Why am I thinking of Christmas - should Halloween be first?

I am in a thoughtful mood today, my dear readers.  Having three children, other family to buy for, and not having a lot of money means that around July/August time I start to think about Christmas - if not before.  Usually I save for vouchers but I have found this stressful as I can then only spend the vouchers in certain shops.  This year, I am totally unprepared (and late, as it is now September).

The question buzzing around in my head is, is it ever to early to start planning for Christmas?  

In October, I have three family birthdays and one of those is my son's.  Then we have Halloween, yet I don't seem overly concerned with those, it's Christmas that ties me up in knots.

OK, so I have a larger expenditure in early October, but on the whole, we make our own costumes for Halloween and I spend a reasonable, and fair amount of money on the other two family toddlers. Halloween in our house isn't as important as Christmas, and it doesn't matter if things don't go quite as they should.  Christmas is a family time, it's a family holiday, and if things go wrong, it upsets me.

I thought about why it's so much more stressful at that time of year, and I know the stress is inflicted - it's me - I put TOO much pressure on myself.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not particularly materialistic, I just like the children to have the things they want (within reason of course) but my children aren't greedy or spoilt and they never ask for too much.  I think it's getting them that present that could be out-of-stock because everyone wants it - that's the stressful part.  I also like a perfect dinner with all of the trimmings.  I like to have more than enough food and plan our meals for the two weeks over Xmas and New Year.  I think all of these preparations spoil the fun for me, as I am too worried about everyone else enjoying themselves.

I like everyone to have a fantastic end of year!  I can't explain it, but all I can say is that I am now starting to panic about Christmas.

Do you like to be prepared early for Christmas?  Why do you think there is so much pressure for Christmas in comparison to other holidays?  Do you always buy too much food?  Do the preparations spoil the fun?  Do you worry about Christmas after Halloween or are you prepared much earlier than me? 

Let me know what you think by commenting below.

Laters, Janet