Time To Prepare and Get Organized For The Holidays

The holidays are supposed to be a time for cheer and happiness. However, for many people, it’s also a huge stressor. In fact, around 42 percent of adults find the holiday season nerve-wracking. There’s so much to do in such a short amount of time from buying gifts to sending out greeting cards to figuring out holiday plans. When you pile that on top of your daily activities, having a calm and peaceful leadup to the holidays seems like an impossibility.

Of course, that’s not the case. There are plenty of ways you can prepare yourself and your home for the holidays. It will take some organization, but once you’ve taken the following steps you’ll be on your way to a more relaxing holiday season.

Create a Holiday To-Do List

Planning is essential to creating a stress-free holiday season. While you won’t be able to control the crowds or the traffic, you can control your own actions and when you perform them. Rather than waiting until the last minute to prepare everything, which will inevitably cause stress, plan your holiday in advance.

Even if you’re not a to-do list kind of person, it’s still a great idea to jot down all of your holiday tasks in a notebook, in a smartphone app, on a whiteboard, or whatever works for you. The very act of writing these tasks down helps free up precious mental space to think about everything else. Not only that, but it will give you that feeling of control in an instant. Besides, who doesn’t love checking off completed items on a to-do list? Not only does it give you a rush of dopamine, but it also motivates you to continue completing tasks.

In addition to the standard holiday tasks like gift shopping and mailing out cards, you should also put together a list of activities that you and your family can take part in such as:

Attending holiday performances
Attending religious services
Going to Christmas trees
Decorating your home
Traveling
Visiting special markets during the holidays
Taking pictures with Santa
Going for a 5K run (if you’re athletically inclined)
Baking cookies

These are just a few ideas that can make your holiday season more engaging. Make sure to involve your family in the conversation so that you can find activities you all enjoy. That way you can enjoy a bit of everything.

Divide up your list into smaller tasks and then assign deadlines to each of them. For example, if you want to send out gift cards you can break the task down like this: schedule family photo, create cards, update mailing lists, stuff envelopes, and then mail out the cards. For holiday shopping you can break it down by person so you’re not shopping for everyone at the same time.

Choose Your Priorities

There are dozens of activities and events that pop up during the holidays and there’s no way you can do everything. In order to get the most out of your holiday season, you should sit down with your family and get everyone’s suggestions for their top activity. From there, schedule them into your calendar then see how you are doing on time. Try to not overbook yourself and remember to leave plenty of time before and after the event so you don’t have any back-to-back bookings.

Get Organized For The Holidays and Choose Priorities

If you notice that your calendar looks a bit too busy, see which activities you can cut. It might be tempting to try and pack everything in, but you’ll enjoy each activity more when you’re not exhausted. Pick and choose wisely! If you dropped one of your child’s activity last year, make sure to include it this year. You also want to leave enough time to get all of the other essentials completed like wrapping, holiday shopping, etc. so make sure you schedule those into your calendar so you don’t accidentally forget to set aside some time for these tasks.

Try to avoid big projects such as home renovations too close to the holiday season. Even if the contractors tell you they can finish in one month, these projects tend to take two to three times longer. The last thing you want to deal with during the holidays is an unfinished kitchen or living room.

Schedule Some Down Time

Your time is precious, especially during the holidays. With all the hustle and bustle happening, it’s important to also organize some time to just relax. While it might seem counterintuitive, having some time to yourself to just veg and watch holiday movies can be a great way to get into the holiday cheer. Not only will this help de-stress you, but it will also give you some much-needed family time. Plus, the less stressed you are the happier the rest of the family.

You should schedule your downtime like you would any other activity. Make sure to set some time aside in your calendar specifically to relax. Otherwise, it’s too easy to fill up those blank portions of your calendar with busywork. Remember that the holidays is also about enjoying yourself so remember to take some time to do so.

Don’t Be A Slave To Traditions

Sure, it’s nice to have some traditions that you and your family look forward to every year. However, you don’t have to create an exact replica of the tradition just because that’s the way you did it in the past. Your traditions should grow and change with your family. After all, what your children might have enjoyed when they were younger might be too childish as they get older.

The important thing is to be flexible when it comes to traditions. Maybe you can make some adjustments to your previous activities so that it will be more interesting for older children. Or, if necessary, you may need to let some traditions go. While it might be sad, the upside is that means there’s more room to create new traditions. Even if you don’t have children, you should take the time to reconsider your holiday events. If there’s a Christmas party you go to every year that you hate, cut it out of your life! Don’t force yourself to do something you don’t want and instead focus on creating traditions that resonate with your personality and values.

Take Control of the Holiday Gift Giving

Trying to find that perfect holiday gift can be stressful. The amount of stress increases exponentially for each person you have on your list. While it’s always a great feeling when you end up choosing the ‘perfect’ gift for your loved ones, it can take a lot of time, effort, and money. Plus, there might be times where the gift you thought they would love falls flat.

Instead of giving a gift to everyone, create a list of all the people who you have given presents to in the past. From there, see if you can whittle it down. For family and friends, see if you can figure out a group gift instead of individual ones. Depending on the group this could be dinner at a fancy restaurant or a fun group activity. For family and friends that are left on your list, keep your eyes open for gifts early and jot down any ideas. You can also reach out to the person directly and ask for their wish list so you can get them exactly what they want. While it might not be as exciting as coming up with a gift, it will save you a lot of time and stress if you buy something from a pre-made list.

