OOOPS.... did you. . . . .

overdo at Thanksgiving? Did you get up very very early on Black Friday? Are you now in extra pain and heavy fatigue?

This is a pre-December warning. PACE, PACE, PACE or you won't have a very merry Christmas due to lack of planning and pacing, lack of rest and lack of getting good sleep.

We who have Fibromyalgia know if we push too hard we lose.... It's time now at the very beginning of December to plan our days.

The Christmas season used to be such a drain on me. Back some years ago, I suddenly realized that I didn't have to make dozens of cookies, tons of candy. My family all has problems with "fluffyness" (except for my thin husband. I quit doing those kinds of things, saving me pain and fatigue. I now make the skinny one a few of his favorites (single recipe) and can then say "I'm done"

We used to have a large tree and packages were wrapped with care. We now have a smaller tree that sits in the family/dining room on the table. We go to the kids for Christmas so I don't need my table. I put a few "little" wrapped packages around the tree and the real gifts are "bagged" which leaves me feeling less fatigue and pain.

We have boxes and boxes of Christmas decorations. I now choose from them and put up only the favorites cutting the time of decorating at least in half.

I do shopping online, gift certicates, cash and very little tromping through the stores. The grandkids much prefer money to getting "stuff" they don't like. The adults like the gift certificates so they can choose what they want to get for themselves.

Guess what? We still have the very same Christmas Spirit, no one misses all the sweet stuff and my house still glows with Christmas Spirit and decorations. I am able to enjoy Christmas without extra fatigue and pain.

I hope this helps you to think about your Christmas season and make plans to pace yourself and do less and enjoy more.