Let’s talk about those things to help you create a new tradition that leaves you feeling like your best self even after the holidays are over:
1) Ask yourself – “What do I want this holiday season to look like? Feel like? How do I want to feel?”
When it comes to managing your personal energy and your stress levels, it’s important to set some intentions for yourself before you get into the thick of it. Other great times to set intentions are at the beginning of the day, before a workout, or going into a busy week, but you may not think about incorporating this practice into your holiday planning.
Creating a realistic vision for yourself around what you want your holiday to look like will help you set the stage for the following steps, and for a less stressful few months.
Maybe you decide this year you’re not going to overbook yourself, or you want to enjoy Christmas morning waking up in your own home. Some of these intentions might require some expectation setting and conversations with other family members, which is why it’s a good idea to think through this now so it doesn’t come to a surprise for anyone.
2) Plan Your Core Holiday “Must-Haves”
What are the things you LOVE most about the holidays that you really want to make sure you do this year? Maybe it’s getting friends together for a holiday lights tour, or maybe it’s getting that super cute holiday card out before the holidays.
Write down a list of your top 5 “must-haves” for the holidays and take a few minutes to plan out the logistics of each so you don’t feel rushed or overwhelmed when you look at the calendar and realize you haven’t started planning for your favorite holiday activity.
Plan and Simplify Your Holiday Card Tradition
I personally love being able to send out a holiday card each year, but if I don’t plan ahead it becomes a major stressor in my life choosing the right photo and looking through all the designs, so getting ahead on taking holiday photos and selecting the card design I’m going to use is key.
This year, I’m excited to use Basic Invite for our Christmas greeting cards. I really love being able to make our cards look unique and Basic Invite gives you an almost unlimited color amount of options with previews to see online, so you’re not stuck with the typical red, green, and gold options. They also have the option to order a sample of your invitation or card before you order the whole batch, which is such a nice feature if you plan ahead.
I’ll never forget the year I included a note on the back of our holiday cards and when we got them, the font was so small there was no way anyone would be able to read it. I enjoyed plenty of comments that year from family telling me they had to dig out their magnifying glass to find out how our year was. So, yeah, samples of the actual card save me some family grief (and don’t we already get enough of that on the holidays?)
The other thing I can’t wait to use with is their address capturing feature. You can share a link with friends and family to make sure you have everyone’s most up to date address to send your card. I really hate getting return address cards back in the mail after I put in the effort to send out the cards. And, they have free address printing which just makes the whole process so much more stress-free!
Limiting your core holiday “must-haves” to 5 will make sure you don’t overwhelm yourself because inevitably, the family will have their requests and friends will want to get together. So keeping space in your calendar is especially important during the holidays.
3) Set Expectations (and Boundaries)
After completing the first two points, there’s a good chance you’ll need to make your intentions for the holiday clear with others, especially if it’s changing up a tradition of some kind.
Plan to talk to your spouse or partner about your ideal holiday season and the things you’d love to make sure are (and aren’t) included in your holidays this year.
Boundaries are also such a common thing that gets forgotten during the holidays. If you feel like you’ll be able to feel more relaxed through the holidays if family or relatives stayed in a hotel instead of your house (or maybe you stayed at a hotel instead of a packed house), you may want to start bringing it into conversations now so everyone knows what to expect.
Expectations and boundaries can be a challenge if you’ve never practiced them in your holiday plans before, but it’s so worth it. So, make this year the year that you don’t feel guilty about saying no to a holiday trip that drains you, or over-committing to the holiday extravaganza at your kid’s school.
4) Let it go {Insert music notes here}
The reality is that there’s only so much time in the day, so many days between now and January 1st, and only so much energy to go around. Between kids’ activities, family and friends events, and community events, it’s pretty much impossible to do it all, which means something will have to be let go.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, making the decisions now of what is and what isn’t going to be part of your holiday planning this year allows you to let go of any guilt that you might associate with “not getting it done”.
And really, letting it go is a process that needs to happen from now until the holidays are over.
From now until that new year ball drops, this should be your ongoing mantra as if you’re Elsa standing on top of that icy mountain.
- Someone cuts you off in a madhouse parking lot? Let it go.
- You mother-in-law insists that the kids wear matching itchy sweaters at Thanksgiving dinner? Let it go.
- The house is a mess even though you have company coming over? Let it go.
I’d much rather have a happy mama-friend to visit with over an exhausted mama-friend that just went on a rampage organizing her whole house so we could catch up. If someone is going to judge you for being less than perfect, that’s on them.
5) Make a Commitment to Your Wellness “Musts Haves”
We all do it. It’s why New Year’s Resolutions are so popular. You get busy and suddenly your regular workout routine or your dedication to drinking enough water every day starts to waver, and before you know it, you’re starting all overcome January 1.
Maintaining a wellness routine in your life during the holidays is about so much more than avoiding a few extra pounds at this time of year. It’s about doing the things that help you feel like your best so you can continue to show up as your best and enjoy the holiday season for yourself instead of “powering through it”, even if that means turning down a holiday gathering so you can get to bed early.
Write It Down
Check-in with your daily, weekly, and monthly wellness activities that help you feel your best and write them down. Then, commit to maintaining these activities in your schedule through the holidays. Schedule them in your calendar and refuse to let anything take over this time.
Give Yourself Space to Reset
As part of that wellness routine, remember to reserve extra space in your calendar to slow down and create some calm. Your kids will appreciate it, too. Maybe that means reserving one day a week for no scheduled activities so you can have dinner at home and watch a family movie together, or maybe it means only committing to a certain amount of events each week and once they are filled, your calendar should be considered full.
Here’s something to think about – no one knows your full calendar except for you and your family. So, if you need to tell someone you’re completely booked for the week in order to get some self-care in, no one will know the difference.
The holiday season can be filled with joy for you, too.
Getting through the holidays without feeling like you’re worn down and exhausted is possible, but it takes some intentional planning and thought on your end along with a little action now to make your favorite holiday yet.
Are you ready to take the challenge and try these 5 things now before your schedule gets crazy? Comment below and tell me what you’re planning to do a little differently this year to make sure you can feel your best all season long.
