Because between family parties, work events and social gatherings, your head may start to spin...
Aw, yes. The holiday season has been thrust upon us whether we are ready for it or not. Have you sent out your holiday cards, yet? (Me, either.) Decorated your home? (Nope, not yet.) Bought any presents? (Are you kidding?) The idea of the holidays always excites me, but the actual holiday planning makes me a big ball of holiday stress. Well, in order to help myself and my dear readers save our sanity this year, I have compiled a list of helpful holiday tips to get us through the month and survive into the New Year in one piece.
Do Not Attend EVERY Holiday Party You Are Invited To
It may seem like a nice thought, “sure I can make it to seven holiday parties in the next three weeks...no problem!”
No problem? I foresee big problem. Honestly, do you really want to be committed every single weekend in December? I don’t think so. There’s this thing called sleep, and I have heard it is very popular with people. If you commit to more than you can handle, you might end up making a friend or family member feel hurt if you cancel at the last minute. Better to commit to a few parties that you know you want to attend, and let others know that you would love to come, and that you will try to make it. This gives you some wiggle room in case something more exciting pops up!
Shop Online
This has saved me from last-minute shopping. Shopping online is a great way to avoid the stressed-out crowds at the mall as well as save you time and gas money. Many websites are offering amazing deals on products and you can often find unique, one-of-a-kind gifts that you may not have found in stores. So, pour yourself a glass of wine, enjoy a holiday classic film at home, and shop ‘til you drop!
Spend Some Alone Time to Reenergize
The holidays are a time where we get bombarded with people. The stores are more crowded than usual, the coffeehouses are filled with hurried shoppers ordering fancy holiday-themed drinks and people seem to be more social than usual. But it is so important to take time away from the crowds, the noise and the chaos and regroup mentally, physically and emotionally. Take some time for yourself. Even if it is just an hour a week, do something just for you. Read a book or a magazine. Enjoy a massage. Take a well-deserved nap. Watch an old film with a cup of steaming hot cocoa. Do something nice for yourself and allow the holiday hoopla to escape you...even if it is just momentarily.
Volunteer
Sure, I know you are thinking, “Who the hell has time to volunteer?” but I guarantee that volunteering is a great way to lift your spirits during this time of the year, as well as brighten up someone else’s day, as well. Volunteer for a morning at the soup kitchen, help gather donations for a women’s shelter, or visit wounded soldiers or the elderly at hospitals to cheer up their afternoon. Giving a little of oneself may prove to be the best gift you give (and receive) all season.
Indulge Your Inner Child
Hey, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Do something fun this holiday season, like ice skating, baking holiday cookies or drive around to see everyone’s festive lights decorating the homes in your neighborhood. Watch classic holiday films or hang a little mistletoe in your home to spice up those cold winter nights. Have some fun, let go of the cynicism that so many of us get wrapped up in and free your inner child.
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erikdolnack
Erik has only one tip to survive any holiday season: travel and get out of the country.
Any survival conflict can be handled in only one of three ways: fight, flow or flee. As I am only one individual in a nation of 300,000,000 others, it would be impossible for me to fight against a tradition that most others hold dear and which retailers depend most of their years profits upon. The holidays are simply too ingrained in American mercantile culture to fight at this point.
I cannot flow. As a single man with no children, I pretty much hate all holidays. As someone who’s unemployed, I soon learned the hard way that holidays are for the comfortable bourgeoisie, not poor folk like me. As my father was fond of saying, “When you’re poor, Santa doesn’t care if you hang yourself with your empty stocking!”
I have noticed over the years that holidays has a lot more to do with consumption that it does anything else. The modern concept of holidays, especially Christmas was invented by Marketing. Coca-Cola invented the red-suited jolly Santa Claus most of us associate with the holiday. Hallmark cards created much of the motif. Other advertisers lent their hand in inventing a holiday out of thin air. What Christmas is to most Americans today is a thoroughly modern and exclusively American materialistic celebration of consumption.
That being said, the best way to flee any holiday situation is to get out of Dodge: simply travel outside the US. Even in Merry Old England (the original birthplace of the modern Christmas concept of holiday) the Brits don’t overdecorate and pump Christmas carols in their stores night & day like American retailers do. The rest of Europe even less. Ideally, head to a non-Christian country for a really unique holiday experience, such as Egypt or China. That’s my goal: to one day travel outside my nation’s borders during the week of Christmas and avoid the ridiculous mayhem altogether. Ho ho ho!