Stress-Free Holidays

Now is the time to begin your plan to have a peaceful holiday season this year. You can't change the fact that children and parents will have spells of anxiety, fatigue, irritability, depression, conflict, worry, nagging, and overindulgence during the holiday weeks. But you can do a lot to minimize them, and you can begin today. Here are just a few ideas. . .

• Buy an inexpensive, small notebook for your holiday planning. Record notes to yourself, things to do, gift ideas, Christmas card lists, decorating ideas, recipes, grocery shopping lists, party planning lists, store phone numbers, babysitters' phone numbers. Any information that will help you get your holiday chores done should be in the book. Keep the book in your purse or briefcase. Then, you can refer to it when you have a chance (while waiting to pick up your child, in the doctor's waiting room, on your coffee break).

• Strategize holiday plans with your spouse. Discuss what makes you happy during the holidays, and really listen to what your spouse says makes him/her happy. Prioritize your families' holiday activities based on this discussion. If you both love going to holiday parties, then by all means go! If both of you dislike those parties but have always gone because you felt you had to, then don't be afraid to turn down some invitations. Instead, have a dress-up evening for your family - go to dinner at a really special restaurant, then to a play or holiday musical performance.

• Get a nice calendar to schedule holiday commitments and events you would like to attend. Involve the whole family in planning these activities based on the one-to-one decisions you and your spouse made previously.

• Shop online or from catalogs. It really is much less stressful to shop from your living room than to exhaust yourself at the mall during the Christmas season. Do your mall shopping now, before Thanksgiving, to get a relaxed view of all the new merchandise. I like to go to the mall right before rush hour on weekdays. Very few people are shopping; and, you get such a warm fuzzy feeling knowing that you are not out in the rush-hour traffic.

• Schedule some activities to nourish your spirit. Church services, musical performances, and plays leave you feeling refreshed and rested rather than frazzled and exhausted. 
•  Think about what makes the holidays special for you. Write it down in the front of your book. Ask your spouse and children the same question, and record their responses with your own. Use these as your guide for planning your season, for weeding out unnecessary activities and expenses, and focusing on what is important to your family.
• Decide who you will be buying gifts for. Write each individual name at the top of a page, and begin to record ideas and requests for presents. I also record a dollar goal for spending on each person and the cost of the items I buy.
• Whether you cook a traditional holiday meal or like to try new and creative recipes, begin planning your holiday cooking in your planning book. List meal plans, recipes, ingredient, and shopping lists. Consider buying some items in bulk or at special discounts, then build your meal plans around these items.

Happy holidays and remember to relax and enjoy yourself!

Source: http://childparenting.about.com/cs/holidays/a/holidayplan.htm