As joyous as the holiday season can be, it can also be very stressful. Even more so if you have a family and are responsible for manufacturing and producing all of the Christmas cheer that everyone will experience. This year, instead of getting caught up in all the small tasks like making Christmas cards by Mixbook, planning menus, buying toys, scheduling holiday trips, etc., take a step back and work on yourself. Setting a few holiday goals upfront will help improve your mood so you can enter the most magical (and stressful) holiday season rejuvenated instead of burnt out.
Finalize on Your Christmas Gifts & Do Your Christmas Cards in November
Most people don’t start thinking about the holidays until it gets closer to Thanksgiving, but at this point you have to scramble to get everything done before Christmas rolls around. This year, make a concise list of things that you can do before then to help make December a lot less hectic. For instance, you can start planning about the gifts earlier. Start with shortlisting names of people to who you would be happy to give gifts. Once done with this, make a list of gifts that you can probably purchase for your recipients. While doing this, keep in mind the age of your recipients. If your receiver is a high school senior, then you can go for diploma frames or senior gear (which can be purchased from the likes of Jostens) to help them commemorate their special time. However, if you are planning to buy gifts for your granny, then a muffler or a sweater can be a perfect choice.
Besides finalizing gifts, also think about Christmas cards. You can go ahead and use Christmas cards by Mixbook to get your cards out of the way now. Bonus points if you order them and then stamp and seal the envelopes so that literally all you have to do is drop them in the mailbox come the second week of December.
Plan an After Thanksgiving ‘Me’ Day
After Thanksgiving, everything starts to pick up pace. Suddenly you have tons of tasks: holiday parties to plan and attend, school Christmas concerts, gifts to buy, Santa trips etc. It can get very overwhelming quickly, and if you head into the season feeling behind, you are going to struggle to keep your head up the rest of the month. This year, after Thanksgiving make sure to plan a day that is just for you. Go to the spa, send the kids to a babysitter, or just head out to the movies alone. Whatever you need to do to unwind, go ahead and do it. Taking one day off will help you recharge between major holidays so that you can give your all to your entire family during this special time of year.
Plan Experiences in Place of Gifts
If you have children, you know that the ‘hot’ toy that you will spend hours trying to find will quickly get neglected. Instead of feeling that you are wasting your money everywhere, plan experiences to give in place of gifts for your family. Buy you kids museum passes, tickets to a show they want to see, gift cards to the movies, or anything similar that is appropriate for their age. You will feel immensely better about the season overall because you will be enriching their lives, and that is bound to put you in a much more peaceful mood. It will also save you the hassle of dealing with holiday crowds at the stores.