The End of Year Chaotic Crunch

Each year, I promise myself I will be more prepared for the end of the year and holiday season. I will create content ahead of time and schedule it. I will schedule bookkeeping and business tasks like meetings and get them done in a timely fashion. I will keep a running Note on my phone of potential gifts for loved ones and check it when sales are happening from fall to December 1st. I'll have outfits for all occasions planned out, a social calendar that is fun but not overwhelming, shiny hair and clear skin and peace on earth…

…and reality happens, and it's chaotic. The next thing I know, it's the second week of December, and the only thing I have accomplished is getting my tree up and trimmed (and that is in big part thanks to a teen who is old enough to get the ball rolling so I can race home, don our matching pajamas and Santa hats, and take the semi-annual photo of her wearing the tree skirt).

The End of Year Chaotic Crunch

Thanksgiving was at our friends' home, but it was still a day of cooking and prepping before we went. The next day was a second Thanksgiving, this time with my husband's family. The next day, a high school friend was in town for the first time in a long while (last time we got together I think was 1998) so we met for coffee which ended up being an hours-long catchup which is why I was racing home to put on my matching jammies).

The clothes for my Cyber Monday Talbots content was supposed to arrive November 22nd so I had the pre-Thanksgiving weekend to shoot photos and video and craft content. But the clothes didn't arrive until the night before Thanksgiving so I wore Talbots all weekend long and worked Sunday until midnight to get the deliverables completed and submitted for review and publish the following day.

My friend Tonya has a business partnership with Williamsburg, Virginia.

She lives not far away and has visited the city many times as a guest. She recommended me as one of the other attendees for a holiday-season trip she was invited to attend. I was so excited; I live less than three hours from Williamsburg and haven't been since 2016. That visit was too short, the weather too hot, and we Garys too exhausted at the tail end of our cross-country road trip. Tonya is awesome (we went on Pre-Pan trips to California and Florida with different apparel brands), and I was excited to meet two new-to-me midlife influencers (Rhoda and Robin).

The trip was this past Wednesday through Saturday and I drove there and back, which meant some family coordination for school pickup and dropoff, Girl Scouts and high school winter performance (sad to miss), and ensuring the Subaru was in good working order (and clean, since I'd be driving us around part of the trip).

Sponsored trips mean jam-packed days and a lot of pre-planning for ‘gram-worthy outfits.

And when you're on the move straight from 8:30am to 9:00pm, and it's 23 degrees, but the wind makes it feel like 10, it's a lot. When I got back to my room at the end of the day I had no energy to do any sort of work (hence no Weekend Reads this past Saturday). Though, I must say I packed both stylishly and practically for the occasion and the cold!

But now it's 6:00pm on Monday the 9th and I have an alarm set for 7:20 to put on some pants and pick up our kid from her friend's house where she went after school to study and socialize. I have a three-page to-do list that needs to all be completed before the end of the workweek, and I realize we never got a picture together in our matching jammies to make holiday cards.

We didn't send holiday cards last year because my mom passed so close to the holidays that we didn't feel like celebrating or explaining to distant relatives and semi-strangers. I felt it important to send them this year, especially to those on my mom's Christmas card list, so they were aware of her passing. But it hasn't happened. Maybe we'll do New Year's cards…

And so this is my content.

Due to contractual obligations and feeding the social media beast that will disappear if you don't, I have been regular on Instagram (on my profile you can find a circle “highlight” of the Williamsburg trip). I have been sharing outfits on LTK because that's easy to do when waiting at school pickup or being a passenger in the car. But I miss Wardrobe Oxygen, and all of you. This is my favorite place on the entire internet and I have more ideas for content than hours in the day. I can't wait to get back here on a regular basis!

I know so many of you can relate to this end of year chaotic crunch. May we all be gentle with ourselves, and remember our presence is the most wonderful present of all. While I feel like I am treading water, I am glad that a lot of this chaos is due to spending quality time with wonderful people.

With this job, I often spend the majority of the holiday not in front of a roaring fire or a dining table, but a laptop and phone. My social battery has been replenished, and with it, I may be stressed and behind, but I don't feel as burned out as I was a month prior. Taking a breath to see the glass half full is the best way to get through the holiday rush, and I thank you for understanding and sticking around. The best is yet to come!

P.S. I had someone mention the feed for Wardrobe Oxygen isn't showing up in Feedly. It is showing up in mine, though behind (Thanksgiving is the last one). My friend sees my last post about size-inclusive rings, but my neighbor hasn't seen new content since October. Let me know if you use Feedly and when you last received content, it will help me troubleshoot and find a solution.

P.P.S. Thank you for mentioning when things are different, wonky, or difficult with this site, my newsletters, or social platforms. I don't always see or experience the same things you may and your feedback helps me fix what may be wrong or tweak what may be a bad user experience. Sharing your browser or device, and even screenshots can also assist. I always want to ensure my content is easy to access and this site is easy to navigate and user experience feedback makes all the difference!