Tips for a Memorable Holiday, Now & Forever

Are you busy taking care of others, fulfilling commitments and there's never time for yourself? You're not alone as women are natural caretakers BUT we need to take care of ourselves too! Here are ideas to help YOU make time to enjoy this holiday season. Happy Holidays to all of you!

What's important during the holiday season? What memories do you have from your childhood? When your children were young? You'll quickly remember things you did with people who were special in your life, like baking cookies with grandma. Very few memories are about gifts although that's what the media is promoting as we're a consumer (read “consume”) driven society.

Make Time for the Holidays

Here are ideas to help you reconnect with old memories, and create new ones too:

• Get into the holiday spirit by reading a Christmas story like Donna Van Liere's, The Christmas Shoes. It's one of my favorite ways to relax when things are chaotic.

• Reconnect with a special friend for breakfast and you'll get to relax and feel great. In fact you can do this each month with a different friend … 12 months and 12 friends!

• Rekindle old holiday traditions that have great memories, like visiting a nearby city when it's decorated … and one of my favorites is the tree at Rockefeller Center in New York City.

• Hire a decorator to decorate your house. You'll enjoy a festive home and not dread one more holiday chore. They'll show you how to:
  • Add live branches to an artificial Christmas tree, saving time (cleaning) and money.
  • Fill vases with backyard decorations like pinecones.
• Bake your favorite holiday treat, just one or 2 so you don't overwhelm yourself.
  • Maybe those special cookies your grandmother made when you were little.
  • Sometimes baking provides inexpensive gifts like banana bread with cranberries.
  • When my children were home, we made ginger bread houses and invited the neighbors, so together we created a village (get ideas for a gingerbread party).
• Relax while supporting one of your local community arts organizations:
  • Local theater always puts on a special holiday show for families.
  • Regional groups offer the Nutcracker and holiday concerts like Handel's Messiah.
  • Google “holidays & XX (substitute your state)” to find lots more fun things to do.
• Change your gifting habits to focus on what people need:
  • Don't spend on people who have enough. Donate to a non-profit in their name.
  • Send a family (business) letter to share news with friends and family (photos are especially nice as your children grow).
  • Adopt a child, senior, family or non-profit and brighten their holidays. Some ideas:
    • Want to buy toys, contact Big Brother/Big Sister, A Safe Place, etc.
    • Thinking globally? Find a group focusing on something important to you, i.e. www.heifer.org provides animals to help people earn a living.
    • Don't have money? Donate time to a non-profit who can use your skills, i.e. My Handyman remodeled the bathrooms at a local theater.
• Give yourself a gift, something I learned years ago. My au pair went shopping for her Christmas gifts, and bought herself a new sweater too. Maybe you'd enjoy:
  • A new sweater, earrings or spa day … whatever will bring a smile to your face!
  • Something you'll enjoy all year like painting a room to brighten the winter? new kitchen hardware to spice up your holiday entertaining?

There's a saying that home is where the heart is. The same is true when you're with the people who are important in your life. Enjoy your holidays!