As the holidays are quickly approaching, most families are planning Christmas parties and shopping and cooking and school events and church programs and family gatherings and lots of other holiday events that just make this time of year special. Ahh!!! The hustle and bustle of the holidays. It brings such cheer to the heart. I can almost hear silver bells…. What? No cheer? It makes you stress just thinking about it?
What a shame! That’s exactly what Christmas has boiled down to for lots of people – stress. This is supposed to be a time of peace and hope and joy. We have turned it into stress, anxiety and angst. Several years ago, my husband and I realized the joy of Christmas was being overshadowed by this dark cloud. We did not want busyness to get in the way of truly celebrating this time of year. So, we made some changes. Instead of loathing the holidays, we love them. We are not stressed. We are joyful. (Most of the time!) What is our secret? Just like everything else, you have got to figure out what is most important to you and put that first. Here are the changes we made that put family and friends first and made our Christmas a lot less stressful.
- Clear the planner of unnecessary stuff to make room for the inevitable Christmas events. From late November to early January, we usually suspend any classes or lessons the kids are taking. We try not to plan any weekend trips away or volunteer for any extra projects during the holidays. When our planner is free to begin with, there won’t be any stress involved in adding any fun Christmas events to the schedule.
- Plan on entertaining. I’m not talking about having a dinner party with h’ors d’oeuvres, wine and a full course meal. Invite some friends over for soup or dessert. Share your home with someone. Turn on the Christmas lights and some Christmas music. There doesn’t have to be a formal invitation. Last minute phone invites usually usher in the best of times.
- Have easy meals and snacks ready to go. See #2.
- Spend a day baking cookies with the family or friends. Spend another day delivering them to others. I don’t know what is more fun, baking the cookies or giving them away. There is something about slowing down and sharing time and the gift of something homemade that makes the whole season come together.
- Three gifts. It was good enough for Jesus, its good enough for us. That’s our motto. We don’t get caught up in the crazy buying frenzy at Christmas time. We buy our kids 3 sensible gifts each and then Santa brings just one plus fills the stockings with little goodies. When I write it out, it actually sounds like a lot. But, I have been to other people’s houses at Christmas and have seen the piles and piles of presents. Yikes! Our kids know that they each get three gifts so they are never disappointed. Even if they were, they would forget all about it when they get to the grandparents house. Unfortunately, grandparents do not practice our gift restraint!!
- Shop and send Christmas cards out early. The season is a lot less stressful when you have those two tasks off your list!
- Pack the kids up and look at the lights. One of my favorite Christmas traditions growing up was to drive through town on the way home from my grandparents house to see the houses all lit up for Christmas. I love to share that with my family. The lights are lovely. The Christmas music is on. The time to relax and enjoy each other’s company is awesome.
- Enjoy the season. It’s alright. You can enjoy yourself. Other’s might look at you funny and think you’ve lost your mind. That’s ok. They just haven’t figured out what the season is all about yet. Give a big sigh of relief that you do!
- Take some time for you. I know, it sounds terribly cliche. But, sometimes you just have to take a break and give something to yourself. Whether its a bubble bath, an afternoon at a coffee house with a good book or getting your nails done, sometimes we just need that time to keep it all together.
I’m not saying we are 100% stress free during the holidays. But, we are a lot happier. We enjoy ourselves more. Our kids know what Christmas is truly about.
How do you keep stress out of your holiday season? Got any ideas for me to add?
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow! I LOVE this post! I’ve said this many times before in my comments, but I do not yet have children. I want all of you wonderful ladies to know how much these post help me prepare. You give such great advice. I LOVE TCM!!! This is my favorite time of year & I try my best not to get too stressed. These are great tips! I really like the idea of the three gifts, and teaching your children what this wonderful holiday is really all about. Thanks!
Really enjoyed reading your ways to keep the holidays simple and enjoyable. Our family used to draw names at Thanksgiving (amongst the adults). This way we each had a special gift from a family member (and a fun way to surprise one another) to look forward to at Christmas. Although, now that we all have children (blessedly in abundance), we focus on the children instead of giving to the adults. We direct the Christmas gift giving towards the kids now — after all, childhood and Christmas go together like peanut butter and jelly! We prefer to spend our energies (and money) on the children. Thankfully, we all agree to this and look forward to spending a stree-free Christmas together.
this is exactly what i told my husband the other day…thank you so much for posting this. i really want to enjoy the holidays and the simplicity of it.
