3 Ways to Relax and Focus on Family Time These Holidays

Taking on the task of holiday shopping, decorating, gift wrapping, finding recipes, preparing a feast for your family, and handling the flurry of activity in between can make the holidays feel like a stressful and chaotic blur. Getting overwhelmed with so much to do can really end up taking the fun out of the season, and it can leave you with little time or patience to actually enjoy it with your family. To help you avoid the overwhelming stress and chaos, here are five ways to help you relax and focus on family time during these holidays so that when all is said and done, you can look back on it with pleasant memories, rather than a muddled blur.

Prime Yourself For What To Expect

Every family comes with its quirky cast of characters – from your jolly uncle to your nosy aunt, to your sister who will never understand why you aren’t ready to have kids. Family time during the holidays can come with its set of challenges, and the best way for you to handle it is to approach this year differently. Rather than hoping anyone will change, go in with the expectation that nothing will. If it does – great! If not, then just focus on the fact that they mean well and are only being themselves. Just crank up the tunes, pop the champagne, and make the most of it.

Create Some New Traditions

If you’ve been the sole chef for just about every holiday feast, why not create some new traditions to ease the weight off of you, and also liven up the mood with the family. For example, have everyone bring a dish to Christmas dinner so you can cut cooking time in half and actually relax and enjoy the party too. You could also introduce some games that your family can all get involved with, like charades. It keeps everyone in good spirits and distracts the attention away from any potential bickering. Having some games lined up is a great way to have fun, relax and really focus on family time during these holidays.

Give Yourself A Well Deserved Break

In order to really relax and enjoy the festivities, you have to be willing to let go of the control, because let’s face it – we can often create much of our own stress by needing to have everything just right and according to our own set of standards. But let go of that grip by allowing other family members to help out, or ask them to if it’s not openly offered. That way you can make time to put your feet up, get in on the games and learn to really soak up these precious moments when you’re all together as a family.

If you’re in search of ways to relax and focus on family time over the holidays, try to incorporate some of these suggestions into your get-togethers so that you can make time to have fun and enjoy it too.