Holidays, Overwhelm, and Homemade Pumpkin Pie

Instead of Thrift, we’re taking a detour into Thanksgiving this week. How do you cope with the overwhelm that is family + holidays + business obligations?

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Shortly after this post hits the airwaves, my sweetie and I will be, as the old song goes, headed for Pennsylvania and some homemade pumpkin pie. Every year, as the holidays start to ramp up, I’m incredibly grateful that my world allows me the flexibility to go home for pretty much every holiday, to see my family and friends and loved ones, to experience those precious moments that will never happen again.

But for all the sweetness of family and love and holiday joy, there’s a bitter side, too. It’s not the travel, sleeping on pull-outs, or the rush to get from one event to another – those are all things that I wouldn’t give up, because they mean spending the holidays with family (as crazy as it may be). It’s the all-encompassing sense of overwhelm that comes with managing a business while that’s all happening.

In our house, the chaos is double – because we’re both entrepreneurs. Both my sweetie Meredith and I have our own (separate) businesses, which means that the days leading up to holiday travel consist of questions like “can you switch the laundry between those two client calls?”, “we have to leave by 9 because I have a client at 3”, and “should we stay through Tuesday or Thursday? What projects do you have on your plate that week?” As a result, our travel plans are pretty much always up in the air; my poor mother is constantly left wondering when we’re going to actually arrive, and I’m pretty sure we don’t know when we’re having turkey dinner with Mer’s family yet this weekend.

And, of course, while all this is happening, between the running around and the turkey and stuffing and the stolen moments with family and friends, we’re often still working.

There are times when the holiday chaos, the running and the shifting and the constant movement, brings me to tears. It’s enough that we considered staying in Buffalo this week, enjoying a raucous dinner with good friends, instead of heading “home” to PA. But at the end of the day, it’s not really an option. Because we want to be there, with our families, chaos and all.

So this Thanksgiving, when the rush and stress threaten to overwhelm the magic, I’m going to take a moment to be grateful that I have the ability to be there. That our schedules and budget allow us to travel. That I’ve chosen this lifestyle and all its composite parts, and that being able to make trips like this is part of that. That I have loved ones in such great number that we never get to see them all in one trip.

How will you be coping with overwhelm and chaos as the holidays set in? What are your favorite (and least favorite) bits about the holiday season?

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Dani Nelson is a geek and a hippie with a passion for helping smart, creative entrepreneurs make their businesses better. Her secret ingredients? Strategy, tenacity, tasty beverages, and two unshakeable beliefs: that you (yes, you) have awesome things to share with the world, and that marketing doesn’t have to be awful.