Easing Holiday Stress, This Year and Next

During the joyous hustle and bustle of the upcoming holidays, there will be little time to keep working on any outstanding "non-seasonal" projects. In the next few weeks, there will simply not be the time nor energy to focus, let alone have much of a chance to be alone as children get out of school, company begins to arrive, or your spouse has several days and or weeks off work.

How do you deal with the unfinished list of things you were going to do before you concentrated on the holidays? The one that hasn't gotten much shorter in the last few weeks? The list that needs your attention, but can maybe wait for a bit longer? Give it a new title! Yes, make it useful again with a new title: The January List. Add items as you think of them, but don't worry too much about them. If it can possibly wait to be done, then let it wait.

It is more important now to focus on getting your holiday projects in control, your shopping done, and your presents wrapped. Most importantly, it is time to enjoy the holidays yourself. Remember, all your family is checking out your mood to determine their mood. I know it isn't quite fair, but that is how it is. Any family would rather a happy, calm, somewhat composed homemaker who is enjoying the holidays than a stressed-out, "un-nice" anybody in their home. They would rather have a kind, patient father than an upset, grumpy, and “distracted” adult in their lives. They would rather have a pleasant, easy-going and helpful relative than a wooden, grouchy, and “don’t-bother-me-right-now” aunt or uncle in their presence. It is time to slow down, do what you can do in the remaining days until the big holidays come, and let the rest go.

Occasionally you will get sick right when you need extra time to finish up projects before Christmas. Sometimes someone you love will die right in the middle of your preparations. Most importantly, frequently you will be needed right when you can least afford to take an afternoon off and look to another's needs. In these cases, you are not going to get it all done this year. You will loose several precious preparation days.

So, what will you do instead? May I suggest you have a conversation with yourself something like this, “Well, I am just going to skip this, and forget that, smile, and make the best of it.” Explain to those you will disappoint the why and wherefores in the change of plans. They will hopefully understand and love you in spite of your own self-inflicted stress.

Next year maybe things will go better, you can start earlier, plan better, and not get ill. Maybe things will be more "perfect" then, but this year, enjoy what few days you have left before the big day and let the rest of your stress move to The January List.

And speaking of next year, may I share a couple of decisions you might make that will ease every holiday season for the rest of your life?

Consider making up cloth wrapping bags. You might buy holiday fabric off-season on sale for a discounted price and make up the cloth gift bags, sized from a half-pillow case to a full-pillow case in length and width. They have the same configuration and finishing as pillow cases, too. Buy 24” long, sturdy red, gold, silver, and green ribbons that don’t wrinkle and that can be easily stored. This makes gift wrapping, especially those gifts that are bulky and misshapen, easier to wrap.

Also, keep the fronts of all your Christmas cards from last year. They make excellent name tags for the gifts. Punch a small hole in the upper left-hand corner of your card front, add the name of the recipient on the clean, back side of the card, and thread your ribbon through the hole as you attach the gift card to the gift via the ribbon.

Buy crackers, chips, candy, and other snacks in bulk during the month of October. Divide the snacks into three containers, one for use at Thanksgiving, one for use at Christmas, and the last for use at New Year’s Eve. This pre-preparation process will make it easy to always have food around when company comes and not have to either over-spend at the last minute or find yourself without the treats you need.

In other words, always be thinking how you can do more with less, do more less frequently, do more with the idea of being able to repeat the same process with less effort.

Merry Christmas everyone! If you have ideas for a smoother holiday season, please write me and I’ll share again the next time I blog.

©2009 Marie Calder Ricks/www.houseoforder.com