So what can you do to fight back against these often overwhelming media and marketing messages?
Write your own holiday rulebook -- one with different rules than the Martha Stewarts and the Bree Van De Kamps choose to play by, says Jodi Lastman, a Toronto mother of one and the vice president of WeeWelcome.ca, a website for Canadian mothers with young babies.
Says Lastman: "If you have a new baby and you're doing a lot of visiting during the holidays, between baking, packing and unpacking for overnights, mess is inevitable. Don't let it stress you out. Keep the place clean enough to keep your sanity but let some of it slide until after the holidays. Just stuff it all in a closet to be revisited later."
"Accept that good enough is plenty good enough," adds Danielle Donders, an Ottawa mother of two. "Maybe next year you'll be Martha Stewart's replacement. Pin your hopes on that and this year, decide that good enough will do. Besides, gingerbread men with no frosting will get eaten just as quickly as gingerbread men with faux burberry coats painted on in icing."
Ann Douglas is the author of The Mother of All Pregnancy Books and The Mother of All Parenting Books. She can be contacted via her website at www.having-a-baby.com
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