comes to the flu. Rocking babies sounds delightful.

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  23. I used to feel a let-down when Christmas was over, but for the last few years I've felt such relief. This year, Christmas came so quickly and we were so busy that we never even got the tree put up. We put a borrowed Charlie Brown tree on the coffee table, and that was it. The kids have enjoyed playing with their gifts and we've just relaxed. It's been great.

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    1. Dianna, sometimes scaling back to the essentials is just what we need, isn't it? And we're reminded just how little we really need to be happy. :)

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  24. Thank you for these ideas! I think I'm going to try to incorporate a new tradition at the end of January, a Mexican party or something.

    I'm thankful for my husband. He's been so supportive this year, as well as now becoming a business partner, something we've never synced together about but it's now coming together. The Lord knew what He was doing when He brought Chris into my life!

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    1. Lila! A fiesta sounds like just the ticket to chase away those mid-winter blues!

      Love that you're rejoicing in God's gift to you of your husband! :)

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  25. Great ideas!
    I am thankful that our oldest son got in touch with us this summer after a year of not hearing from him. He has moved closer but has had three jobs recently. He is saving money, though. He is far from his faith right now. He has done this getting out of touch thing several times over the years.
    I am thankful we have a close church family who we can count on for prayer.

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    1. Praying that your son will return to his faith and to his family. I'm so glad your church family has gathered around you.

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  26. I am very grateful for loved ones and my continued good health.

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    1. Mary, those are blessings to be truly thankful for!

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  27. Erica,it's not quite the end of Christmas for me. We still have two more gift exchange gatherings before the decorations come down. I'm thankful for my wonderful husband of 45 years whose always been supportive of my writing and knows me better than I know myself. I praise God for bringing him to me.

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    1. Congratulations on 45 years! My husband and I just celebrated 29 this month! Isn't it great when they support us in this crazy writing life?

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  28. Thankful for my family and our good health and well-being. I’m also grateful for Jesus and His work in my life.

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    1. Anne, those are wonderful things to be thankful for! Without Jesus, it's all just dust!

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  29. Hello and a belated Merry Christmas! I'm so thankful for my family. I'm glad I was able to spend time with them the past few days. Just enjoyed some stress-free time with my two boys and my husband at home. God has been good to us, and I'm so grateful. <3

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    1. Holly, stress-free family time should be bottled and saved up! :) Merry Christmas to you, too!

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  30. Wonderful post, Erica! I'm grateful for those special people the Lord has placed in my life!

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    1. Caryl, Isn't it great that special people pop up when we need them? And that there isn't a quota where God says we've had enough special people and we don't get anymore?

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  31. Hi Erica, I'm thankful for your post, and I'm very thankful for my patient husband who puts up with my moodiness.

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    1. Marilyn, husbands should sometimes get hazard pay, shouldn't they?

      Or knighthoods? At least homemade cookies every now and again?

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  32. Hi Erica! As for me, I love the time between Christmas and New Years, it's a quiet time of relaxing from all the hulabaloo. Like a rejuvenating of the body, soul and heart as I reflect over the past year. Some good and some bad, but I can see God's hand in it all. I love when He shows me how He's worked in various situations & circumstances.

    I'm thankful for so many things it's hard to pin down just one! I'd say God first and then my husband. It's been a rough year for both of us, but he's still as patient and gentle as always. Our faith has been stretched beyond what we thought we could handle and it's brought us closer to each other and the Lord. I couldn't and wouldn't want to walk this road called life without them both in my life. They are both my rock when I need someone to lean on!

    I hope the Vetsch household had a blessed Christmas and that the New Year holds even more blessings than ever imagined :-) I love your suggestions, never thought about holding a gift back. I'll have to remember that for next year!

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    1. Hey, Trixi! Merry Christmas to you and yours. I'm so glad that your adversity strengthened your faith and your relationship with your husband.

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