The holidays are a joyous time to gather with family and friends and reconnect to the most important aspects of life. It’s festive. It’s fun. It can even be magical.
Make separate lists of meals to prepare, cookies to bake, groceries to buy, gifts and stocking stuffers to shop for, holiday cards to send, thank you cards for after the holidays, things to do around the house before guests arrive. Add due dates to each list (or each task on each list) so you can prioritize and focus your energy on the timely tasks for each day.
If you begin to feel stressed by the volume of tasks on your to-do list, stop and ask yourself, “Does this really matter?” and “How can I make the task easier?” (If not, skip it or ask for help).
Maybe it’s buying the pie instead of baking it from scratch. Or maybe it’s handwriting your address labels on your holiday cards instead of typing up and printing fancy time-consuming labels. Or maybe it’s skipping hanging the lights on the house and simply lighting one tree outside.
Whatever tasks are on your to-do list, getting into the habit of asking yourself these two questions can reduce stress levels so you can enjoy the holidays.
This includes planning and prepping meals, planning the order in which things will be cooked or baked, buying gifts and sending cards, cleaning and organizing the house, etc.
However, be mindful of over-planning (planning things down to the minute, being unrealistic), which can lead to high expectations and eventually disappointment. When we over-plan things, we leave little space for the joy of spontaneity.
Do enough planning so you don’t feel frantic and instead can relax and enjoy. However, don’t be so rigid that if something doesn’t go as planned, you feel disappointed. Remembering what the holiday season means for you can bring things back into perspective.
Ideas include holiday concerts and performances, volunteering to sort and wrap toys for a charitable organization, meeting for hot chocolate or sipping mulled wine, seeing festive light shows, going ice skating, making gingerbread houses, taking a class together, etc. Or, plan a winter event for after the busyness of the season.
At a minimum, clear the common areas of clutter to make space so guests can move around comfortably. This means putting items that are out of place back where they belong. For items you no longer need or use, consider donating them (the sooner the better before you change your mind!).
For items that don’t have a dedicated home, put them in the space where they should go. For example, if you have a tall stack of mail piled on the kitchen countertop, yet you don’t have a dedicated mail center anywhere in the house, move the mail to a visible spot in the office with the rest of your paperwork while making note to set up a mail center after the holidays.
However, if moving the clutter causes a bigger problem, then leave that particular pile of clutter as is and simply make it look neater.
Set the tone of the holidays by making your home feel warm and inviting! Diffuse holiday-scented essential oils or burn a candle such as cinnamon or pine to bring familiar aromas to guests. Just be sure not to mix too many scents, which can be overpowering.
Play holiday music from an already curated online playlist. Move board games, puzzles, cards, and photo albums to the coffee table to inspire guests to play, spark conversations, and have fun.
It also helps to get my body moving first thing in the morning before I start my day. Even if I don’t feel like it, I still show up and do just five minutes. And five minutes always turns into 45 minutes. I never regret it and I always have more energy to seize the rest of the day.