Holiday parties, holiday meal planning, shopping……let’s readjust and regroup
Holiday parties, holiday meal planning, gift shopping, wrapping presents, decorating, and holiday traditions keep us on the move. Especially when this has to occur on top of our approximate 40 hour work weeks, our families, and our extracurricular activities. No wonder some of us feel so depleted by the end of the holiday season and year, hoping for something new and exciting at the beginning of the upcoming new year.
We rush around, marking off our to-do lists, forgetting at times why we are buying presents for this person, or making these baked goods for this family, etc. We get so wrapped up in getting it all done, that we forget the purpose we are all celebrating in the first place. That is the time when we need to take a time out, regroup, and see if we’ve taken on too much, and accordingly, adjust the game plan.
Some ways to readjust and regroup:
1) Include your family members in on the process.
•Make wrapping presents a merry event with music or holiday movies.
•Children love to help in the kitchen, so have them help measure, stir, roll cookie dough balls, etc. They can be an eager and excited extra set of hands!
2) You don’t have to say yes to every holiday party if its going to sacrifice your holiday cheer. Do what you can, and maybe next year you can add more to your schedule.
3) stressed with buying holiday gifts and staying within your budget? Why not start a new tradition and do a gift exchange with a set price limit, which will eliminate the need to buy a gift for every person, while still feeling the love of giving!
4) what about giving gifts to friends, neighbors, your children’s teachers, etc? Why not make something homemade with your family that you each love, and put them in containers to give out? Make it an all day event making treats with love to share with the masses!
5) If you don’t get everything done, don’t sweat it. There is always next year to attempt more. No one is going to look down at you, and if they do, maybe it’s time to reevaluate that relationship.
6) Hosting a party and getting stressed about the meal preparation? Supply the big ticket items and delegate dishes, drinks, and desserts for others to bring. People like to pitch in, so simply ask!
7) Whatever you choose to participate in, do so with quality in mind rather than spreading yourself too thin simply to experience quantity. People would much rather feel positive energy radiating off of you, as opposed to drained and cranky energy from over-extending yourself.
8) Take time outside for your own time, especially if you are hosting. Everything will get done and get done in positive spirits if you keep your own time as sacred too. If you workout, get your workouts in regardless. If you need yoga and meditation, don’t skip what keeps you in check simply because you are busy. A holiday massage or extra pampering for yourself might be nice too. These things help keep you grounded when life may tend to get a bit out of balance.
9) choose to help a family in need, or volunteer at coats for kids, a soup kitchen, etc and give back in this fashion. Have your whole family participate and let them see first hand what the true meaning behind this season is, while also cultivating awareness of how much they have to offer and give to those less fortunate.
10)Every time you participate in something, make sure you know ‘your why,’and keep that intention in your heart as you go from one activity to the next. This will keep your life more in balance, it will help keep you more focused on the holiday spirit, and of course reminded that this is the season of giving.
Enjoy the season. Embrace all that it offers, and keep yourself in check. You can’t give fully and from the heart if you aren’t taken care of as well.
Have the best FUEL-filled day ever!
Megan Church