Decompress de-stress your holidays

Holidays often mean adding in extra obligations and rituals into an already busy time.

Not only do you get to juggle home, work and exercise, but now you get to add in baking, large family meals at your house, shopping, decorating and parties. Whew! It makes me tired just thinking about it so I came up with some tips on how to de-stress your already busy self during the holidays.

Think about these things:

• Try to prioritize and do some things ahead of time; schedule small bouts of cleaning, ten minutes at a time instead of huge overwhelming projects.

• Restrain yourself from taking on long-term projects like painting, sewing or making home repairs (there’s always Spring).

• Delegate. If your children are older now, don’t be shy about assigning pick-up and dusting; they should be able to strip their beds and keep their own rooms presentable at the very least.

• If you must throw a party, make it for the weeks after the December madness. There is a let-down mid-January, which seems like a good time to visit with friends, who will undoubtedly have plenty to talk about, post-craziness.

• Put out only the wreaths, ornaments and decorations that you love. Often we feel that if we’ve got it—out it comes. But editing (and tossing) applies to ornamentation during the holidays as well.

• Accept only those party invitations that are meaningful and come from people you actually like (it seems obvious but we do have a tendency to “guilt” ourselves).

• Baking done quickly. Yes, you can cheat by using the Pillsbury pre-made rolls of cookie dough or even the boxes where all ingredients are already mixed. Or you can gather a small group of your tightest friends for a cookie exchange—you’ll get a variety for a one or two-batch contribution.

• Exercise. Whatever you do, do not fail to exercise. Period.

• Traveling. Say, “No, not this year.”

• Shopping. If your children are past the Santa magic stage, save yourself time and hassle. Exchange one small electronic gift on the holiday, and leave the clothing and goodie shopping until after Christmas or Hanukkah, and then shop online. Retailers are expecting lackluster sales so they should be discounting gifts earlier.

• Avoid the hype.

• Hot cocoa and feet up time. Designate 15 minutes for quiet time. Take a warm bath with candles and your best soap in a dimly-lit room. Ah-hh….