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How do you survive the holidays? When we have pain on a daily basis and many times stress tends to make it worse, it becomes a challenge. I still love Christmas (the others are worth celebrating as well, but for me it is Christmas) but it certainly became more difficult when I developed persistent post craniotomy pain. So my tips include:
Only do what you love (if its tradition or someone else wants it done-let them do it).
Ask for help and also delegate-this was so hard for me, I always felt responsible for everything and everyone.
Know your limitations and get the rest you need.
I love to cook and enjoy doing the Christmas Feast but don’t feel there needs to two types of potatoes, two types of vegetable, frequently “salad” is canned cranberry sauce and I buy dessert since I don’t like to make pies. I do my rolls and a lot of my prep work the day before. If you have family who can share in the cooking so much the better.
I hate to wrap presents (always have) so I love gift bags. I also recycle them from year to year as much as possible.
This may seem strange but I try and not let others emotions get to me. If they don’t want to celebrate Christmas or they fell offended if I say Merry Christmas-that is their problem, not mine just as if someone says Happy Holidays or Happy Hanukah to me I thank them and wish them well. I am not going to allow negative stress to spoil my holidays by someone insisting the word “Christmas” shouldn’t be used. That as I said is their problem.
What are you tips, ways, ideas for making the holidays go a little smoother and less stressful? -
Stress Free to me means giving up my expectation that everything will be perfect. I set an intention to connect with family and enjoy their company. the rest is all icing on the cake. I do not stress over decorating. I do what I can, a bit at a time. some years this includes a wreath on the door and a few table decorations along with some candles around the house for added decoration. Some years I go all out with the decorations…depends on how I am doing at that time. This year I think it will be wreath on the door and table decorations.
I love gift bags too, Janice. they make wrapping a cinch and they are recyclable!-
I have to confess that this year, I chose to barely decorate as I have been in the midst of home renovations. I could not get to my garage attic where the decorations are stored as my once clean garage was filled with storage overflow and building supplies. I wound up buying a small pre-lite cooper wired tree, placed it on my tall cafe table and used the Xmas tree skirt as the table cloth. We placed our gifts under the table. It worked just fine. A wreath on the door, a holiday night lite in the kitchen and scented candles did the trick. So I was not a complete bahumbug this year. Clean up was a snap! Seems like this would work for anyone dealing with pain, right? What did others do?
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