Motherhood And Mixed Emotions

The holidays can be a difficult time for mothers. This is the time of year when you have so much to do it's difficult to get time to spend with your children. You're busy with menus for special meals, buying presents, keeping the house clean and organized as well as probably working a job outside the home. How do you keep your sanity with all this multitasking? The stress is unbelievable and you flit from one side to the other emotionally. Mixed emotions run rampant.

There is a book available titled "Desperate in DC" written by Crystal Walker and Phoebe Thompson where they talk about handling career, family and social worlds during the holidays. These women take opposite sides in describing and working with their own families which makes for an interesting read. They do agree that being a mom during the holidays has got to be extremely stressful.

Phoebe remarks that she becomes a Grinch. With all the things you have to do like buy presents and specialty foods, food preparation, cleaning and list goes on, how do you cope. You try to makes things perfect but it never fails, things go wrong. So she has dubbed herself as a "failed perfectionist".

However, Crystal sees things differently and says she has a secret. Simply put, "fake it until you feel it". This is supposed to provide for a sense of joy. Apparently, this affects everyone around her causing them to experience happiness. Appears to be contagious. But, it works for Crystal and her family.

Now, the question is whom do we follow. Crystal or Phoebe? The consensus seems to be both of them. Phoebe proudly wears her title as Grinch and is comfortable with it. And, she knows that she is not alone because there are many other mothers who are Scrooges as well. On the other hand Crystal just says "have a glass of wine" jokingly. So, Crystal focuses on her family and makes best of it. She waits till after the holidays are over to recuperate. She'll set up an appointment for a message and goes to that special place in her mind and relaxes. Crystal also gets her kids to take some responsibilities to lift some of the burden. She tries to remind her children what the holidays are really about. Crystal asks her children to make her a gift and that helps keep them busy. She also makes a to do list for her kids. Her final say is to not rely on feelings of others and try to involve your family with family activities that are productive. No doubt, Crystal is a Merry Mother during the holidays. So, what kind of mother are you? Grinch or goody-two-shoes?

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