Ten reasons why going to the mall (alone) the Saturday before Christmas is more relaxing than being a stay-at-home mom

10) Even if you have to park in the furthest parking spot, it’s so easy to walk through the parking lot when you don’t have to push a stroller, hold a child’s hand or herd your family towards the entrance.

9) You can eat food that you a) don’t have to cook and b) don’t have to clean up.

8) Standing in long lines gives you an opportunity to take a few deep breaths, think about whatever you want to think about without having someone fight or tell you that they want everything around you.

7) If you want to sit, you can sit… for however long you want, and when you want to go you can go without trying to find children that have run off.

6) You can walk past Build-A-Bear without pausing, nonetheless needing to make up excuses as to why you’re not going in there.

5) You can go to the bathroom, by yourself and take as long or as short as you want, and no child with an extremely loud voice will be there to make commentary on your performance.

4) You can go into a clothing store and look at the clothes, without worrying what shirts are being pulled off the hanger while you’re not paying attention.

3) You can easily weave in and out of small crowds of people, because you’re not pushing a clunky stroller.

2) You can look around at everything around you and not worry about having to clean anything.

1) If you see someone you know you can stop and have a real conversation, (well as real as you can in the mall) without someone tugging on your hand and announcing that you are talking too long.

This post stems from my Saturday experience. I needed to go to the mall for one quick errand, so my husband graciously came home from work earlier to watch the kids so I wouldn’t have to haul them there. Upon returning he asked me if it was crazy, and I realized, I was more relaxed then I had been for the past several days. Either my life is too stressful or I must really love last minute shopping madness.