Remember when you were a kid? The holiday season was a marvelous time. The countdown to Christmas or Hanukkah took so long and you savored every moment. Your only gifting responsibilities, if any, were your parents, and most likely you made it in school, or went shopping with mom or dad, laid out your precious pennies, and purchased the one gift that was always your parents’ favorite (you knew this because they told you).
Welcome to adulthood! These days the countdown to the holiday flies by, and not only are you responsible for shopping for gifts for your entire family, you may have friends, co-workers, in-laws, and others to think about. You must decorate your home, make sure that it is spotless pretty much all the time, bake, cook, entertain, attend other parties, all the while trying to keep the “normal” part of your life going, which includes caring for your family, work, exercise, hobbies (like blogging). Whew! Sounds exhausting doesn’t it? And stressful.
While it is impossible to take away all of the work involved in preparing for the holidays, it is possible to change how you react to the stress. Here are a few tips that I have found help me handle the holidays without tearing out my hair, and to keep me (almost) stress free.
1. Budget your Gift Giving
The holidays, particularly Christmas, are expensive. Avoid overspending by making a gift giving budget. Take the time to make your gift list, have an idea of what you want to give, and decide how much you want to spend. Then stick to it. Also, occasionally take stock of who is on your gift list. No one expects you to buy a gift for every single person in your life, particularly if you find yourself overspending every year. It really is the thought that counts, and a personalized card, a shared memory, a few photographs can mean more than a quickly purchased present. Finally, embrace the joy of giving with a gift card. No longer considered an “easy cop-out,” gift cards are ideal for everyone from teenagers to the man who has everything.
2. Budget your Time
Trying to do everything for everybody is not only exhausting, it is impossible. Prioritize your responsibilities to lighten your load. Sit down (yes, you have time), make a comprehensive list of what needs to be done. Shopping, cooking, cleaning, decorating, try to get it all. Then break it down. First, by order of importance and due date. Then, take a look at your list and ask yourself what can be delegated. Prepare to let go of control a little, but yes, your spouse can run the vacuum. Your kids can decorate the tree. True, it may not be exactly the way you would do it, but it will get done, and you will earn a little time.
3. Breathe
Or meditate. Or get a massage. The idea is to take a little time, calm your mind, and give yourself some space to breathe. Try spending a few minutes every morning just breathing, empty your mind of all of your to-do lists, and just be quiet and calm. After days and weeks of worrying about everybody else, treat yourself to a massage or facial. Avoid the temptation to “wait until after the holidays.” Nope, you need it now.
4. Exercise but…
Obviously, I embrace the power of exercise to not only keep me fit and strong, but to help me handle life. Running gives me confidence and lifts me up, while yoga keeps me strong, centered and focused. All of this helps me deal with stress. But, sometimes, something’s going to give. You really may not have time to do it all. Acknowledge this, embrace it, and get your activity when you can. Take a walk (a perfect time for mobile meditation), do a higher intensity (but shorter) workout (I have dozens of them pinned on Pinterest, how about you?). Play. If you only have 20 minutes for a run instead of an hour, take it! Don’t give it up altogether, but allow yourself to just do a little less.
While I don’t always follow all of my own advice, these are a few of the ways that I keep my stress to a minimum during the holidays. What would you add? How do you get it all done without going crazy? Please, leave your tips in the comments.
Budgeting really helps me stick to a plan and stress less. Take the thinking out of the crazy time but I like your recommendation to meditate too. Think I’ll try that!
Budgeting is key. I really need to follow my own advice. I get on a Christmas buying roll and it’s hard to stop 🙂
Oh my gosh Debbie, this came at the perfect time. Every single thing you said ran through my head today. I only had a short time to exercise so I ran 2 1/2 miles. I thought to myself that it might be like that throughout the entire month and at first I was disappointed, but it’s better than nothing! Then this evening I was so overwhelmed by the mess of my house and the kids and freaked out. Then I thought of how easy my mom made it look. I never saw her stressed out over the Holidays. Although I think we put way too much on our plates these days with activities and crafts and baking, etc. I think I need to chill a little and just enjoy. 🙂 Thanks
I think you’re right, though your mom probably covered up her stress, because that’s what women tend to do.
ohmygosh totally stressful! I feel like I’m in the thick of it right now. And since I’ve been sick, I haven’t been able to exercise too so that’s been adding to the stress! But I’m finally feeling better and remembering to slow down and breathe! The one thing that I try to remember is that I’m in control of this situation and that I can say no to things. Thank you Debbie for these tips!
I’m glad you’re getting a handle on it all. It’s really important to realize what’s happening, so you really can slow down. And breathe.
This time of year is out of control. I learned awhile ago that I can’t please everyone so I’m not going to try. I follow Carla’s motto – #wycwyc !
OH SEEING THE WYCWYC MADE ME SMILE!!!
And Im in with that too.
And moving next week.
#holdme
Moving during the holidays. Just, wow. Good luck with that, former Californian.
What Angela said #wycwyc.
Such great reminders during this busy season! 🙂
Thanks Kierston. Have a wonderful holiday.
Great tips Debbie! I am thankfully pretty good at each of these, but I am gonna need a little extra love as this is the first time I am not home with my family in England, BUT I am getting lots of the stressors like the shopping out the way early, which should help. I need to work on being a little more flexible with my running too, especially as I am a struggle bus right now!
I hope you have a lovely Christmas. I know it’s hard to be so far away from family.
I am actually really not concerned with the holiday this year, probably because my holiday won’t be much of anything this year ——- I am going to Australia and New Zealand, so I will NOT be with my family. All alone I go! I need to get outttttt of here! I can get my family T-Shirts as gifts? LMFAO!!! And pictures too of course!
How exciting! I have always wanted to go Down Under :-). Have a marvelous time.
I follow your rules – no $$ so we have agreed with all to keep it grandkids only. I say no if I have to. I have cut back on social media. I need the gym for stress so I do it & do what I can & that is enough.
Great one Debbie!
I think we will need to go to grandkids only soon. Maybe draw one name. It’s getting too expensive.
I found that cutting back on trying to impress with pricey gifts, fancy dishes and decorations and instead just concentrating on spending time with family and friends has definitely made my Christmas feel a lot less frazzled this year! We don’t have to go to great lengths, just spending quality time chatting and catching up and really concentrating on what the other person is saying makes them feel as appreciated as a great big present! 🙂
That really brings us back to the real meaning of Christmas, doesn’t it?
Such great reminders! One thing that has helped my stress levels is agreeing with my extended family to draw names instead of buying for every family member. There are so many kids in the family, it quickly became impossible to budget, especially as the kids got older and expectations greater. Now we draw names and have a $20 maximum. It has saved us hundreds of dollars, and I enjoy the whole shopping process (and therefore the season) so much more!
I’m thinking we might need to go that way too. We talked about it a few years ago, but the family was smaller then. Now, with grandchildren, new wives, etc. it just keeps getting more expensive.