How to get ready for the holidays and the rushes that comes with it

Even though it might be too soon to start celebrating the holidays, we can assure you that it is not too early to give a little thought to a few minor things that you could do now in order to prepare for the holiday season. It can never be a bad idea to devote some of your time now in thinking and planning ahead.

While it is still too early to take out your holiday decorations, there are still a few things that you could do now to ease the pre-holiday preparation and make it more joyful and less stressful.

How to avoid holiday rush?

Every year we tend to make the holiday season unique, and there is nothing wrong with that. But frequently, that means ending up with a lot of events getting added to our schedule. Even though these events can be fun, they often increase our stress levels.

So, in order to avoid the holiday rush and the stress that comes with it, you should:
 

Set a goal

• You should do yourself a favour by setting a date for when your holiday shopping has to be done by. Throughout the whole year, you know that you will be getting for your loved ones during the holidays, so why waiting until early December to start buying them? 

Order Online

• Thanks to modern technology that we have today, you can get all of your holiday shopping done without even leaving the comfort of your house. You might think that buying online takes away all of the holiday shopping fun, but we assure you that it is not true. Once you experience the magic of online shopping, you will never want to step a foot into another store during the holiday season.

Cook and Bake Ahead

If you are planning to cook the holiday feast and surprise your family, it is always a good idea to start by emptying the refrigerator and preparing the oven. Try to plan ahead and figure out what type of food you can make earlier; there is nothing more stressful than trying to manage the preparation of a big dinner for your guests 24 hours before. You can prepare side dishes and pies several days before, so when the time comes, you will just have to bake them. 

Another tip? To make the cooking more interesting, you will be doing a lot of cutting, no matter the type, meat, vegetables, fruits, etc. You will be doing all of that work mostly on your cutting board, so you can treat yourself with a custom-cutting board with the unique print of your selection, and if you order it now, you can get it right on time before the holiday rush.  

Plan Some Fun Events for Your Family and Yourself

It might be a perfect time to start searching for the memory-making family events throughout the holiday season. Try to write down everything that your community has to offer and that you consider it interesting for the family activity.

It is always nice to have events in your life on which you will be able to look back with laughs and beautiful memories in several years. 

Make personal time and self-care as a priority

Although we tend to spend as much as possible time with our family during the holiday season, we should create some time for self-care. Try not to fully fill-In your schedule. By filling up every day of the holiday season with events family activities, we may end up with plenty of happy memories. Still, also it can result in emotional meltdowns and over-tiredness.  

Try focusing on what’s the most meaningful to you, by being able to organize well; you will have enough time to relax and savour the season’s most special time. If something from your list (making gift cards, buying gifts, preparing a large number of dishes, etc.) is stressful for you, and therefore it makes you feel in a not-happy way, try to simplify it and if that doesn’t help you can simply eliminate it.