Since I am self-employed I do have a lot of control over what my life looks like even though sometimes I feel like I don’t… So if finishing the photo album is more important to met this week than making 50 cold calls today, I just do it and I don’t have to justify it to a boss (thank god!)

Also rest and exercise … and going to bed are going on my lists… When I go to bed at 8 or 9 — and I am so embarrassed to say that some days pregnant after 12 hours with a toddler it is 8 p.m. bedtime for me, I wake up at 6 a.m. or even 7 raring to go and with so much energy to tackle everything, that is the one thing I have learned as a working parent and I am so greatful for being able to make my own schedule and wish more employers would get this for others.. so say you didn’t have to commute but could get up at 6 a.m. and work for two hours before your kids get up or whatever your individual schedule is.. it is so much better, and it isn’t laziness, it’s flexibility.

@Cara- I agree with Denise: vacation is something not to stress about. $300 can easily get eaten up with vacation meals and incidentals, so just let it go, and enjoy your week of being with friends.

Two year olds are really good at doing the bottom of the tree, all on one branch. It’s also a good time to talk about the ‘baby’s first Christmas’ ornaments if you have them, or the memories attached to what you put on the tree. Play some Christmas music and dance while you decorate.

Enjoy your long weekend. Think of the $300 as money you would’ve spent on meals at the time share.

On my list of 100 dreams is to be able to take 2 weeks of stress free vacation a year and we had booked a time share for one week from this Friday to next.. but I am so pregnant and my 2-year old is only good in the car for up to 3 or maybe 4 hours

Sooo what I realized I really wanted to do was go see my best friend from childhood who lives in VA and spend T Day weekend with her and her husband andchild who is the exact same age as ours — free play dates all weekend and some built in girl time for me since two husbands around for the weekend means guaranteed girls lunch… maybe a spa day or something

BUT I feel guilty about the $300 I spent switching the time share week around two or three times to try to fit in a “vacation” that seems to not fit ..

As a small business owner with young kids it is hard and I am working on aligning what my lifelooks like with what is really fun and practical at this stage.. yes elaborate cookies are great but I noticed you qualify them like yes we will bake cookies but simple cookieseven things like putting up the xmas tree are going to be abit taxing for me this year pregnant with 2 year old.. decorating with a 2 year old is obviously different from doing it with older kids who can actually help… but having a tree is the only decoration I care about …

@Gwen – well, I’ve kind of accepted that I can’t do everything in NYC for the holidays. I’ll do what I can…

@Denise- we are definitely hitting the train show! Especially since we’re in such a train phase right now. I think it will be a ton of fun. And I’m glad to hear you’re thinking of alignment. Really, the season is so much about friends and family, it doesn’t make sense to do a whole lot of activities which can’t be aligned!

And just to further complicate things, in addition to City Ballet’s Balanchine Nutcracker at Lincoln Center, ABT’s doing a new Nutcracker choreographed by Alexei Ratmansky at BAM.

I’ve had to re-think my cookie baking, as my boys aren’t as interested as they once were. I will do the dough with the 3 yr old, and then we will all cut out shapes and decorate them together, on another day.

Definitely do the Botanical Garden train show. It is truly a wonder to behold, for the children and adults.