Simplify To Ditch Holiday Stress
Holidays can be stressful for some people. Who can resist the hustle and bustles of the December festivities? But what if you can do something to lessen the stress of this beautiful season? Would you leap to simplify and ditch holiday stress?
With over-the-top gift-giving expectations, endless shopping errands, and chaotic family gatherings–holiday stress can accumulate quickly.
This season, simplify your holiday prep and permit yourself to let go of unnecessary stress by trying viable strategies that will save you time and energy.
Impact of Simplifying During the Holiday
This post is primarily written for moms who want to minimize stress during this time of the year.
You may think I’d instead do more than be bland, and it’s not about that.
When you simplify things, you already know and feel a breath of relief thinking of a holiday to-do list cut down to a minimum.
You regain control of the household or free up calendar days to relax. You may find more time for a couple of nights in because you don’t have to go anywhere.
The core of reconnecting with the people most important to us becomes the center point of celebrating the holidays.
Come Back to Enjoying The Holiday
Thinking about the holidays, moms tend to cringe over the preparations.
Let’s turn it around, shall we?
Let’s get in the holiday spirit without breaking our backs and dragging our heels around town.
Getting stressed over this time is expected. No one says you can’t be stressed or feel it down to your bones.
But let’s focus on how to enjoy the holiday without adding to our already stressed-out mom life. Beautiful moments are out there for grabs without overcomplicating things.
Ten Ways to Simplify The Holiday and Ditch the Stress
Stop overbooking yourself.
Prioritize. Ask yourself if this is worth your energy and time. Skip a Christmas event? Do you get joy in doing more and more activities for the sake of holidays?
Pick the top activities you want to partake in with your family and stick to them. When overbooking the December calendar, the power to intentionally reconnect might not happen.
Instead, you or your family end up drained and stressed out for being everywhere instead of lavishing these times on three or four great holiday activities.
Order what you need 1-2 months prior.
If you think your menu will be the same for the Holidays, you already know what to get. But on perishables, this isn’t the number to read. I’m talking about food ingredients that you can store. So you don’t go out last-minute shopping when holidays can extend check-out lines.
Also, what about presents? Now we’re digging deeper into getting ready for what to buy for kids if you plan on multiple presents under the tree. Order the gifts ahead of time; most likely, your kids had been hounding you about it five months ago.
Waiting until the last minute might cost you more, such as hiked-up prices and shipping costs; worse, the item might be available later.
Nothing like a good sale on an item when you can get them in the summertime for December presents if that’s you go for it.
Plan accordingly and get ahead of the game. Say no to frazzled gift shopping.
Use ready to put together meals.
If you don’t have time to make food from scratch, by all means, don’t. However, don’t open that can if it makes your stress level skyrocket.
You can buy already pre-planned, pre-packed ready-to-cook items for holiday dinner. You can even order your food from your local stores or even the neighbor down the street whose food advertising her service.
Christmas cookies? Making them down to the last details from scratch is fun with the kids. However, it’s still fun to get them ready to bake cookie dough and go all out on decorating those cookies with them.
Instead of making five different Christmas cookies, ditch the stress, and you may have to cut down on one or two to simplify the holiday baking.
Stay focused on what you can accomplish and enjoy holiday cooking/baking time.
Say no to clutter. Cut down on Decor.
Is it time to clean and declutter again? Maybe or not. Once you decide on your theme for the Christmas Decor, you may purge out your Christmas boxes full of decorations from the past holidays.
I’m all for saving decorations if I know I’ll use them yearly. We’ve only got three themes going for the last 13 years since our son was born. A traditional red/green/gold theme, pink/blue, and silver theme for when our children were born that year.
The tabletop decorations, the wreath, and the Christmas ornaments stayed about the same in circulation. And guess what? You can have the same tree year after year – if you don’t use real Christmas trees. Talk about saving.
Unless you plan on spending more and gathering more decorations, you don’t need to buy a whole Christmas theme every year. Instead, you may change the ribbons or some look.
Less clutter, less stressful. Fewer decorations to store, less stress.
Reset the Gift Giving.
The joy of giving comes from the giver. The person who gives feels the pleasure of sharing.
