Simple Strategies for Relieving Stress During the Holidays! #7

It’s the Holiday Season! Strategy #7

Oh boy here it comes ~ the holidays! It is 4 days until Thanksgiving and 33 days until Christmas! It can be a time of hustle, hurry, and unfortunately stress and worry. So between now and then we’re going to be talking about, and share ways to have a happy enjoyable holiday season from now through Thanksgiving and until Christmas. Each day I will share a tip, secret, or simple strategy on how to keep yourself balanced and centered through the holiday season. It will take about 5 minutes a day.

Hello and Welcome back! We are on strategy day seven! Let’s recap our strategies and see how you are doing. Here is what we have so far:

• Visualize your holiday and what your desired outcome is.
• Manage the amount of time it will take to create your desired outcome
• Stay out of judgement on yourself. Do what you can.
• Get some rest.
• Eat good food.
• Feed your mind positive thoughts

Today we are going to go there ~ yes, the relationship dynamic. The holiday season can be awesome, engaging, and even magical! It can be a time to reconnect, share memories, and create new ones. However, it can also be a time of unresolved issues, awkward meet ups, and displaced emotions. Just know that there may be others at your gathering that are sharing the same feelings, yet will not show it. So what can be done? How can we engage this time or year, instead of merely getting through it? Ah that is step 7 ~ plan simple activities! Yes, this is a time to get creative and put forth the energy toward creating great memories, and offer stress a valve to relieve the pressure at the same time.

So here are some ideas that are simple and fun (and yes will get your families heads out of their cell phones and respective electronic games ~ for my younger readers, we are going to old school it. big smile!).

• Place a basket in the living room and put inside a deck of playing cards, a jar full of pennies, and instructions for penny poker. Here are a couple of links to get you started http://www.wikihow.com/Play-Penny-Ante and http://www.grandparents.com/grandkids/activities-games-and-crafts/basic-poker. Then make a list of your own rules to add like the winner gets the biggest piece of pie, and the looser has to do the dishes. Remember to keep it fun!
• Place a basket on the kitchen table with some construction paper, crayons or markers, glue, tape, q-tips, cut up straws, old magazines or colorful advertisements. Invite the kids, both big and small, to create paper placements for the meals. Here is a link on how to make them http://www.auntannie.com/FridayFun/PaperWeaving/. Not your style? Here are some other ideas https://www.care.com/a/17-easy-construction-paper-crafts-that-any-kid-can-do-20150415150506.
• Play a game of let’s label old family pics. If you have enough time in advance of your gathering ask each person coming to bring pictures of themselves from long ago, or family pictures. If you are having friends over, have them bring some of their own. Then sit together and pass the pictures around sharing memories, and perhaps labeling them, or making a note of some of the family stories. This is a fun way to share the family history and a perfect segue to creating a family photo album.
• Recipe swap. Have each person coming to your holiday event bring a favorite recipe on a 3 X 5 card, or cut to that size. Then share, swap, or even prepare them together. I have found that cooking together keeps hands busy, and hearts open.

So step 7 is to plan simple activities. If you have old board games at the back of the closet – pull them forward, and have some fun! 

Action Step for today: Actively create some simple activities to encourage engagement and interaction. Keep your guest or family in mind and select something they can all be comfortable in doing.

If you have an idea for an activity, please post it in the comments below. I look forward to seeing them! 

Deep Breath in! Cleansing Breath out! Say to yourself – simple strategies I put in place now will help me to walk in ease and grace, more centered, more balanced.I can do this!

If you are just joining us, here is the link to day one  → Simple Strategy Number One!

I will see you back here tomorrow for simple strategy number 8. Be sure and book mark this page so you can find your way back!

 
Big Hug and I will see you then! 

Deanna