The stores have started it already – the Christmas stuff. The decorations are on sale already and it’s obvious to all that Christmas, faster than ever, is coming at us.
If you celebrate any season or holiday at the end of the Gregorian calendar year, whether it’s Christmas, Hanukkah, Panchmukhi Ganapati or another celebration, for many people there are things to organise and prepare for.
The main categories that all the tasks fall under are:
- Travel arrangements
- Hosting arrangements
- Gift giving
- Food preparation
The reason I’m posting about this now is because the earlier you start, the easier it is and the easier it is, the more fun it is! It’s awful to have such a potentially wonderful experience be stressful and miserable.
There are many ways to avoid holiday stress (well, to reduce it anyway!).
Here are my favourite two.
The first one is to START EARLY. If you have decluttering to do because you’re hosting, start now. If you have gifts to purchase, start now (especially given the postage issues around the world right now), If you have a menu to prepare, start now. The sooner the better!
The second is to CULL YOUR LIST. Yep, take stuff off the to-do list without doing them. How many activities do you sign yourself up for and are they really necessary? Choose the traditions that are really important to you and try dropping the rest. Even if you just experiment with dropping one commitment each year, you can see if it helps make your holidays better.
I would love for you to be smiling through your celebrations!
If you’d like a helping hand, check out my 60 Day Countdown challenge – daily bite-sized tasks (that you can totally skip without getting in trouble!). It’s re-usable year after year so it’s brilliant value for money, too!
60-Day Christmas Countdown
This ebook is designed to motivate you to spend the last 60 days before Christmas preparing with one task a day. Some tasks are decluttering-related and some are Christmas preparations.
Other links that may be of interest:
Clutter-free gift ideas: http://clearspace.net.au/clutter-free-gift-ideas/?doing_wp_cron=1635053223.2833991050720214843750
Podcast episodes about Christmas:
https://www.beuncluttered.com.au/episodesBU/Planning-ahead-for-Christmas
https://www.beuncluttered.com.au/episodesBU/A-Merry-COVID-Christmas
https://www.beuncluttered.com.au/episodesBU/Gifting-Cupboards
https://www.beuncluttered.com.au/episodesBU/Just-in-time-Christmas-tips