How to do Christmas Stress-free

A sad irony about the holiday season is that people feel compelled to create perfect conditions, have the perfect gifts for the family members and loved ones, and yet often cannot create these dreams. The financial reality, the reality of their job situations or relationships, and things that come up like sickness or accident unexpectedly can often derail the Hallmark postcard picture in their heads.

Fortunately, there are ways to not come up disappointed in your quest to create a holiday with warm memories surrounded by loved ones. Let’s take a look at a few tips to make your holiday experience that much better and avoid the trap that has 20% of people saying Christmas makes them feel anxious.

Plan Ahead

No matter what you do, planning will always help you. If, for instance, you want to get the hottest new item, call ahead and see what stores might have available and when. This will help you avoid lines and the stress of crowds fighting for merchandise.

Be Realistic

It does no good to not budget. Yes, your wife might be happy with that new Mercedes-Benz, but you are going to be hurting immensely in the wallet if you try to spend what you can afford. This is really the heart of financial stress: spending what you don’t have.

If there is any time to budget wisely, it is within the Christmas season. Get creative by spending less and creating more with your time and materials and skills you have on hand.

Enjoy your Time with Loved Ones

This is really all about being with those you love, so don’t try to make it about anything else. Although commercial entities would have us make us think that it’s about buying and consuming as much as possible, it really is about spending quality time with people you care about.

If you make the holidays about things, then you are guaranteed to ultimately not be fulfilled in any meaningful sense. This is true around the holiday season as much as it is true any other time of year.

Seek out New Experiences

Another good principle for life, if you are just doing the same thing over and over again and are stuck in your routine, you are less likely to get a good time out of life. Look at this time of year as a time to try new things.

Never been ice-skating? Why not try an ice-skating excursion with your family? Or, how about planning a skiing or snowboarding trip with your kids? It does not even have to be that fancy; it can be as simple as going on a brisk morning jog, something you might not ordinarily do because it’s less than comfortable.

Yet, these are exactly the kinds of moments that that you will not forget. So try something new and get outside of your comfort zone.