Are you beginning to hate Christmas?
Does the very word conjure up stress for you?
Then you're going to have to make a few adjustments, and the hell with "The Perfect Christmas". I used to groan every time December approached. The promises to be here and there, the Christmas shopping, the decorating. All this and trying to maintain your regular life on top of it is enough to make anyone crazy. All the stress, all the nonsense, for what is, in reality, one day in the whole year. Too much pressure. Here is my list of things for you to try and I am hopeful that maybe we can all learn to enjoy the holidays a little bit more.
1. Make a list, if you have to.
Obviously a list makes things easier for things like what to get for Christmas dinner, or the card list for the year. Make thoses lists. Do all the little things first to get them out of the way.
2. Try not to procrastinate. If you've locked yourself into cooking dinner for 20 guests and you have a whole bunch of prep to do for it, try and get that prep done 1-2 days before. You're busy enough with everything else, so it really doesn't help you if you're still shopping for said dinner on the day of.
3. Finances. Don't, and I cannot stress this enough, don't lock yourself into serious debt just to buy Christmas presents. Go with what you can afford. When you have bills to pay and someone on your Christmas list is just dying for the new Wii, or whatever pricey toy they happen to want, maybe this just isn't the right time for it. Set a budget for yourself and stick to it, no matter what. You'll be breathing normally in January when you can still afford to pay the bills and the mortgage on time.
4. While we're on the subject of gifts, consider making some, especially for people you want to acknowlege at Christmas, but won't be buying gifts for. If you have time, try making some holiday treats, putting them in a pretty tin, labelling them, and gifting them to your friends. It shows them that you remember them during the holidays, even if the only presents you'll be buying are for your immediate family.
5. Try to shortcut as much as possible. Do some shopping online. Wrap any presents you buy that very day, so that it's done. Don't do as I've done in the past and save it all till Christmas Eve because you think it's the only free time you have..I'm sure that others know, as I do, what it's like to be wrapping 147 gifts at 1 am Christmas day. The wrapping job gets a little sloppy after a little while and it's all you can do to keep your head up on Christmas morning, especially if you have excited kids around the house who get you up at 5 to open the goodies.
6. Keep the holiday visiting to a minimum. Now I know this in itself can be very difficult. You want to please everyone, and they're all telling you that you must stop by here, go there, meet for drinks, dinner here. Not only can this get expensive, but really draining on your time. Do you really want to spend all your time in December gallivanting all over the city? Pick a couple of occasions with the people you really want to spend the time with, and send regrets to the rest.
7. On the big day: Case in point. On Christmas day, it always used to be a battle for me and my family as to who was going to host dinner, whose inlaws were getting the Christmas day visit, and so on. When my children were very young, we always used to go to my aunts' house for Christmas dinner. What happened was that once we got there, and being that young children need to be supervised constantly, was that we were up and down the whole day and the whole evening, never mind having any time to enjoy the Christmas dinner, a drink, or even the other guests. We were exhausted by the end of the evening, and by the time we got home around 10:30 or 11:00 pm, we had to put two very grumpy, equally exhausted little kids to bed. Was it really worth all the hoopla?
We decided the very next year to start our own Christmas tradition, and if the relatives weren't pleased about it, well, oh well. They would just have to understand. The next year and every year since then, we've stayed home. We call everyone, of course, to wish them a Merry Christmas and a wonderful day. Every year, we get up, open gifts, have a leisurely breakfast, and sit around. The prep for our very simple Christmas dinner is already done the night before, and there's absolutely nothing to do except sit there and watch the kids play with their new presents. We don't worry about the mess, we don't even have to change out of our pajamas if we don't want to. Right then and there, I know I've achieved what I want. A stress free holiday.
The point is, is that the main objective of Christmas is to be with those you love, and enjoy them. All the decoration and presents and food are just extra, something to be taken lightly, and sometimes mask the whole reason this holiday exists in the first place.
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