How To Spend Stress-Free Holidays with Your Family

Hey, don’t get me wrong – I’m a huge fan of Christmas time – however, sometimes I get the feeling holidays are driving all of us mad. No matter how much joy we have in our hearts, the reality often hits us heavily with its rush, crowded malls, time challenges and… Well, you know everything!

It took me years to get rid of the stressful element of the holidays.

As I was working through my own system, I only had one thing in mind: Holidays are about family.

That’s how I decided to ignore everything else. I wanted to create my own pace and ditch all the worries by the Christmas Eve, or even earlier. In this mission, my family was, of course, my greatest ally.

Does this sound familiar? Yeah, I know. Here are some tips to help you reduce the stress during holidays.

Start planning on time!

• Christmas gifts?
  You can purchase them whenever! You probably already know what’s that big thing your kids and other family members want. If you want to avoid the last-minute fuss, you can start shopping months earlier. That way you will also avoid paying overblown prices for things you want to purchase, as, despite the alleged Christmas discounts, many items actually become more expensive in the holiday season. If you need ideas, check out The Ultimate Christmas Shopping Guide
• Christmas décor?
  You can find it at any time of the year! It’s the same thing as with clothes – you can find summer garments at ridiculously low prices in the winter. Well, you can also find ridiculously cheap Christmas decorations in September. Of course, you won’t find it at your local supermarket, so you will have to rely on web shops. If you are more into DIY options, Pinterest is always packed with great ideas. If you feel Christmasy during the summer, get crafty, you’ll be thankful to yourself in December!
• Christmas trip?
  Book early bird options! Again, it is financially more favorable for you. Also, if you wait until December, you may not find the ticket for the destination you had in mind. Speaking of traveling, in order not to sweat over your budget, you may want to start saving up way earlier.

Engage the rest of your family as much as you can.

• Making your home spotless?
  Make the big cleaning before Christmas time an introduction into decorating the place. It should be something everybody is involved in as much as they can contribute. Your partner can help you with the big things and the children can have their own roles as well. They will all appreciate the process of decorating the house a bit more.
• Planning a trip?
  If you are the one who spends days googling the best deals, let your partner go shopping for the travel essentials. Planning a trip, especially during the holidays, can be a stressful activity, so make sure to split the work.
• Hosting a family Christmas?
  If you are having relatives over for the holidays, you are probably already sweating because of all the responsibilities waiting for you. Maybe you can organize a family cooking day and instead of doing everything on your own and just inviting them for a lunch or dinner.

  For more family activities, try Top Family Activities to Try This Christmas

Keep yourself cool during the holidays!

• Don’t sweat over imperfections.
  Holidays are for family bonding – no one will mind if your potatoes are not perfectly baked or if the decorations are too flashy.
  As long as you are all together, nothing else should matter. Even if some bigger things don’t go according to your plans, go with the flow, especially if there is nothing you can do about it.
• Don’t work over your capacities.
  If you feel Christmas activities are sucking out your energy, take things slowly. When you don’t feel like it, skip the big shopping and do it another day, when you feel better.
  Sharing responsibilities with your family also helps. If you do everything perfectly at the price of ending up exhausted on Christmas Eve, that doesn’t really sound like a relaxing family holiday!
• Visit your favorite relatives.
  If you don’t feel like spending Christmas at home and dealing with all the organizational challenges, maybe this year you can be someone’s guest. You will save yourself from loads of stress.

The Christmas is near but you still have all the chances to make it completely stress-free, so good luck!

Do you have any tricks to avoid all the holiday fuss? You are more than welcome to share it with us in the comments!