Our Step By Step Guide to Handing the Biggest Challenges To the Holiday Season

The green flag for the Holiday season has waived, so now seemingly it’s a no-holds barred rush to the Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzah and New Year’s season. Gifts, shopping, parties and decorating are very rapidly going to fill up your weekly schedule, if they have not started to already. No doubt adding two or three more events a week, coupled with additional jaunts to crowded stores will not only take up time, but it will throw off your existing schedule which is bound to affect keeping you and your home life organized.

This December, we’re going to focus on the scheduling & time consuming trouble zones of the holiday season. Why? We all fall into the pitfalls of doing too much, or at least trying to. The facts are that it’s not hard to overextend ourselves with obligation and excess, and frequently we lose sight of what the Holidays are truly about: spending time with your friends and family and creating memories, not headaches!

  1. Make a Schedule: Factor in all your events and obligations this year, including things like shopping, home decorating and hosting any potential guests this season. The devil is in the details & is important to see, and once you see how you’re using your time you can make better decisions on how to spend it more effectively.
  2. Gift Lists: To make it easier on everyone in your family, consider making on-line shopping lists on Amazon, for example, and ask that your friends and family share those with you & vice versa. In just a matter of minutes, they’ve made it easier for you to find and buy the gifts that your family members are looking for-without having to spend more time fighting crowds and traffic! Even traditional brick and mortar retailers like Target give you the availability to make online gift lists as well, and this will save you a lot of time to focus on the more important aspects of the Holidays.
  3. Give yourself a break: If your schedule is excessive & starting to look dreadfully full, make sure your schedule a little time for yourself, or consider knocking off an event from your busy calendar. Even if it’s an hour to get a way for a walk, or perhaps taking a trip to a spa, give yourself a break. If that’s looking difficult to do, start to look at the event which is the least priority on your schedule. Do you really need to attend it this year? The important factor to remember is to know you don’t have to do it all-no one will judge you if you aren’t able to put up all your Christmas lights, for example.
  4. And About Those Christmas Lights: Do you really need to put that old dented, light-up Santa in your yard? And why do your still have that old, dented, light up Santa when you haven’t put it up in years? Tradition is very important during the holidays, and sure-we like to honor tradition, but it’s time to think about what you’re holding on to when you put up your holiday displays. Some items hold a lot of memories, but if it’s taking up space & taking away time from your schedule, think about letting it go as you start to put it up.

We’ll be circling back to these points during the month, but next week we’ll be talking about holiday house guests: we’ll learn from the experts on how to prepare your home for visitors and insure that your guests stay comfortably-without spending an inordinate amount of time & effort doing so!