Christmas and the New Year can be a stressful time of year for a lot of people. This needn't be the case. Here are a few tips for staying sane this Christmas.
#10 - Plan Christmas - If you've not already done so, plan your Christmas shopping in one day. This includes presents, food and decorations. Take 1 day to plan it and 1 day to action it. This way you gear yourself up for the stress and all that goes with Christmas.
#9 - Breathe - When you are in queue's do your breathing exercises, ratio of 1:4:2, breath in for 1, hold for 4 and out for 2. So if you breathe in for 4, hold for 16 and breathe out for 8 seconds.
#8 - Delegate - Don't try and organise the whole day yourself allocate roles to your family. My son's roles will be to clear the living room before dinner, lay the table, welcome guests, whilst we can do the dinner etc.
#7 - Be Happy - This is not meant to be a stressful time of year, remember what it's all about, the family getting together, having fun and enjoying your time together.
#6 - Quality time - Allow yourself a break during the day or during the lead up to Christmas and New Year. You might think that if you tool half an hour to yourself the world would fall apart, it won't. Take a nap, sit in the bathroom, read a book, meditate, anything but make sure you allow time for yourself.
#5 - Allow mess - Christmas is a children's holiday as well, don't get too stressed about the place being a mess for a day or half a day. Children are messy and want to play NOW and don't care about clearing up, allow them to be a bit messy for a day then kick butt on Boxing Day.
#4 - Spending limit - Stick rigidly to your spending limit. Every year, without fail, one of us will say ‘Oh that doesn't look that much compared to the other one, we better buy a few extra presents'. Although it may not look as if you've bought one of your children a lot compared to the other the amount of money spent is the same and that's what matters. Yes children will notice but if you explain to them, they are usually happy.
#3 - Get the food in early - Very important this one. Don't leave the food shopping until last minute. You don't want to be stuck with Turkey breast slices if you've planned your meal around a 12Ib Turkey.
#2 - Relax - You've opened the presents, played some games, eaten the dinner, tidied up (a little), now Relax. Just chill out and enjoy the rest of the day. Put your feet up; better yet get a foot massage from your partner.
#1 - Be Thankful - Don't want to depress you but be thankful. Count your blessings. There are millions of people worse off so look around your family and silently thank them, look around your house, and look around your estate. You are truly blessed.