The generalised view of Christmas is overly optimistic. Realistically we’re all just trying to Survive Christmas. I think that’s something we can almost all agree on.

Can you think of a Christmas where the house was decorated immaculately? The dinner cooked to absolute perfection and the Children playing like angels by the tree? All happening under a beautiful blanket of snow. Nope… us neither.

These expectations usually fall onto the shoulders of one person in the household. The beauty of this madness is, we don’t need to adhere to these ludicrous expectations.

Hello and welcome to another stressful Christmas

Family, entertaining, expectations, over-spending, over-eating, over-drinking, under exercising. What often can be amazing about this time of year, can turn into your own personal nightmare.

What you should know is that you aren’t alone. We are all playing keep up with the Jones’ especially through December. It is easy to fall victim to the ‘idealistic Christmas’. However, many around the UK are starting to ask the question – what is the point of bankrupting myself for Christmas?  We think, this is a very valid question. One we felt the need to explore and delve into.

If you fall victim to many of these stress contributors, this post is for you. Keep on reading for our tangible and easy to achieve tips to take back and survive Christmas!

You can’t choose your family

We are all more than well versed with the common saying ‘you can’t choose your family’. Which is true you really can’t. So, you have one of two options. Travel far away over Christmas and hide until all the festive stuff is done with. Or, you face the family music.

Perhaps you do like spending time with Family but over time you find yourself worn out and exhausted. There are several things you can do to prevent burn out over Christmas.

Appreciation techniques

1. Practice mindfulness

This should almost be an unnegotiable on your Christmas to do list. Practising mindfulness can balance your thoughts and feelings, helping you to remain calm amongst utter chaos. It will also allow you to choose how you react, rather than being driven by pure instinct.

There is no shortage of brilliant apps for mindfulness, such as; Calm, Headspace and Breathe. You can usually download these for up to 2 weeks on a trial basis for free, which works out perfectly for the Christmas period.

You’ll be forever grateful that you took the time to meditate – even if only for 5-10 minutes per day. Good luck and the happiest of zen-ness to you.

2. Imagine

This might seem a little depressing, but let’s just stop to imagine a Christmas where you weren’t able to spend it with your family. Perhaps if you were stranded somewhere, or they weren’t around anymore. Capture that feeling you have right now thinking of this reality.

We certainly don’t wish to bring you down especially when Christmas is all about being jolly! But taking away things/people you might take for granted will give you a new surge of appreciation and want to give them an extra tight, extra-long squeeze.

3. Write it down

(or say it out loud)

Keep a journal… if you’re a fellow list-lover. Writing down 3 or more things every day you are grateful for will really help to solidify it in your brain. If you aren’t much of a journaler/writer type, that’s okay. Simply say out loud what you’re grateful for. You can do this with a loved one together, or even when you’re driving somewhere.

Bringing awareness to appreciation in your life will heighten your sense of gratitude and overall happiness. It can be anything small or large that you have found has made your day that little bit better.

4. Appreciate you!

Speak to yourself nicely and treat yourself kindly. If you feel happy in yourself, you’ll feel more relaxed and able to appreciate those close to you.

How to avoid arguments

It is a scarily fast regression to childhood when you move back into your parents’ house over Christmas (or whatever the family set up may be). Suddenly, you see yourself getting lazier and lazier, and all that irritated you growing up comes rushing back. It’s the year to put a stop on this behaviour once and for all and survive Christmas!

Okay great, sounds good you’re thinking, how do we do this?

1. Help out in absolutes – this means say you’ll do a very specific task. Such as, clear the table, or pour everyone a drink
2. Show genuine interest – ask your family members about themselves and their lives, show true curiosity and interest
3. Sup up – there’s no reason you can’t enjoy a Baileys to take the edge off
4. If possible, stay somewhere nearby, a hotel or an AirBnB. So that when you need some space, you have the option
5. Mix up the day – go for a walk by yourself or with one other family member
6. Close your eyes and take a deep breath – remember everyone around you is entitled to behave and say what they want, as are you of course. Appreciate people for who they are, any outbursts won’t change that, you aren’t the only one trying to survive Christmas.

Time for yourself

No matter the day, or how busy it might be. Head space is crucial for keeping your cool. Schedule in you time. Whether it’s a 10-minute lie down to read a book or a quick walk around the block with the dog on your own. You must take some time to yourself.

If you’re the give, give, give type. Take time to fill your cup back up before you carry on running around after everyone, or you will fall victim to burn out and exhaustion.

Cooking up a Storm

Are you the designated chef? Lucky you! You have a ton more pressure and stress than anyone else. On a day that’s already supercharged crazy. We empathise with you, you will probably need to up the anti to Survive Christmas!

Here’s some sure-fire ways to cut down on time spent in the Kitchen on Christmas day and enjoy more family time.

With only one week to go until Christmas, now is the time to start thinking about what you’re going to do.

It’s easy to fight the battle of the oven space, if you get ahead and do some prepping and freezing beforehand. You can do this for many items that will appear on your plate this Christmas Day.

