There is so much going on my life, a lot bad but a lot good too. For both I want to be at my best though. My Aunt who is already chronically ill had a fall at home last Sunday night. She broke her shoulder and cheek bone. My Mom, who lives with her and is the guardian of her person, has been with her at the hospital all week keeping her company. Plus the surgery and hospital stay have been nothing short of a disaster.

So I’ve been staying at the hospital too. I not only have been there for my Aunt but for my Mom too and have been trying to coordinate everything with doctors, uncaring nurses, incompetent nurses, PCA’s, and other hospital staff.

Of course seeing my Aunt in pain, confused and bruised is just terrible in itself. Add to it, that my Mom is not feeling well from worrying and that all of this happened just a few days before Christmas, it feels very stressful.

I ended up not having our traditional Christmas Eve fish dinner for the first time in my life but I had to conserve my energy. I had to stay well enough to still be able to help with my Aunt, have Christmas Day at my house and not get sick for my older daughter’s visit from Kansas.

I did the best I could. I washed my hands frequently at the hospital and stayed in my Aunt’s room only. I slept whenever I could even napping at the hospital. I prayed a lot. I vented a lot. I tried to keep things in perspective.

And you know what? I survived. I didn’t get sick, thank God. My Aunt is out of the hospital and in a Rehab Center. Christmas Day was lovely. My older daughter is here and things are going well enough.

Did you have a good Christmas? Did you spend time with your family and loved ones? I did have a good day and it was so nice to be with my family, to see the joy of the day written all over my younger daughter’s face and to be blessed with decent enough health to be up and around for the day.

My older daughter was not able to be home with us this year but will be joining us soon. And my Aunt feel on Sunday night and broker her shoulder and cheek bone. Not having either of them with us made the day a bit sad but having my 10 year old daughter brightened it up for us.

I hope that your day was filled with joy, peace and time to spend counting your blessings.

I’ve been working at keeping my stress levels low this Christmas season so that I don’t end up getting sick like I usually do around this time of year. I’ve devised a system that’s been working for me. I want to pass on a few pointers in the hopes that you will gain from my experiences.

1. Writing Lists for everything. I began to keep lists back in mid-November. It started with my Thanksgiving plans and continued from there. I have gift lists, budgets for gifts, food lists including what meals will be made and the ingredients needed, Christmas card lists, etc. If there’s something that I need to remember, I’m writing it down.
2. Staying Organized – All those lists go into a special file along with a calendar. I’ve transferred this info onto my online calendar too. Every piece of mail that comes into my house is opened by the trash can. If it doesn’t have sensitive information, in it goes. If it does, it’s shredded. My daughter can’t leave anything lying around any more. Everything is in its place.
3. Finances – We are spending less and doing more. Even though there seems to be less hours in a day now, volunteer time is our way of giving back. We are doing as much as possible as a family to keep it fun. We are sticking to our budget too on presents and food. Don’t forget the food, it adds up quickly!
4. My Outlook – I have a tendency to get down around the holidays due to family members’ losses.  To add to it, this year is the first year I will be without my daughter, who now lives in Kansas. I knew this would make it even more difficult for me.  I listen to  Christmas music, try to be around other people as much as I can, read books and watch shows that are cheerful, read other people’s blogs, look for the humorous side of things and try to keep a smile on my face.
5. Decorations – We have always decorated our home for Christmas. We go overboard.  This year we aren’t holding back at all. We are taking every decoration we have and using it. It’s been fun looking at some things we haven’t seen in years.

I’d love to hear what you are doing to relieve stress this season. Or is it difficult for you and you’re having problems getting through it all? I hope not, but we can “talk” about it here and share.

With Zenni Optical I can afford to purchase eyeglasses that portray the various styles I like. Now I can even own a pair of Holiday frames.

I love to wear Christmas jewelery and shirts. I do the same thing for other holidays like the Fourth of July, Easter and even St. Patrick’s Day. To be able to match my glasses to my clothing and mood would complete the picture for sure!

I saw these red frames that have white snowflakes on them and even though I live in Florida, I’d love to own a pair. I wear a lot of red with Christmas coming so soon. I have a red faux fur collar jacket that these would look stunning with.

There is a big selection of frames in red, green, blue and frames with holiday motifs like Christmas stockings, stained glass, horse drawn sleds, and so many more. I spent a lot of time looking through them. It was hard to choose just one favorite.

I know first hand that Zenni Optical has very good quality eyeglasses. My older daughter and her fiancee’ each bought a few pairs and were thrilled with them. They said that the customer service was terrific, even advising them that they had made some mistakes in ordering.

When they received their glasses, they saw that they were just like those sold at stores but for a fraction of the cost. They compared them to what they owned previously and couldn’t tell the difference based on the quality of the frames.

So why shouldn’t I splurge and get a few pairs of glasses instead of just one? After all it is the holidays.

Instead of actually going to the stores to see if I could get any of the Black Friday sale items I needed, I found a new way to save money but get those low priced gifts. I shopped online. It was easy and it was exciting too.

There was no need for me to wait out in the cold early in the morning, fight the crowds and then get frustrated to find that what I wanted wasn’t there. Nope. All I did was take a long nap after eating a big Thanksgiving meal. That’s a given anyway! Then I just stayed up very late online.

I had all of the product names with the stores ready. I had already signed up for a Black Friday newsletter which kept me up to date on when sales were starting, additions to sale items, etc. So I waited for emails to come in about when the stores sites would start the sales.

As soon as the email hit, I went to work! I got a lot of my shopping done in about two hours.  My best deals were a Disney bathrobe and pajamas for $12, a compact flash for under $20 and a special DVD for $6.

I plan on making this a yearly event now. For those of us who have trouble getting out especially when we know it will be crowded and hectic this is the way to get your shopping done easily.