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‘It’s the most wonderful time of the year’, apparently – sometimes it can feel like the most worrying time too! Between the shopping trips, the festive events and the high expectations, Christmas can be a stressful time - even for the most zen people out there. So, we’ve put together five tips for a stress-free season!
Walking in a winter wonderland
You will be surprised how much difference a winter walk can make to your mood! There’s research-galore which proves that physical activity produces endorphins, which reduce stress levels. So, when those pesky Christmas lights refuse to untangle, a festive meal doesn’t look like the recipe from the cookbook, or you feel like your holiday to-do list keeps getting longer, get your coat on and walk it off!
Collective cooks
Cooking for a Christmas party or a family gathering is one of the top causes for festive franticness! You feel like you have to do the hosting and cooking at the same, which is a pretty stressful juggling act! There’s no need to take all of that work on yourself – simply ask your guests to each bring a part of the meal with them. Let’s face it, everyone knows how stressful it is to host a Christmas party, so we’re sure they’ll be happy to do it. Then all of you have to do is re-heat the food in the oven and bring your best hosting skills!
Separate weekends into schedules
Being organised is the most important thing at Christmas. Running around last minute trying to do everything, or cramming everything into one weekend, would be enough to Santa’s stress levels up! Scheduling your weekends into tasks is a good way to avoid this. Set yourself a task for each weekend and it’ll feel like there’s a lot less to do. You can set aside one weekend for buying gifts, one weekend for wrapping gifts, one weekend for food shopping etc. You’ll feel like you’re really on top things with a winter weekend schedule!
Make a takeaway kitty
Between the shopping, wrapping and the social events at Christmas, cooking a meal for the family is sometimes just too much to handle. In the lead up to the festive season, set aside a little bit of money each week for a takeaway kitty. Save it for when you’ve had a really stressful time in the holidays, you can remove the added stress of cooking by ordering a takeaway for the family. It’s important to have quality time with the little ones at Christmas and having a nice relaxed meal is a great way to do that!
Keep hold of daily rituals
When it comes to the most wonderful time of the year, everything seems to go completely topsy-turvy! Things that you would normally do on a daily basis, go straight out of the window and it feels like the whole holiday season works on a completely different time-zone! Keeping hold of daily rituals is a great way to calm and centre yourself amongst the Christmas craze! So, if you normally read your book for half an hour before you go to bed or you have a cooked breakfast on the weekend, don’t give it up!
Christmas can be a stressful time for lots of us, and sometimes it feels like you could do with having all of Santa’s helpers to get everything done! However, it’s important to remember that Christmas is all about spending time with your loved ones, especially your little ones! We hope our seasonal stress-free tips will help you to relax and enjoy this special time.