How to Actually Enjoy the Holidays

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Do you struggle with stress during what should be the most peaceful time of year? Here are some tips and ideas that might help you be able to finally enjoy the holidays.

Do you struggle with stress during what should be the most peaceful time of year? Here are some tips and ideas that might help you be able to finally enjoy the holidays. #enjoytheholidays #christmasseason #christmasstress

How to Actually Enjoy the Holidays

The holidays can be so stressful. There’s always something to do, some party to attend, some cookie exchange to bake for, and the list goes on and on. While I love all the holiday activities, sometimes they can be overwhelming. All the things that we plan with the intention of making the holidays more enjoyable, can actually make things much more stressful, and cause us to lose sight of the true meaning of the holidays altogether. We have a list of a few things you can do to actually enjoy the holidays this year and in years to come.

Give yourself limits.

This holiday season it’s guaranteed you will be invited to partake in far more holiday excitement than you and your family can really enjoy. Before the season starts, give yourself a limit as to what you want to participate in.

You can limit it to one cookie exchange, three family get-togethers, one Church event or something along those lines. Or you can limit it to a certain number of events each week. Be realistic with this number. Don’t over-commit or you will over-stress. You will actually enjoy the holidays if you do less, and stress less, and setting limits will help with that.

Give less.

Yes. I said to give less. I know the holidays are all about giving and exchanging gifts with loved ones, but it can get really expensive and overwhelming buying a gift for every single person on your list. Simplify that list. Buy less. Maybe have a baking day with the family, and give out cookies to extended family and friends, instead of spending so much time and money shopping for gifts.

Nearly everyone enjoys baked goods (or some kind of gift in a jar)! If you still want to shop, consider drawing names for extended family or friends, so you have a smaller number of gifts to purchase. Remember that you need to give your time and your presence to your children and family this holiday season too. Actually enjoy the holidays this year by giving less in the presents department, and giving more in the presence department!

Check out my article with ideas on how to have a great Family Christmas Gift Exchange. (with only 4 gifts per person!)

Simplify your hostess duties.

Having a family get-together or at least some kind of gift exchange this Christmas? It doesn’t make you a bad person to purchase cookies from a local bakery on Christmas Eve so you don’t have to bake them. It doesn’t make you less of a hostess to make just two or three simple finger foods for the family to snack on, instead of five or six, plus desserts. Have the family pitch in with food! Plenty of people want to bring something to a get-together and doing things potluck style will ease your stress level.

Remember, too, that your house doesn’t need to look like a cover of Better Homes & Gardens, either. Keep your decor simple. Years from now, no one will remember your food or decor, but they will remember the times they shared laughing and enjoying the holidays with family and friends. Keep your focus on what’s important! Now I can actually enjoy the holidays by doing less and embracing family and friends more.

See my tips on keeping overnight guests comfortable here.

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Stay home more.

I have found that there are always things to do outside of the home when it comes to the holidays. While those things can be fun and enjoyable, they also add stress at a time that’s meant to create memories and enjoy your family. Stay home. Read Christmas stories, and drink hot cocoa with your kids.

Watch a Christmas movie in Christmas pajamas. (Who doesn’t love a little Frosty the Snowman with popcorn?) Bake some cookies and let your kids decorate them however they want. Enjoy your home and the warmth that can be found in it only during the holiday season. Make memories with your children and family by spending time with them. There will always be things to do, places to go, people to see, but the best way to actually enjoy the holidays this year is by going less.

Cookies are always a fun thing to make with your children. Find a bunch of yummy cookie and dessert recipes (from scratch!) here: Little House Living Cookie Recipes.

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Remember this year, not to let another holiday season go by where you’re stressed, broke, and upset at the end of it all.

Do less, be present more, and engage in only the activities that will make this season better for you and your family.

Don’t plan things and do more, just to have a full calendar.

Don’t fall prey to the shopping gurus who tell you that you need a store-bought gift for every single person you know and that you need to shop up until Christmas eve.

Give from your heart.

Use your time wisely.

Stick to a budget.

Make memories you and your family will never want to forget.

Those are all the things you can do to actually enjoy the holidays this year. Be blessed, and happy holidays!

Find more tips on Keeping Christmas Simple!

What things do you try and do to actually enjoy the holidays?

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This post on How to Actually Enjoy the Holidays was originally published on Little House Living in December 2016. It has been updated as of December 2020.

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5 Comments

  1. Yes, so true. Appreciate your lived ones with time together. Make a phone call to a relative or friend far away….Enjoy the Blessings of the season, sometimes less is truly more.

  2. I have definitely felt the hustle and bustle of the holiday season this year. I feel like I’ve been blinking and time has just flown by. I really needed this post today!

  3. I have learned to gear down, for many years now, with limiting gifts.
    Activities used to be more challenging, but I am 54 now, and have learned that too much is not nourishing to me or anyone else in family.
    I have had to tell a couple people, from church, that we will not be attending two extra Saturday events they hold. Every weekend, leading up to Christmas, I enjoy straightening our house while my husband goes hunting, after Thanksgiving, doing a church advent reading, going to a church Women’s Christmas Party.
    I then attend the company Christmas Party with my husband. On or around the 18th, we go out to eat or make an extra special meal at home.
    We use an advent wreath, every year, with accompanying booklet. I use beeswax candles in the advent wreath for non-toxic reasons. We light it at dinnertime. We also enjoy buying a live Christmas tree. no ornaments, just white lights. I tend to decorate lightly. Red bows, plants, rustic nativity set made in Indonesia. I bought it from a Ten Thousand Villages Shop, years ago. I do not decorate every room in the house.
    The most important thing we do is to locate an individual, family or group for us to bless every year.

  4. Hi! It’s Atim with EffiFit visiting you from the Link Party Palooza! Great tips, I especially liked the reducing your hostess duties. It happens all too often. This year, I cut back on the number of holiday parties, feeling awesome so far!