Stress, PMS or is it just December?

I can feel that inner bubble of anxiety and frustration rising again. PMS or the holiday season?

Even though I'm thoroughly against spending a load of money of presents, that extra money is never budgeted. Plus, we have 5 family birthdays immediately surrounding Christmas, so it always feels like more.
We also have to renew 3 cars on January 4th, which is around $300.

My stomach is just knotting with all the, "Oh, we need to pay this! Oh crap!We need to pay that too!"

I hate being the responsible one sometimes. But despite my venting occasionally, I handle this stress far better than my husband, who is such a fatalist at times I just want to slap him and say: "Snap out of it, man!"

In other news, someone stole the mail from our mailbox Monday afternoon. I was in and out all day but when I came home from a prenatal, I noticed the mail in our box was gone (we have a small, stuck to the house box) and nothing new in the box. It was too early for the mailman to have come. About a half hour later the mail man did come. I asked if he had collected our mail already and he said he hadn't, he just started on our street.
My mom, who somehow always just heard about X,Y, and/or Z on the local news said she had just heard about stolen mail, as thiefs are looking for gift cards or money around the holidays. Thankfully, I didn't have any gift cards, money, or bills going out. This thief was treated to 6 holiday cards with pictures of our kids on them, 2 birthday cards, and my daughter's letter to Santa. I hope the thief enjoyed them, although I imagine they're somewhere in the Huron River now.
I called the police just to give them a heads up (because for a small, understaffed city, the police are amazing here and are very involved in the community in good ways). The woman asked if I wanted an officer to come to the house. I asked, "Why, so he can look in our empty mailbox? No, we don't need that."
Hours later, as we're all hanging out watching AFV reruns together, I see bright, all-over flashlights on the front lawn through my living room curtains. I roll my eyes and wait for the loud BOOM BOOM BOOM of police men knocking in their menacing way. G says, "What the hell is THAT?"
"I got it," I sigh and go to the door.
Sure enough, 2 officers come in with a note pad and smiles, taking a proper report. I have to remind one of them to shut the door since it's cold outside. While one is asking me questions, the other guy is asking me where we got our ceiling fan. "Is it one of those kind with a remote? Those are nice."
Me: "Yes it does have a remote. We really like it."
Other officer: "So what kind of mail was stolen, mam?"
G, from the other room: "We got that fan at Lowe's. It was the last one and on clearance. It's a beautiful fan."
Me: "Nothing important just cards. I'm sorry you had to come out here tonight. Not much we can do now."
Officer 1: "I need to get one of those fans. That's a great sofa you have..."

Oh dear.
Very nice police.
I'm just a little pissed and left feeling violated after someone took the pictures of my children from my mailbox.

Back to holiday complaining too:
And annoyed with my husband who will actually buy the book he wants when it first comes out and not wait until its in paperback.
Annoyed that I don't just get what I want when I want it but instead, rationalize why I really don't need it or can make do with some lesser object.
Ack. These holidays make everyone hate money.
And I'm not crafty enough, nor do I have the type of family who would appreciate home made gifts. I've given them enough over the last 10 years that I have honestly run out of ideas. No one wants my cookie mix in the jar, bath salts, soap, or hard-core homemade stout as a repeat.

On a more positive note, I'm taking a Karen Strange neonatal resuscitation class in early January that costs a lot of money but I'm really looking forward to. Hopefully the ladies with the babies will allow me to get there!

Now to begin our day and get everyone fed, clean and dressed. I WILL be a nicer person now that I've complained here. And today is actually a very freed-up day, so I'm looking forward to hanging low with little E.