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?
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