4 Tips to Reducing Holiday Stress
Christmas is a magical time of year, isn’t it? There’s no other time during the year that we feel as grateful, uplifted, and filled with holiday happiness as we do in the month of December.
After all, Andy Williams’ song “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” can’t be wrong, can it?
Listen, there are things I absolutely love about Christmas. I love the excitement, the lights, the decor, the fancy sugar cookies, the giant Christmas tree on Main Street, and I especially love seeing family and friends. I love that we all take this time each year to remember the little babe that came over 2000 years ago who’s the true reason for the season.
But can I be honest for a second and say that Christmas, in all it’s excitement and glory, can sometimes be just as equally stressful and chaotic to me? Just the gift buying ALONE can be enough to drive me completely batty. In my defense, while I’m not great at gift buying, I sure do love finding cute wrapping paper and giving the gift!
With the holiday’s upon us, it’s a great time for me to remind myself of a few things I’ve learned in past years that have helped me reduce holiday stress. I’m hoping they can help you, too!
Keep the main things the main things.
There is a GINORMOUS list of things we could do during the holiday season. Bake cookies. Build gingerbread houses. Attend school Christmas concerts. Volunteer. Family get-togethers. Work parties. Elf on the Shelf. Extra church services. Wine drinking. (Oh, not everyone has wine drinking on their list of things to do this holiday season? Just me then? Ok. 🙂 )
There are a plethora of things we could do during this one month between Thanksgiving and Christmas. And none of these things on their own are bad! But put them all together, combined with the fact that we only get about 28 days (and only 24 hours in those days), and it’s a set up for failure.
So take a deep breath and say it with me: “I. Can’t. Do. It. All.” Or perhaps we need a better statement: “I. WON’T. Do. It. All.” Because we don’t have to! Nor should we try. Pick the main things you want to do this short holiday season – the best, memory making and near-and-dear to your heart items – and let the rest go. Maybe you don’t care that much about baking cookies, but you felt you had to because it’s “what everyone else was doing.” Listen, you’re an AWESOME mom! Whether you baked the cookies or they came from the grocery store (raising my hand over here!). Do you, and do what’s important to you and your family. Then let the rest go.
Start early and do some planning to keep it all in order.
I should probably start this point by letting you all know that I love to plan. Like, LOVE IT. Nothing makes me happier than filling out my planner and completing my To Do list for the day. (Yes, I’m a nerd.) So it should come as no surprise to you that I recommend taking some time before the craziness of the holiday season begins to plan out your month of December.
Piggy-backing off the last point of setting your priorities, my next recommendation is to plan out when you’ll do said priorities. For as big of a planner as I am, I feel like this was an area I failed at in past years. I was certain we’d have plenty of time to do all the things until it was a week before Christmas and I still had gifts to buy and children begging to build a gingerbread house.
I don’t know about anyone else, but the weekends in December seem to just FLY by. And rather quickly, we run out of time to do the very things that are important to us because we spent too much time putting out fires instead of doing the things we really wanted to do. So set your priorities by picking the handful of things this holiday season that are important to you, then plan out when you’ll make the time to get them done.
Take one day at a time.
I feel like this point could go for all forms of anxiety, whether it be seasonal or just every-day stress.
Sometimes I start to look at the week or month ahead of me, and when I see everything that’s going on, I can literally feel my heart beating faster and my chest tightening up. It’s not good. Overwhelm is a true feeling. And it really likes to make it’s appearance during the holiday season for me, when my schedule is jam-packed with events and To Do’s.
One thing that’s really helped me when I start to go down this path, is to take a step back and just focus on the next 24 hours right in front of me. The next 24 hours. That’s it. Each day will come as it comes, but what I can do about today? What do I have going on today that I should try to plan for and how can I set myself up for success with these next few hours? Can I take care of 2 Christmas gifts today so that I don’t have to worry about them tomorrow when I’m already car-pooling for gymnastics and taking kiddos to visit Santa at the Community Theater? (<– This was actually my day just this past Tuesday. Real life example.)
The best part is, if you’ve followed along, you’ve already chosen your priorities and scheduled them, right? So now there’s not a whole lot else for you to worry about except to do what you can with THIS DAY right in front of you.
Give your self grace.
YAASSS girl. I think this one is the most important step when it comes to holiday overwhelm. It’s my favorite one to talk about anyway. 🙂 The truth is, you’re not going to get it all done. You’re just not. And not everything will be perfect. And you know what?
It’s ok.
It really is! The sun will still rise tomorrow. Your kids will remember the great memories you’re already making, and the presents will eventually get wrapped (even if it means an emergency run to WalMart for gift bags.) Even Santa will find a way to have cookies to eat, even if it means the cookies are the Oreos you’ve had stashed away in your cupboard hiding from the kids.
I promise it will all come together one way or another. Please, please, please don’t kill yourself worrying that it won’t be perfect! Give yourself grace, Mama. Your kiddos are happy, and you’re making great memories. I promise! (Preaching to my own heart on this one, too.)
If there’s anything you take away from this post, it’s that I hope you find time to enjoy this season and focus on what’s most important to you. The holiday’s are full of killer fun and magic! Enjoy it, my friend. Enjoy your family, your friends, the child-like wonder of Christmas, and the (occasional) glass of wine. 🙂
Merry Christmas!