Set up a Holiday Wrapping Area

Some people love wrapping gifts. Others, not so much. Regardless of where you fall on that spectrum, you should avoid leaving all your present wrapping for the night before Christmas. If you have enough space in your house, set up a wrapping area where you can stash all of the necessities like:

Gift bags
Wrapping paper
Ribbons
Tags
Tape
Scissors

If you have a lot of presents, start a week or two before Christmas and wrap a few every day. This way you won’t be stressed out by having to wrap a stack of gifts. If you are wrapping presents for people in the house, try to schedule some time when you know they won’t be in the house to avoid spoiling the surprise. Once the presents are wrapped, you can put them under the tree, stacked in the corner, or tucked away in your closet or a crate. Make sure you keep track of each of the presents somewhere so you don’t accidentally give a present meant for your uncle to your son.

Tackle Holiday Cards Early

While presents are generally a ‘must’ for the holidays, greeting cards are becoming less and less common, especially physical ones. With that said, if you enjoy sending holiday cards, you should plan ahead. Remember that mail might take longer to get to its destination to the overwhelming amount of cards being sent around this time. If you want the recipient to get your holiday card on time, you’ll want to send it at least a week or two before.

Whether you’re sending a handwritten note or taking a family picture, you’ll have to schedule some time to time to get everything completed. Try to break up the task into smaller parts. For example, if you’re sending out personalized letters the task might include: creating a list of the recipients, updating their addresses, writing the letters, stuffing the envelopes, writing/printing the addresses on the envelopes, affixing the stamps, and then mailing out the cards. By breaking up the larger task into more manageable chunks, you can easily carve out some time every week or day to complete the project.

You don’t have to send a card to every single friend or family member especially if you have a large family and friend group. Instead, narrow down the list to people you are close to or who don’t live near you that you want to keep updated. Make sure to keep this list saved on your computer or the cloud so that next year you only have to make some minor tweaks.

Let Go Of Perfections

There’s a lot more stress on being ‘perfect’ during the holidays than almost any other time during the year. A lot of people put unnecessary pressure on themselves for a variety of reasons whether that’s due to comparisons with their neighbors or trying to appease family. Regardless of the reason, remember not to let perfect be the enemy of good. Your family will not stop being themselves just because the holidays are right around the corner. In fact, some might act up even more due to all of the stress. Maybe your toddler has more tantrums because they are tired of constant shopping. Or perhaps your partner is working longer because of their job. Whatever the reason, you shouldn’t let these ruin your holiday!

It’s Okay If Everything Is Not Perfect For The Holidays

Give yourself a bit of leeway. Things are hectic and it’s okay that the house isn’t completely spotless or that your cookies are a little burnt. Remember that even those who look like they have everything together in your eyes, behind the scenes they might be feeling the same stress you do. Some people might also have more help than you so don’t compare yourself! Instead, remind yourself that you are doing the best you can and enjoy the process.

Take Care Of Yourself

It’s all too easy to let your health go to the wayside during the holidays. After all, there are dozens of tasks that need to be completed and not enough time to get everything done. It’s normal to experience a wide range of emotions during the holidays that might not match up with what you’re expected to feel like happiness, comfort, and unity. Many people often get anxious and depressed around the holidays for a variety of reasons. While there are many factors that can create an unhappy holiday there are some things you can do to take care of yourself.

One of the best things you can do is practice self-compassion and self-care. Avoid judging yourself too harshly for mistakes or even your own mood. Instead, approach yourself as you would a good friend, with compassion and love. This leads directly to self-care. Once you have compassion for yourself, you’ll start to pay more attention to your needs. Maybe that means taking some time to relax by taking a nice bath or reading a book. Pay attention to your needs and develop a strategy that can help you meet them so you’re less stressed during the holidays. Maybe that means cutting out toxic people from your life or reaching out to a professional to help you manage your anxiety, depression, and/or stress.

More importantly, make sure to take care of your basic everyday needs. Make sure you eat well-balanced meals and that you get enough sleep every night. It’s might be tempting to stay up late so you can get all of your holiday preparations out of the way, but you’ll end up tired and cranky. If necessary, schedule in your meals and even sleep so you can make sure you don’t skip either.

Organization Is Key To A Successful Holiday Season

Organization is the key to a successful holiday season. Yes, it might take a bit longer to list everything out and schedule the various activities, but it will make your holidays much more streamlined. Plus, by breaking down the tasks, you can also assign members of your family to help out so you can get everything prepared beforehand.

With that said, remember to take the time to slow down and relax with your family. If you prefer not to do a big dinner or do gift exchanges, you don’t have to! There’s no ‘right’ way to celebrate the holidays. So long as everyone is happy then you’re doing it properly.

Lisa Czachowski is a professional social blogger and has worked on several online publications including Citrus Sleep. Lisa is an experienced content writer and copyeditor. You will find many of her works throughout CitrusSleep.com that cover a wide array of subjects including sustainability, natural, sleep products, health, fashion and many more. She is passionate about what providing as much information as possible on products you bring in your home and what we wear.

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