In last week’s episode, we talked about the 6 things I do to create stress in my life and how to avoid doing those things. Number one was that I have a habit of creating due dates that don’t exist. And this little habit is as much a part of the holidays and carols and eggnog. Every flippin’ year I think that Christmas has to get done immediately after Thanksgiving. Friends, my holiday cards didn’t go out until December 23rd last year and, you might not believe this but, the world just kept on spinning.

Now, the reason I’m bringing this up on November 1st is that one of the things that helps keep my stress at bay, is that I’ve actually written up a schedule to distribute the Christmas to-do’s evenly throughout November and December—I just sometimes forget to look at it early in the season. And friends, this schedule is not a bunch of due dates. It’s just a list to help remind me what to focus on one week at a time so I don’t feel like I have to get it all done yesterday.

And, while this list is super helpful, I don’t have to stop there. Here are a few other things that can help lighten the holiday load:

1. Reevaluate last year’s list – before I go doing all the things, I can take time to decide if they even need to be done this year.
2. Distribute the workload – I can assign those smart college students jobs while they’re home for an entire month from school with nothing to do but to help me.
3. Prep easy meals – chicken patty Monday, chicken patty Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday! Whoopee!!
4. Use paper plates – I don’t advocate for this constantly, but less time at the sink and dishwasher can really make a difference at this time of year.

In our house, we call it Survival Mode. Team, if we’re supposed to do all the things we normally do but add a thousand more things, corners are going to need to be cut. And taking those few moments to pause and get a better perspective on the big picture is time so well spent. I really hope this works.

Next week, we’re going to talk about yet another thing my husband has been doing right that I’ve been doing wrong—yes, there are even more things people. I’m not happy about it, but it’s pretty interesting so please be sure to tune in. And until then, thanks so much for listening TeamConfessioners!