Everyone loves Christmas, but the one thing I hear most often is, "It gets too busy." Most of us still like this time of year best, but we do get tired of it. We still have to make a living and take care of our daily lives. On top of that, we have to shop for gifts, wrap them, decorate, host or go to parties, and maybe even bake. It's exciting and fun, but we get tired of it.
Help make Christmas less stressful. Don't start thinking about it when the Christmas season starts. If you plan ahead, you'll have even more fun. Here are seven ways to take the stress out of your favourite holiday so you can enjoy it without worry.
Choose the person you want to buy for.
Make a list of the people for whom you want to buy gifts: Recipients. Keep it with you as a reminder, or at least remember it. Just open your eyes and look around. If you see something you know you'll like, buy it. And don't limit yourself. When you shop all year, this is something you can do. Not every Christmas gift has to be a sweater or something else for winter.
You can shop from home.
You can shop on the web. Have fun and explore. Many sites that sell gifts have sales every now and then all year long. When you don't have to buy something right away, you have time to "window shop." Also, keep your list of gifts in front of you.
Write down what you buy.
Make a list of all the gifts you buy: strong>Gifts Bought/strong>. Every time you buy a gift, whether it's online or in a store, write it down on the list. If you know who it's going to, write that person's name next to it. Go back to your list of "Recipients" and write the name of the gift next to the name of the person who will receive it. You now have a link between two things. Sound too organised and hard to understand? It isn't. It's very simple. If you don't write anything down, you'll be very confused when it's time to finish. You won't be able to remember who was to get what.
Buy decorations when it's not the right time of year to do so.
You can buy Christmas decorations online at any time of the year. During the off-season, you can buy them for less. Buy your Christmas decorations all year long, and you'll be ready when the holiday season comes around.
Wrap Sooner Not Later
As soon as the Christmas wrapping paper is on the shelves, you should start choosing and buying it. You should have a shelf full of gifts to wrap by now. You can wrap them at your own pace, one by one or all at once. Just enjoy it. You still have time to make the gifts look great. Give them a little something extra to make them look nice. This will make the person receiving them feel special and give you a chance to be creative.
Write down what you wrap.
You need to compare the items on two lists. If you need to, check off or make changes. You should make a list now if you didn't already. Don't make the same mistake I did. I wrapped all my gifts early, so by the time Christmas came around, I couldn't remember what I gave each person or how it looked. I remember wishing I had a digital camera. Before I wrapped the gifts, I could have taken pictures of them. I no longer need to worry about that. I have a digital camera and a list.
Recipes should be collected.
Don't wait until the last minute to decide what you want to make for a party. Start getting recipes from friends and magazines. Don't stop there, though. You can try them out a lot of times. Mark the ones you really like and would be proud to serve with a star. When the time comes, making decisions will be quick and easy.
Even before the season starts, Christmas can be fun. Enjoy window shopping, whether you do it in stores or online. But be ready to buy if you like what you see. Choose carefully and keep track of your lists. Using this plan will be a great way to relieve stress around the holidays. Have fun and enjoy Christmas more and more.