If you feel that this year may be a bit tight on finances, there isn’t a significant rule that you give to everyone in the family, relatives, friends, and more.
When money is an issue in a household, you may feel guilty about not giving to everyone. But, at the same time, you don’t want to incur debts to provide a gift.
When you are stressed about what to buy, who to buy for, and where the money will come from.
Stop. Get some fresh air.
Even if you don’t buy everything for everyone, you still honor them for not getting worked up and stressed about all of these.
Secret Santa can be a great one to do. Pick one name in the group and place the unnamed gift together with everyone’s gifts. Check out the rules of Secret Santa.
So, if the gathering group is 20-plus people, it may be hard to dive in and buy 20 gifts for everyone on a tight budget. You decide how you’re going to do the gifting.
Be practical and take control of the stress of giving.
If you are still in the spirit of giving, you may have to plan to save for it. For example, you are cutting costs on extra things and saving that money to buy for someone.
Related Posts:
Holiday Gift Guide for Learning Toys
Be present.
It’s natural for everyone to get all festive and spread cheers everywhere. If you want to do that, be present.
Not just for the sake of holidays, as I’ve said, but for the connections, you are trying to make. It’s for the moment to treasure and not for picture-perfect holiday photos only.
Kids will ask you to do more for them, especially during these holiday breaks. You may feel touched out after all the holiday preparations and invites.
Please take a moment and rethink what my kids remember about the holidays when they’re grown. The mom is running around tirelessly doing everything, or the mom who sat and engaged with them in a burst of time or moment.
Meet their need for reconnections, and the tantrums may send that signal – it may be time to slow down and be present. Quality time over things and extra stuff – wins all the time.
Return to Traditions you love.
Having newer ideas to do during the Holidays can make you feel like you’re really into it. Being merry and bright.
However, doing the family traditions, your family loves to do every year can be as magical as a new one. This year, your kids are one year older. So they can participate in the traditions you’ve shared from past generations.
Older traditions may need to be readjusted or skipped if they don’t apply to your family anymore (after consideration). Your family traditions are yours. If you opt to include some of your childhood traditions, let it continue if it’s not adding more work for you.
Find newer ones that simplify and represent your family – the traditions that value your family celebrations.
It’s about bringing the family together to celebrate and memory stamping to enjoy.
Remember What Matters.
Family matters. You. Your Spouse. Your kids. Each member of the family matters. It may also extend to relatives and friends.
Getting together for a simple celebration is what family connections stem from. It doesn’t have to be extravagant for it to happen. Sharing a meal with the people you love is what matters.
The joy of the holidays can be overshadowed by the weight of the stress hanging over your shoulder. Simply, remember what matters.
Check on your Stress Gauge.
As for moms, it’s always good to check your stress level. You can tell when something is getting out of hand or too much to handle.
Step back and reassess your priorities. Get some suggestions and accept help when needed.
You may have to decline some holiday invites or may do a virtual one for relatives who are far and not travel this year.
Do what brings you joy this holiday season. Say yes to the priorities you’ve set on Operation Holiday. Say no to the ones that may add up to the stress gauge and bust it all up.
Your emotions are also an excellent giveaway to your current stress level.
Stop unrealistic Holiday Expectations.
Simply lower the expectations around this time of year. There’s too much to do if you love the holidays, and nothing is wrong with that.
Yet most times, you don’t want to get tangled with all the chaos that comes with it.
It’s time to reflect on what makes your life simpler. You don’t have to hop on a comparison train. It’ll suck the joy out of you for not meeting those expectations.
Do what your family loves, what you can do, and nothing more. Enjoy the cheers and happy feelings around the home.
Breathe, ditch the holiday stress!
There isn’t one way to fix all holiday stress. Yet, you can minimize the impact of getting riled up during this festive season.
Adjustments on your holiday calendar can make a difference once you’ve freed up some space to be present.
You can swap some holiday activities to do a much simpler one and still be able to engage with the whole family. It will be to enjoy a lot more during the season and lower the stress around you.
You don’t have to put much pressure on yourself to meet expectations around the holidays. You can simply be – do what makes you happy, less stressed, and everyone enjoys.
What are your strategies to keep holiday chaos at bay? Share in the comments.
