The Philippine Online Chronicles

How can one have a stress-free Christmas when it’s the busiest season of the year? How can we not get into the flurry of shopping, decorating, gift-giving, cooking, partying, entertaining? I believe that proper planning is key. And that means planning ahead as well.

Here are some things you can plan in advance to help you become cool, calm and cheerful come Christmas time.

Gift-Giving

This is probably the number one source of stress for people during the Christmas season so let’s tackle this first.

Set an overall budget for gifts and set a budget for each person in your gift list.

If your budget is really tight this Christmas, limit your list to immediate family members.

Buy gifts before peak season, during mall sales, trade fairs or all year round. This would help you avail of discounted prices of goods. As much as possible, buy before December because prices usually go up at this time.

Choose to buy gifts from stores that offer free gift-wrapping services. This not only saves you money but time as well.

Expand your thinking on the kind of gifts you can give. Remember that gifts need not be in the form of material things all the time. You can give the gift of time and service. For more ideas on gift-giving, read Give of Yourself and Other Gift-giving Ideas.

Itinerary/schedule

Another source of stress during Christmas is our very hectic schedule due to the many events and parties we go to and the heavy traffic. To avoid these:

Choose wisely the parties and events you will attend. Don’t try to please others by saying “yes” to all the invitations you get. Choose only those which are most important to you and your family.

Give ample allowance for travel time especially if you are coming from another party or event. Expect moderate to heavy traffic near malls and along major thoroughfares.

Jot down on your planner and calendar all the events and parties you confirmed to attend and inform other family members about your schedule. Sharing this information lessens your burden and stress as you harness others to help you remember these important dates.

Make a list of things you need to bring or prepare for the parties and events you need to go to. If you can, plan ahead what you will wear as well.

Book ahead if you need to make reservations in a restaurant, hotel or if you need to travel out of town or out of the country and buy tickets.

Cooking

Planning your noche buena in advance helps you focus on the more important things you need to do on Christmas like spending time with family members and taking time to worship Christ, the reason for the season.

Decide on your menu. Better yet, ask other family members what to include in this meal which after all, is one of the season’s highlights. Involving them in decision-making will take off some worries over whether or not the menu will win their approval.

Decide on which food you will cook and which ones you will order or buy. Ask other family members if they can help out in preparing some dishes.

Buy non-perishable grocery items ahead of time. Start stocking up, for example, on fruit cocktail, canned mushrooms, all purpose cream, crushed graham, other canned vegetables and fruits. Some popular holiday grocery items run out of stock during peak season or may get more expensive as Christmas gets closer, because of the law of supply and demand.

Decorating

Check the decors you already have to find out if you can re-use them or if any of them needs minor repairs. 

Involve other family/household members in decorating your home. You not only share the load, you also create an opportunity for your family to bond.

Decorate before December when your calendar is not yet fully booked.

These are just a fewr tips that you can use to make your Christmas celebration this year stress-free. Good luck!

Photo: “DC-USA” by Hawkins, c/o Flickr. Some Rights Reserved