Happy Holidays! Jolly Holidays!
It’s the most wonderful time of the year…. Well for some it is the most stressful time of the year with parties to attend, gifts to purchase, food to cook, decorations to put up and families to tend to. On top of the regular daily tasks that have to be accomplished: work, school, family time, house chores, etc, the holidays can be overwhelming.
Take a few steps to simplify your holidays and you can MAKE this the most wonderful time of the year.
1 – Prioritize: Sit down with a cup of hot cocoa and make a wish list: What traditions would you like to continue? What cooking needs to be completed? When do you need to send packages? What gifts need to be purchased? Do you have ideas for those gifts? Write them down. Is there anything on your list that you don’t need or want to do? Cross it off. This is the time for you to imagine what you would like your holiday to be like. It may not all get done but thinking about it now will give you an idea to work towards.
2 – Schedule: first write down the appointments and parties that you would like to attend, next schedule in time to decorate, cook, shop or otherwise complete the tasks on your list. Are there conflicts? This about what you really want to do. You do not have to attend every party, nor do you have to shop for every friend. Consider completing your shopping online with websites that offer free shipping to save time. What about baking a double batch of cookies to share with your coworkers instead of shopping for each person?
3 – Tackle: Plan to spend a few minutes every day working on your scheduled items. No one enjoys a tired, frustrated person who has stayed up all night trying to accomplish his/her dream holiday. So do a little at a time and let go of the things you just can’t do. Maybe sending cards to 150 people this year is just not going to happen? That’s ok! I bet everyone will love the merry spirited person you are because you are not stressed to the max.
4 – Relax: It is so easy to lose focus of the point of this time of year. For Christians it is the birth of Christ and remembering his miraculous birth. For Jewish people it is a time of renewal. For all it is a time to celebrate family/relationships, love and tradition. If these three items are not your focus then maybe it is time to regroup. Doing so will help you put all of the ‘stress’ of the holidays into perspective.