Your post is a blessing, Marci. The holidays become so stressful for us because we leave town mid-December to go spend time with family out of state. So I always feel rushed to wrap up business, shopping and other obligations AND squeeze in time to teach my children our lovely traditions and the true meaning behind Christmas, all at the same time. Stressful to say the least! (Well, traveling for 30+ hours with two kids 5 and under is stressful unto itself. And I’ll be looking forward to your next post about that. LOL! ;))
Thank you again. I’m definitely going to lighten the load this season. Fantastic tips!!
Fantastic tips, thank you for this!! I think just the permission to slow down and actually enjoy what it\’s all about is just what I needed!! Last year my girls were tired of opening presents before we were close to done, so unnecessary. I\’m really considering the 3 gifts thing, although that would be an amazing level of self-control for me to muster up!! Love the tips, and look forward to putting them (most of them at least) into practice this year!
We are starting the 3 christmas gift tradition based on the 3 gifts of the wisemen this year too! Looking forward to it for sure!! Before, while shopping, it was hard to know what was \’enough\’ but after everything was opened up, it always felt like too much! ;)
Travel tips for the holidays would be an awesome post. I have no wisdom in this area. As soon as we had kids, we stopped the travel. One of my very best friend’s and her husband made the car trip from New Hampshire to Illinois last summer with 3 kids 4, 2 and 1. And they all survived!! Maybe I should have her guest post soon!
I absolutely LOVE this post. What a great reminder. Thank you for writing it at such a great time. You\’ve inspired me to start preparing for a stress-free, enjoyable Christmas holiday.
Thanks for such great tips to keep peace in the home!
Christmas excitement and spirit doesn’t need to mean MESS.
Planning ahead is always great strategy.
If moms are looking for fun games activities for the kids in preparation for Xmas they can find them at the advent calendar: http://www.optimalprint.co.uk/christmas-advent-calendar
The calendar is running now and all games can be downloaded and printed out.
What a great post! I love the holidays :-) Mainly the food..lol! My sis tried doing the three gifts thing and quickly gave up from the pressure of friends and family. It sure would make life simpler, that’s for sure! We set a budget per child but the grandparents normally go nuts so we don’t get them a ton:-)
This is a wonderful post…I think handmaking gifts also slows the holiday season a bit. When I am knitting mittens for my son, or patch working together a cashmere throw for my mom, it is one stitch at a time.
I am selling all of my Christmas decorations. I don\\\’t enjoy decorating. Plus I do daycare and the decorations are just more things the kids can get into. We are going to buy a live tree, decorate it with popcorn and cranberries, and then mulch it all after Christmas. Nothing to put away! I\\\’m going to spend my holidays listening to music and spending time with my family.
This is a great idea. My daughter is turning two and we have decided to start early with the 3 gifts. I think it\\\’ll be easier than doing it years down the road. That is such an awesome idea. And, if she is disappointed she won\\\’t be for long when she goes to the grandparents house. One set is so over the top. Last year, each grandchild had 28 presents. I\\\’m not lying! Isn\\\’t that ridiculous? It actually made me kind of sad because that isn\\\’t what Christmas is about. We ended up giving some of them away to less fortunate children.
Thank you for the great post! I, too, have been looking for a good reason to cut back the gift giving bonanza that happens at Christmas rather than just saying no or we don\’t have the money. I wanted a good reason to tell the kids this year it\’s \"X dollars or X gifts.\" I think bringing Christmas back to the 3 gifts is a terrific idea! Our kids are 18 & 13 so I may be met with a little resistance. But like your family, mine does not practice restrained giving either. We travel for Christmas so cutting back the gift load would be wonderful!
If you ever need an expert on traveling during the holiday or any day, let me know. We have traveled 4 times a year for nearly 12 years from St. Louis, MO to Virginia(11 hours) and Mississippi(8 hours). I have the packing down to a science and can pack the car like a pro in under 30 minutes for 4 people and a dog. Mind you, this does not include the actual packing of suitcases. I have checklists for everything from setting the automatic feeder for the fish to packing the dog, snacks/drinks, sleeping-in-the-car kits, don\’t be bored kits, etc. People don\’t realize how much preparation goes into planning a trip and even my husband is amazed that we rarely forget anything. :) Organization makes for a much less stressful trip!
Hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and I am looking forward to only buying 6 gifts this year!