As Christmas gets closer, you might find yourself feeling stressed out with all the holiday activities.  However, it is possible to have stress free holidays.  So, if it seems like each year you feel more stressed out, overbooked with festivities, and overloaded with tasks just stick with me over the next week I’m going to share with you some tips on how to have a stress free holiday season. Let’s take a look at old holiday Holiday Traditions and Memories first, because that is what the holidays are really about don’t you think?

If you would like to listen instead of reading enjoy the Holiday Traditions and Memories Facebook Live I did here:

Let’s take a minute to reflect on your own family’s holiday traditions and all the ways your family celebrates together. Consider these examples of holiday traditions:

Old Holiday Traditions and Memories

•  Preparing a big holiday meal with all the family. Maybe it is even a tradition what you have at that meal. That movie Christmas with the Kranks always had to have that special canned ham.
• Baking cookies in holiday shapes decorated with colored icings.
• Opening presents early in the morning on Christmas Day. My rule was always let me sleep until the sun rises, lol!
• Watching a Christmas movie together as a family on Christmas Eve.
• Filling Christmas stockings and hanging on beds.
• Opening a select gift on Christmas Eve night (our family does Pj’s).
• Making holiday treats and wrapping them up for friends and family.
• Leaving a tray with cookies and milk for Santa on Christmas Eve before bed.
• Driving around to look at Christmas lights while singing Christmas carols in the car.

Do you find yourself repeating the exact same traditions you were a part of when you were a child? You might think that carrying on your family’s holiday traditions is
important to instill cherished memories for your own kids.
Plus, you may look forward to and enjoy upholding and carrying out all
those same activities and events each year as the holiday season rolls
around. After all, it’s tradition. What are those memories you had as a child that you want to provide in your own home?

As you recall your traditional ways of celebrating the holidays, consider
which traditions you found to be the most special and enjoyable for you.
For example, you might have enjoyed going out to pick a fresh Christmas tree and being able to decorate it while your parents sat back and watched.

You want your own children to take part in that activity, too. So, you make
this event part of your own family’s holiday celebrations. Maybe Christmas morning had some of the best times of your life growing up and you want to try to replicate those same wonderful feelings for your Holiday Traditions and Memories
with your own children.

Whatever the case, repeating your mom and dad’s holiday traditions in your
own home is pretty common. However, don’t be surprised if you find
yourself tweaking your Holiday Traditions and Memories here and there to make them your own. That’s okay, too! The holidays are about enjoyment and a sense of specialness. But what if you find yourself wanting to “go rogue” and create your own traditions?

The following strategies will help you create new Holiday Traditions and Memories to
fit your family:

1. Give yourself permission to let go of old traditions. Tell yourself that,
although you remain loyal to your family, you don’t have to remain loyal
to traditions during the holidays that you actually don’t prefer. It really is
okay to not carry out every single tradition as your family did.

2. Ask yourself what you really want to do. Embrace the freedom of
being an adult and having choices in life. You can do anything you want
to do for the holidays. Instead of having people over for dinner, maybe
you’d really prefer to do a dinner in a private room at your favorite
restaurant. If that’s what you want, then plan it and do it.

‣ Look at it this way: you’ll have your own tradition and you and your
loved ones will really look forward to it. After all, it’s a bit different for
this time of year. People will likely find new traditions you establish to
be refreshing and a nice change of pace.

3. Talk with your spouse and kids. Ask them what parts of the holiday
celebrations they really like. Maybe they have their own ideas for what
they’d like to do. Creating a new wonderful way of sharing the holidays
together will deepen your family relationships.

4. Poll your friends and neighbors. You can access a wealth of information
about varying traditions and celebrations just by listening to how your
friends and neighbors celebrate the holidays. Maybe one of your co-workers
shares how she and her family members draw names of people to buy
gifts for to avoid overspending at Christmas time.

‣ A neighbor might have a wonderful tradition of gathering together on
the Christmas Eve to talk about what each person wants to
accomplish the following year. You might hear about a tradition you’d
like to enjoy at home with your own family.

5. Make it interesting. Rather than getting together at your parents’ home
on the morning of a holiday, why not invite your parents out for dinner
the night before? No one has to cook and everyone’s holiday is freed up
the next day if you get together in a restaurant the prior evening.

‣ Or maybe instead of the traditional Christmas dinner of turkey and dressing,
you’ll cook up an ethnic meal, like Italian, German, or Mexican this
holiday. Why not? You’d be surprised at how refreshing it is for friends
and family who’ve eaten 2 or 3 meals of the same type of foods to
arrive to a cultural dining experience that’s unexpected this time of
year.

6. Call your friends who have skills. Let’s say your friend, Sally, just loves
to go shopping and wants to be a personal shopper. Talk to her about
how she might assist you with completing holiday shopping duties. Or
maybe your neighbor, Francine, makes the most delicious pound cake
ever. Tell her you’ll pay her to bake two of them for you.  If she’s willing
to sell a couple of them, you’ll both be happy and this may start a second stream of income for her. You can even barter these types of things so you are neither out any money. Think of something you love to do and exchange favors.

Embrace the concept of forming new holiday traditions to fit your lifestyle, budget, and family’s needs. Allow yourself to let go of old ways of celebrating. Figure out how you want to celebrate and get your family’s input. If the old holiday Traditions and memories are what you love find a way to fit them into your family’s traditions.

If you would like to sing Christmas songs together as a family tradition get my free Christmas Song Book below.

Stress Free Holidays: How to Survive Your Relatives this Holiday Season is a part of a blog series. In case you want to check out the other parts in the Stress Free Holidays series here are the links to each part.

Stress Free Holidays- 8 Simple Holiday Time Savers

Stress Free Holidays: Gift Giving the Stress Free Way

Stress Free Holidays: Survive the Holidays Without Blowing Your Budget

Stress Free Holidays: Stress Free Holiday Traveling