top 10 ways to a less stressful holiday season (in no particular order):
1. do your christmas shopping early. or better yet, year round.
[i try to do the whole year round thing but i end up forgetting that i had already bought something by the time christmas rolls around]
2. get organized, plan ahead, make lots of lists.
3. two words: online shopping.
[in my opinion, the shipping costs significantly off-sets the headache, annoyance, crammed parking lots, traffic, cranky kids, and the over-abundance of
4. collective gift-giving: pool money together between you and others to get a gift for someone.
5. agree to a monetary or tangible gift limit.
[this is something we are officially starting this year with our family. after a family meeting we have decided that each member of the family will only receive 3 gifts for christmas. why 3? we took this idea from some good friends of ours who choose the number 3 because it was the number of gifts jesus received when he was a child. not only is this helpful in taking away the stress of making sure we each receive a gift from each other, but it teaches our children about moderation and that christmas is not about receiving presents.]
6. agree to no gifts (this one probably works better for the adults).
7. establish boundaries and don't over-book yourself and your family...it's okay to say no.
8. draw names for gifts (this one is especially great if you have a large family and/or extended family)
9. if you have parents and in-laws in the same area get on a rotation about where you and your family will be for thanksgiving and/or christmas.
10. keep your focus on what truly matters during the holidays (attitude of gratitude, the birth of Jesus, family).
5 comments:
Another great list Prasti. This year we committed to trading time with some of our family members (like my parents-their idea) instead of material gifts. Thanks for sharing some ways to keep the stress levels to a minimal and focusing on what's important.
I love the list. We saw the same blog about the three presents so we are combining that with the want/need/wear and read idea. I vote no adult presents next year!
I totally utilize the online shopping! My best friend during the holidays!
These are all great ideas! Especially for many of us this year while finances are tight. We are pretty much making gifts ourselves, or forgoing gifts and just sending cards this year.
This is totally off topic, but there is a house near mine that really looks like that at Christmas time!
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