Things you can do today – 1 week ahead

• Stuffing – You can make chestnut stuffing beforehand and pop it into the freezer. Make sure you remember to pull it out Christmas eve! Here is an amazing stuffing recipe by BBC Good Food. It will be just as good as when you make it on the day – promise!
• Roast potatoes – Peel, chop and part boil. Then you can place them in the freezer. This way you don’t have to do the faff on Christmas morning, you can defrost and put them straight into the oven
• Cranberry sauce – this can be done as early as you want. As it keeps well in the freezer for weeks

2 days before

• Chop and peel all the veg to boil – Either place all of these in cold water ready to boil on Christmas Day, or you can steam now and keep fresh in the fridge
• Chop the roasting veg – Keep in airtight bowls in the fridge
• Yorkshire Puddings – These can be frozen for a couple of days, if you would like to get them out of the way. However, they are better when done on the day. You can pre make the mix and keep in a cool air-tight container to make on the day

Christmas Eve

• Prep the Turkey
• Cook the stuffing
• Prep everything else!

Christmas Day

• Roast the Turkey – Make sure you allow plenty of time, a good time to look at getting the Turkey in would be approx. 9:30am.
• Roast the vegetables – Roast the Parsnips, Brussels, Potatoes, Carrots etc.
• Reheat – All items pre-made
• Yorkshire puddings – either reheat or pop into the oven for 25 minutes.

Hopefully by breaking down all the main cooking responsibilities the week prior, will open much more time for relaxing with your family or playing with the kids, whatever it is you’d rather be doing! Allowing you to thrive and survive Christmas day.

You know what, if you want to simplify it massively or not do a tradition roast dinner, that’s totally fine! Do what it is you want to do!

Don’t Bankrupt Yourself

Don’t panic buy! Us Britons are known to panic buy as Christmas approaches.

Spending for the sake of putting gifts under the tree. I’m sure every family across the UK would agree that they would not want their loved ones to go bankrupt just to give gifts this Christmas.

By this time, most people will have finished their Christmas present buying. If you haven’t it pays to be prepared. So, rather than having a mad dash this weekend to mindlessly buy lots of gifts you aren’t even sure if your friends and family will like. Stop.

Take 10 minutes to write a list containing the following;

1. Who you are buying for?
2. The spending limit for each person
3. Their interests and hobbies
4. Based on the top 3 – start jotting down random ideas
5. Shops to visit

With only 1 in 5 of us planning what to buy and half of us admitting to panic buying. So, it’s no surprise that we’re spending far more than we should be.

Don’t lose your festive cheer worrying about what you have spent, still need to spend and what others may have spent on you. If you are concerned, casually let your family members know approximately what you’re planning to spend, and request they do the same.

Did you know? The UK spends a whopping £700 Million on unwanted gifts! 114,000 tonnes of packaging go to landfill every Christmas. 1 billion Christmas Card go in the bin each year. So, if you need an excuse to take it easy and cut back – the environment takes a big hit at this time of year, so equally in desperate need to survive Christmas. Take it easy for your planet as well as your wallet.

It’s easy to lose sight of what’s important at Christmas and not get sucked into all this commercialisation that the holiday has become. Be organised, firm and free!

The Balancing Act

Arrange your days with foresight to spend some quality time on your own so you can survive Christmas time. Or at least in smaller groups. Don’t try to people please your way through Christmas, only to find yourself in a heap on the ground come January 3rd.

If you need to work through the holidays, it is even more important to find you time.

So, what can you do to balance between yourself, family commitments and work? Here are some simple ideas;

1. Plan ahead – have a good idea of what each day will bring
2. Ask for help – get people to share the cooking duties by bringing a plate or cleaning up
3. Refresh time – apparently you can return to work 84% more revitalised than pre-Christmas, if you take the time to relax and refresh!
4. Prioritise what’s important – you are only one person, so it is fair to say you cannot achieve everything
5. Get ahead – stock up and those Christmas essential after Christmas for next year – saving those pennies

Get busy, but busy doing little. Do the things you enjoy, before we know it, we’ll be back at work and in the full swing of routine.

So, now is the time to enjoy watching movies, go for long walks and go out for coffee/food. Spend time with those close to you whilst you have the time! This will boost your happiness too!

The Key Take Aways

Long story short, this is what you can take away from this read…

• Spend less – there’s little need to blow your budget and panic buy
• Take time for you and what you enjoy – take it whilst you can
• Break away from the madness – don’t feel guilty for stepping outside for 10 minutes to enjoy some fresh air and calm
• Ask for help – that’s what family and friends are for

I hope everyone has a fantastic, stress free time and survive Christmas! We all deserve to take a break and enjoy the simple wonders of this Winter Holiday!

If you found this post helpful – feel free to leave comments in the section below, we’d love to hear from you!

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If you enjoyed this read – we have many more Christmas related blog posts to keep you in the mood.