Making Holidays Less Stressful, and More Restful!

Every holiday season, about this time of year, we start seeing posts all over social media about how busy it is, and how unprepared we all are. Many times, we post these ourselves, in the moment we are feeling overwhelmed. In fact, I'm already seeing many posts like that, so I thought it would be great to discuss a few things we can do to take those last minute stressors out of our holiday schedules.

First off, let's list some of those last minute stressors we might experience this coming week:

• Cleaning House 
• Preparing Meals
• Finding Recipes 
• Making Shopping Lists
• Shopping
• Decorating 
• Auto Service 
• Hosting Family
• Traveling
• Christmas Shopping
• Black Friday

ENOUGH ALREADY...I'm worn out just thinking about it all.

So, I have a few choices I can make.

1. I can quit thinking about it so that I can "rest" while having a lazy Saturday waiting for my Oklahoma State Cowboys to play tonight.
2. I can make a list of stuff for my wife to do to prepare us for the upcoming week.
3. Or, I can take charge of my own actions by:
• Spending a few minutes planning all that needs to be done
• Actually doing those things that can/should be done
• Scheduling time to do the things I can't do this weekend, or the things I don't want to do

So, what is my decision, you ask?  Well, "resting" today, is not the wisest choice for me, because I will feel bad while resting, because I'm not preparing for the coming week. Therefore it would be a wasted "rest' day because I would end up feeling worse that I didn't do something. As far as ethe second option goes, anybody who's married knows it's not a good idea to make a list for your spouse of all the things that you should be doing, so here's my plan to make Thanksgiving week a little less stressful and little more restful. 

My wife and I have spent a little time this morning, and the last week or so, planning out what we are preparing for the different Thanksgiving celebrations we are part of; Her family's holiday meal; My family's holiday meal; The holiday meal we are hosting at our house for students from the university we both work at. As well as our "To-Do Lists" for each of those celebrations.

• We know what recipes we're using
• We have a few shopping lists
• I've done all the grocery shopping this morning
• We're going to do the rest of the shopping before lunch today
• We know what dishes we're using to prepare the different foods
• This way we don't have to worry about whether we need to buy foil pans, or anything else to prepare our food in
• We know when we are traveling, how we are traveling and what we have to do to prepare the car for travel
• I will take care of getting the car serviced on Monday or Tuesday, as well as filling it up with gas so that we can wake up on Wednesday morning, pack the car and hit the road
• We cleaned the house last week
• We only have to spot clean this coming week
• I pulled/sorted all the Christmas decorations, tested them, and prepared them for installation
• I know which lights go where, that they work, and where the replacement bulbs and fuses are for all of them in case something goes wrong during installation
• I will install those decorations this week if the rain/ice/snow stops, or stays away and if not, I'll install them on Black Friday, reducing my stress by staying out of stores and out of traffic.
• We don't shop on Black Friday, unless it's online, or in the evening after everyone else is worn out and gone home
• We buy very few gifts for people, not because we don't love them, but because we don't want to value people by what we give them, but instead by how we treat them and love them throughout the year...plus, we just don't have the extra money!
• We also buy very few gifts for each other.  If we need something throughout the year, we usually find a way to buy it.  Why wait until Christ's birthday to buy each other gifts?

These are just a few of the things we do in order to make our holidays less stressful and more restful.  How do you prepare for the holidays, and how will you reflect and rest during this time?