Style, Decor & More: Top 5 Christmas Survival Tips!

Christmas and all its associated stresses can often put a strain onto the big day itself. Family arguments, drunken teenagers, ungrateful children and sheer exhaustion can sometimes leave you wishing you hadn’t bothered.

So how can you ‘do’ Christmas feeling like you’ve had a restful and relaxing break, rather than like you’re in dire need of another one?

Here you will find five of the best tips for surviving the season and escaping out the other end relatively unscathed:

Suspend Christmas if you need to

Tip number one may seem a little counter-intuitive, but it’s important for us to remove the notion that Christmas can only be celebrated on 25^th December. You can have a Christmas Day on whatever date you need or want to. I have some friends that share an intimate Christmas day alone together, and then organize a big Christmas event for the entire family at a later date that suits everyone– usually January or February time.

Organize

Good organization will be the key to keeping life as stress free as possible during the Christmas period. Make yourself a checklist, including as many members of the family as possible (see more about delegation later) to make sure nothing gets forgotten. If you are expecting visitors, make sure the sleeping arrangements are sorted well in advance, and that you have enough sleeping bags, pillows and blankets. Get your Christmas cards posted as early as possible, and generally try to take care of all the little jobs well in advance of the day itself.

Be Realistic

I think most of us have a picture perfect view of what Christmas should look and feel like, but reality often falls somewhat short of this. It’s essential to remember that the most important thing is that you and your family have lots of fun. This doesn’t mean working your fingers to the bone so you are left too tired to enjoy yourself, or spending to excess and leaving yourself in debt for the next 12 months.

Everything in Moderation

Christmas seems all about doing everything to the extreme. However, there isn’t much fun in eating so much you feel (and look) like Santa, or drinking yourself under the Christmas table. Have a little bit of everything you fancy, but try not to go too crazy, however tempting it may be.

Delegate

Assign everyone with jobs before the big day, and then pin the list somewhere central so everyone knows what they’re responsible for. Get everyone involved (even the kids) and you’ll soon find even the most tedious of job becomes fun with everyone pitching in. It will also make sure you’re not left feeling like a rag-doll on Boxing Day.

A final word…

Have Fun! A week from now, no one will remember whether the roast potatoes were hard or the gravy was lumpy, and =he kids will have forgotten about all the presents they ‘didn’t get’. Keep things in perspective and remember the most important thing is sharing quality time with the people that matter most to you.

This article was written by Kathryn Thompson, a UK based freelance writer with three young children who will be reading these tips religiously to make sure she survives the Christmas period. Kathryn is currently frantically internet shopping to make sure she bags the best deals, using sites like KGB Promo Codes to make huge savings.