Holiday Over-Achiever

I am a classic over-achiever. I know this about myself. I am never willing to do just enough; I have to do more than enough, enough to be noticed, enough to be praised. Happily, I know that this tendency has been lessened as I have progressed towards my PhD, though not necessarily by choice. As life got more and more hectic and my plate began to crack under the weight, I was forced to accept that I can't do everything at 110%. I allowed myself to stop attending lectures that in no way benefited my area of study or progress towards my degree. I stopped feeling like I had to attend every departmental social engagement. My load lightened, and it felt good.

As Molly has gotten older and has become increasingly part of the world outside of our little home, that over-achiever mentality (this time as a mom) has crept back in again. I worry that we are becoming those parents at daycare, the ones with too-specific requests and too many questions.* To make up for that, I went a wee bit overboard with the Christmas gifts for her teachers.

My initial idea was way too labor-intensive and expensive (considering there are seven teachers in Molly's room, not to mention the teachers in the "toddler room," where she hangs out in the mornings). So, after adjusting my expectations, I decided to do something inexpensive but handmade/crafty, hoping that the time & effort put into them would demonstrate how truly grateful I am that they take such good care of Molly (because I am).

So I ended up making Design Mom's DIY Monogram Mugs, which were super easy and fun. I made one for each teacher in Molly's room (with mugs from Walmart for $1.50 each) and then filled them with a bag of homemade hot chocolate mix. I also made a couple of tins of cookies for the director and the toddler room.

All of that was easy enough, except that this week has been crazy because it's the end of the semester, which means that I was scrambling to make the cookies, cocoa mix, and assemble the mugs last night. Oh and I had the awful, early stages of a head cold. So by the time I went to bed last night, I was exhausted and frustrated that I had, once again, done too much.

I don't want to be an over-achiever mom, the kind of mom who spends more time stressing about her to-do list during the holidays than enjoying the holidays and having fun with them.

Ironically, though, that means that not stressing is going to be on my holiday to-do list next year.

We'll see how that works out.

*This is suggested by the fact that Molly is the only child with a "to-do" list (written by the daycare to remember our requests) on her cubby. And though that makes me feel a little bad, the requests seem completely normal. We let them know when we transitioned to 100% table food (because they provide her meals), when they could give her whole milk, etc. Why does no one else need to let them know those things?