1) Cutting down the Christmas tree and getting it home. The cutting of the Christmas tree this year wasn't too bad as my husband planned ahead and purchased a new saw. I also remembered if you bring cash to pay for the tree you can take the short line. As we were tying the tree to the top of the car, there was foul language I heard all around.
From family drama to someone next to us waiting over an hour to back up to all the other stresses of the season, there was language out there that my son had never heard before (and I hope his little mind did not process). I may not be perfect in a ton of ways, but my husband and I don't swear, so if my son says a swear word, it's not going to be learned from his parents. Fortunately my husband is an assertive driver and we were out in no time. We did have to wait over an hour at our restaurant for lunch, but that's another story. I didn't exactly enjoy my lunch, or the trip, as my husband told me he didn't trust his knots, so the tying of the Christmas tree would be up to me. Unfortunately, I had recently seen the insurance advertisement where "mayhem" is a Christmas tree that falls off the car. Yep, that's what I had visions of all the way home on our 45 minute ride back. I looked up through the sunroof of our fairly new car, praying my knots would hold. I don't think I've been that stressed since I had a dog with an open chest and was putting in sutures near the aorta. Stressful!
2) Make sure you know what your guests are bringing into the house. Yep. That sugar cookie might have more in it than what you think... Especially now when so many states have marijuana bakeries... Yep, I saw that recently. It's also real fun when your guest brings a baked good into your house that they have no idea what substance exactly it has in it... This goes for your kids guests too. I don't need to spell it out more.3) Want to know what the weekend after Thanksgiving and Christmas veterinarians are doing? This is two pronged. This is the one time of year that your veterinarian's clinic may run out of anti-diarrheal medicine, or anti-nausea medicine. Yep- not only do the humans partake in too much stuff or the wrong type of stuff this time of year our four-legged friends do too.
4) It's not always the happiest time of the year.... Ask any veterinarian who's been in practice for a little bit and they will tell you; Christmas and Thanksgiving are when we euthanize the most animals. Either a family member comes home and notices that their dog is a lot sicker because they haven't been around it for a while, OR people who are really busy during the year are spending more time at home and notice their pet more OR the family has been waiting for someone to come home for the holidays to say goodbye. Yep- this is a time of sadness for a lot of people saying goodbye to their pet and there's something paradoxical about trying to get all in the Christmas mood and at work you have to grieve multiple times a day...
#4 is obviously the biggest peril in a vet's mental health. #2 and #3 are cases where we can genuinely help our patients. Sometimes putting stress in perspective helps and sometimes watching my son try to tell the "Story of Christmas" helps. Apparently, as my son tells it, Jesus said, "Hey, will you guys be my disciples?" The disciples said "sure". Then Jesus said, "Ok, then come see me be born in a manger and celebrate my birthday and go to the Last Supper when he was 3 years old". Obviously my son has some processing to do on this whole story, but it sure is interesting to see his take, and reassuring that Santa and gifts weren't mentioned.
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