Working mom's guide to surviving the holidays

By Amy S.

Multitasking is a requirement for the working mom. I take multitasking to a whole new level during the holidays. Here’s my “Working Mom’s Guide to Surviving the Holidays:"

· Shop for Christmas presents online – on your lunch hour at work if possible. As long as they don’t block amazon.com, target.com and jcpenney.com from the company network, I’m good to go. And free shipping is all the rage this year. We got my daughter’s obligatory play kitchen online this year with free shipping – saving us the nerve-wracking afternoon in a toy store, getting the thing in the car and hiding it from our daughter.

· Use the commute to work and home again to talk to your children about the holidays. I sing Christmas carols in the car and “talk up” Christmas to my daughter. She’s truly a captive audience.

· Skip the formal office party. Tell them you can’t find a babysitter. Then spend the evening doing something special with your family for the holidays. No one has to know!

· Use the 10 minutes spent waiting for everyone to show up for meetings to do something productive. Stick stamps on the Christmas cards, make a grocery list, brainstorm gift ideas. If you have two or three meetings a day you can get upwards of 30 minutes of extra time to get the little things done. Score!

· Here’s the biggy. Adjust your expectations. You don’t have a staff at your beck and call to help you have that holiday in the magazine’s center spread. Eat take-out on the really busy nights – a working mom’s best dinner friend may just be the trendy salads now appearing at fast food restaurants.

· Don’t get caught up in the office comparisons. Women love to talk about who’s got the most done for Christmas. Meanwhile, you stand there loading up on coffee and hoping no one drives by your house to see the Halloween pumpkins still on the porch! This year, be the first one to admit that you haven’t put up the tree yet. Then watch how many other women relax and admit their realities, too.