This time of year can be overwhelming so simplifying your holiday season in order to reduce stress should be everyone’s method for enjoying the season with your family a little more.

As parents, we want to try and do it all during the holiday season to be sure that our families are enjoying themselves, but sometimes you have to step back and reflect on what the true meaning of the holidays are so that you can enjoy yourself too.

How to simplify your holiday season

Realize that less is more. While holiday traditions and an abundance of gifts are fun, it is important to realize that you cannot do it all. The memories that will last in your family’s minds are going to be the ones spent laughing together, not the ones where you are tired and stressed.

Delegate. Staying true to remembering that you can’t do it all means that you need help. Don’t be shy in asking your family members for help. One way to do this is turning Christmas dinner into a potluck where every guest is responsible for one dish. Doing this will save you from an entire day of cooking and baking.

Follow a cleaning routine. Try not to do all your deep cleaning the day before your Christmas guests show up. Instead, find a deep cleaning routine on Pinterest and do a little bit per day in the weeks before Christmas. Don’t try and do it all alone either, you aren’t the only one who dirtied up the house. Recruit your kiddos to help by assigning them all a task or two per day.

Another option to consider is hiring a cleaning service if it is in the budget!

Take a moment for yourself. Relax and do what it is that you like to do on your own time. Send the kids to grandmas or turn on a movie for them while you take a hot bubble bath. Just do what you want to do for a change.

I love to take a hot bath and read a good book and this holiday I have found myself cracking up over Jen Mann’s book Spending the Holidays with People I Want to Punch in the Throat. It is hilarious! I love my family and spending the holidays with them all and this book doesn’t take away from that, but it is a hilarious account of everything us moms want to say while celebrating the holidays…this book is a definite de-stressor!

Try online shopping. Get yourself an Amazon Prime account (Facebook!) and don’t fight the crowds at the mall. I promise this will reduce your stress level like nothing else!

Realize that imperfection is perfection. I’m one of those girls who drools over the magazine worthy Christmas trees with perfectly semetrical decorations on all sides of the tree and matching ornaments. I would love for my tree to look like that, but what I love even more is the uneven, handmade, heartfelt, and mismatched ornaments that get hung my the kids.

One day when they are out of the house you will have the time to decorate your magazine worthy Christmas tree and will probably be wishing that your kiddos were still there to help so don’t over- stress about the way things look.

You can apply this to many different areas of your life to. Not every thing goes perfectly and that is okay.

Try a secret santa, white elephant, or gift swap tradition. Trying to find the perfect gift for every aunt, uncle, and cousin can be exhausting. Instead of worrying about getting everyone in the family the perfect items for Christmas, see if your family is up for a different kind of holiday tradition. Chances are there are other family members who would like to save money and stress less during the holiday season too.

How do you destress during the Holiday season? Tell us on Facebook!

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