What is your Christmas goal?
It is very easy to get caught up in the busyness of Christmas
It is important to take time and think about what you want Christmas to be. What is your Christmas goal or focus?
Creating a Christmas goal can help you manage Christmas and make healthy decisions. What is important to you? Relaxation, connection, time with family and friends, experiences, gifts?
Setting a goal can help you navigate Christmas and help you manage Christmas rather than feeling like Christmas sucked the life out of you. Make decisions based on the Christmas goal
you set. For example, if relaxation and time connecting with your partner and children is
your goal, it is ok to turn down invitations to a bunch of parties and activities. Maybe instead of going to 8 you attend 3. You May choose to go for an hour rather than 4 hours. You may choose to have Christmas Day just you, your partner and children and see other family and friends on a different day. You may choose to have appies for dinner rather than making a big turkey dinner.
Talk with your partner and make a plan together on what you want Christmas to be for you and your family.
Boundaries
It is also important to implement boundaries to help reach your Christmas goals. It is generally a good idea to give people a fair amount of notice if you are putting a boundary in place that is new or may have an impact on others so they have time to adjust to the new boundary. For example, because connection with your children and partner is your Christmas goal, you decide Christmas morning is just going to be you, your partner and children but in past years it has been the norm for you to pack up your family and go to several different houses. It is important to let others know that this year will look different as the other people will likely be expecting what typically has happened. Giving them time to adjust to the change can be very beneficial.
It is ok if your boundaries are uncomfortable or inconvenient for others. It is important to be respectful with informing others of your boundaries but it is not your responsibility to make sure everyone else is happy.
You cannot have a voice and do what is best for you and your family AND make everyone else happy. You can’t have both. If you want to have a voice, you also need to be ok with knowing this may be upsetting for others.
Gifts
Its not about the gifts. Don’t get caught up in all the presents, especially if gifts and presents are not a part of your Christmas goal.
Spending time with your loved ones is the best gift you can give and is the one that they all remember in years to come.
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