Spread out your Christmas shopping:
It is very easy to push the great task of Christmas shopping to the last minute. Don’t! As soon as you can stomach the idea of planning, make a list of the gifts you will need to buy over the next few weeks. Add a ‘buy by’ date and stick to it.
Be okay with saying ‘no’:
We all can’t seem to escape the pressure of needing to get everything done, go to every Christmas event, and wrap everything up with a perfect bow. Allow yourself to simply take some things off of your plate to lower how stressed you might be feeling. Don’t go to the office party if you don’t particularly care for your colleagues or it’s too expensive. Can’t find the time or money to even get any gifts wrapped this year? Be kind to yourself and give the gift to your loved one as is. In most cases, they will still feel loved and appreciated, even if they have to close their eyes while you hand them the gift.
Create new traditions:
Are there new ways of ‘doing Christmas’ that you can begin to incorporate this year? Maybe it’s doing gift exchanges with your friends Secret Santa style. (This limits your gift buying count to just one thoughtful or funny gift). Maybe it’s eating Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve. (We began doing this the first Christmas after Mum died and we’ve stuck with it.) You are in control of your future traditions. Start this year by making them exactly how you want them.
Put thought into your own Christmas wish list:
It is so easy to brush off the question with a simple answer of, “Oh, I don’t need anything” when asked what you would like for Christmas. If you have some people in your life that are being gracious enough to give you a little something, try to make it something you know you will use and will make your life better. Have you been in need of a new teapot? Or, if you are like me, a book token or a voucher to my local coffee shop could be the most welcome gift in my stocking on Christmas morning.
Surround yourself with your people:
At the end of the day, the festive period should be spent with those that you love and care about most. Choose who you wish to surround yourself with this year. If your friends are feeling the most like home to you, make those plans. Invite in-laws, friends with no holiday plans, and significant others to your home for a special day. You are in control of who you surround yourself with.
You might also like this post: Five Ways to Give Back this Christmas.
This West London Life 
All excellent reminders. Many of the festivities can be quite wonderful or can over whelm us ever so quickly. Mr Man & I have developed some very special (non fussy) traditions which we treasure as part of “our” Christmas. We have also solved our our struggle with gift wrap by using Christmas print fabric bags (Greta would be proud of us) which are used every year. We do paper wrap 1-2 gifts so the cats have paper to play in. (sorry Greta).
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Yes, the single-use of Christmas wrapping paper is still one we need to address … although I’m anticipating Tilly having a lot of fun with it!
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That’s a very helpful and useful list … I had to smile at number four because I am very bad at this. A book token is always such a welcome gift, isn’t it. We’re using brown paper again this year, but I like the idea of Mary Lou’s fabric bags.
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I’ve used brown paper in the past, with spout patterned sticky tape!
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I’m at that ‘Oh my goodness, it’s next week’ stage! Lists are starting to appear – and I have to keep reminding myself that it is only a glorified Sunday roast – I don’t need to try incorporating any fancy dishes that I see on the TV or in magazines, I will only stress myself out! It is nice to find your own family traditions and I love to see how our children are starting their own traditions now they have their own families.
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My plan is to stick with what I know – Christmas is not the time to be trying out a new way of doing things!
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