The Holidays Are S'Posedta Be Fun!

I'm sorry I madeja do pushups yesterday, Friends!

Hiya, Big People!  It's Monday, December Twenty-Third.  How are ya doin' on your list we talked about yesterday? 

I know I got a little serious on ya yesterday.  I probably shouldn't have been so stern.  How are your arms from those pushups I made ya do?  Are they a little wiggly-jiggly?  I bet they are. 

I sure am sorry about packin' up and goin' on a power trip with ya.  I really am.  I will try very hard not to let that happen again.

I just figure that worrying about doing something and procrastinating on getting started just makes things worse.  I've seen it overandover again with one of the Big People in my house.  I won't mention any names, but hers rhymes with 'blommy.'  I watch her procrastinate and procrastinate, and hem and haw, and then when she finally gets around to doing whatever it is that she's puttin' off, it ends up taking her like a tenth of the time she spent getting all huffy and whiny about having to do it. 

Blommy would save us all a lot of misery if she'd just do whatever it is, right now, and get it over with.  That's the kind of misery I was tryin' to save you from, Friends, by offering you a detailed system for getting through your Holiday To-Do List.  I just got a little highenmighty with the pushups.  I was coming from a good place in my heart.  Just got a little rough in the delivery.

Take a little time to be silly this Holiday Season, Friends!

What I'd like to say to you is this, Friends: I know this is an emotionally-charged timea year for you Big People.  You might have lotsa baggage you're carrying with you, from Christmases Past.  I get it.  I understand.  If I could wave a magic wand and take away all that baggage, Friends, I would.  I sure would.  But I don't have a magic wand that'll do that, Friends, so maybe you could remember just one thing:

The holidays are s'posedta be fun.  They really are.  That's why we say "Happy Holidays!" and "Merry Christmas!"  We don't say "Horrible Holidays to You!" or "Miserable Christmas, Chump!"  We don't say that, and you don't say that, Friends.  Don't make me get all pushup on ya again!

No. And I understand that sometimes you Big People hafta spend holidays with other Big People you really don't give two shakes of a maraca about.  For whatever reason.  It's okay.  What I say to that is limit your exposure to those people, even though it IS the holidays.  Find a place where you can have a Cone of Silence, so you can chill, and go there to chill when you need to.  And for the rest of the time, take some advice I think is just brilliant:

"Think of those people you're dreading seeing this Holiday Season as old friends that you don't see all that often.  Then after they go home, or you go home, you remember why you don't see 'em all that often."  I think that's just great advice, and that's advice I deploy whenever I'm thrown in a social situation with Mitch from Accounting.  I guess you Big People aren't the only ones who have people that just rub ya the wrong way.

And if that fails, Friends, do something else I do: Pretend you're an anthropolologist studying a different culture.  In a way, I am kind of an anthropolologist, studying a different culture, on account of me being a Toddler and you all being Big People.  Anyway, ya kind of sit back and observate, smile and be pleasant, but don't make any disruptions, because you wanna see the culture you're studying without a lotta interference from you.  Like I said, be pleasant and smile, but don't give it back if somebody engages you with unpleasantry, to get a rise outta you.  Don't play their game, Friends.  Chalk it up to knowing that's just how this culture rolls, and excuse yourself to go get another cookie.  There's ALWAYS cookies this time of year.  Go eat your cookie in your Cone of Silence, and then come back to the party refreshed and ready to observate some more.

Repeat with me: THE HOLIDAYS ARE S'POSEDTA BE FUN!  YAAAAAAR!

Remember: your attitude determines your altitude during the holidays, and if you set your attitudinometer for FUN!!!!!, your altimeter has no choice but to follow along with it and help you rise above the annoyances.  THAT's gonna be how we win the Holiday Season Cup, Friends!  That's how we're gonna emerge happy and healthy.

I love ya bunches and bunches, Friends.  I really do.  Holiday baggage and all.  And I'm sendin' you GREAT BIG KISSES AND HUGS down the stretch.

And speakin' of stretches, now'd be a good time for you to stand up and have a little stretch of your own.  Stretching and breathing help ya fight off stress.  Yes they do.

I'll see ya tomorrow, Friends!  I love ya!  Muah!