| |
| |
|
Holidays Information |
|
|
|
Christmas Holidays: 5 Ways To Make This Holiday Your Best Ever
For many people the end of a year is a time of increased stress. Instead of relaxing and unwinding from a busy year, the pressures of buying gifts, travelling or spending time with long lost relatives makes it a difficult time. In our household for example, my 4 year-old daughter's excitement levels have been taken to new highs by performing in front of 800 people as a 'teddy bear' in her first ever ballet concert. Loaded on top of this was her Kindergarten show, this time performing the role of an 'angel' in a Nativity Play, and counting down the days to our four-week trip to Tasmania. Just yesterday, she woke at 5.15 am and started packing her bags to go. I smiled when she told me she had packed 8 videos for the trip! Now I'm really looking forward to our holiday and spending time at Freycinet Lodge on the Island's east-coast, feeling the crunch of pristine white sand under my feet at Wineglass Bay, watching the sun set over the pink granite outcrops of 'The Hazards' and tasting the fresh salty tang of locally grown pacific oysters. But it won't be easy getting ready, packing and then travelling for 12 hours with full luggage and 2 children under 5 years old. Add to this the fact we're staying with relatives. So what is the solution? Here are my Top 5 Ways to make End of Year Holidays a relaxing and stress free time. 1. CLARIFY AND SHARE EXPECTATIONS. Be aware of the extra pressure on families at this time of the year. Clarify with family members what each individual wants from the break. For me, it may be reading all those business books I didn't get time for during the year. I know for my wife, it is getting extra help looking after the children and spending time together as a family. How can both these needs be met? Use these three questions to clarify the needs and wants of others at this busy time. What do you want? What do you dread? What will put a smile on your face? 2. PLAN, MONITOR AND BE REALISTIC ABOUT YOUR BUDGET. Money issues can be a big source of conflict at the end of the year. It is meant to be a time for gift giving and sharing but it can get out of hand. Set a budget for gifts, entertainment and food. Stick to the budget and monitor it regularly so you don't overspend. 3. DELEGATE RESPONSIBILITY AND SHARE TASKS. You can't do everything all of the time. Many people strive for perfection at the end of the year because of the many positive and festive images portrayed by the media. Be realistic and work out what you can and can't achieve. Ask for and get help. Be prepared to give up some control to share the load. 4. COMMUNICATE YOUR FEELINGS. The end of the year, and in Western cultures Christmas, is an emotional time. Share your feelings of joy with others. If you're feeling stressed, let others know how you feel and ask for support. 5. KEEP UP YOUR REGULAR ROUTINE. Keep doing the things you have enjoyed doing during the year, like exercise and eating well. Take time out for yourself and your family. © 2004 8M Media & Communications Thomas Murrell. All rights reserved worldwide. Thomas Murrell MBA CSP is an international business speaker, consultant and award-winning broadcaster. Media Motivators is his regular electronic magazine read by 7,000 professionals in 15 different countries. You can subscribe by visiting http://www.8mmedia.com. Thomas can be contacted directly at +6189388 6888 and is available to speak to your conference, seminar or event. Visit Tom's blog at http://www.8mmedia.blogspot.com.
MORE RESOURCES:
Holidays - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Lets NOT Talk Turkey The carving. The leftovers. Christmas Gifts For Dog Lovers Let's admit it, the US and UK are both countries of dog lovers, and dog owners love to indulge their dogs like children. You only have to listen to a dog owner call out to their dog, playing in the park or field, to realise how devoted they can be. 10 Ways to Celebrate Memorial Day Memorial Day is a day for remembering those who have laid their lives in the nation's service. Memorial Day has also become a popular time for Family Reunions and Get Togethers as it is preceded by a weekend. Scary halloween Masks There are countless Halloween masks available today. At Halloween specialty stores and online shops, you will find a mask in the likeness of every ghoul, alien, and creepy character of any and every variety. The Bloated Bar Mitzvah Celebration: 6 Ways to Take It Back Bar Mitzvah celebrations have grown exponentially in size and scope in the past twenty years.That's great news for me; I derive much of the income I earn as a party entertainer from working at these events. Ideas For Toddler Halloween Costumes Depending on the age of your little ones, you may want to keep ideas for toddler Halloween costumes on the simple side. Since most of the very youngest trick or treaters are only going out to amuse the grandparents and immediate neighbors, it needn't be terribly complicated to still bring a lot of smiles. What Causes Holiday Stress? The holidays are supposed to be a time of celebration when friends and families get together to share food, fun, gifts, and love. They are supposed to be a time of giving, caring and connection when we celebrate important and meaningful events. Gypsy Fortune Teller Halloween Costumes - Easy to Make As a little girl I often loved to dress up as a gypsy, whether it was for Halloween or just for play. Maybe it's because I long to be free to do as I want and go where I wish, without the societal constraints we have to live by (that's why pirates are so fascinating to people too). Low On Cash For Christmas? Try Gifts in a Jar Time is money, and right now you don't have either the time or the money to answer the call of the shopping mall at Christmas. The only way you can show your friends love, peace on earth, goodwill towards men is by shopping at Macy's, so you think. Making Mother's Day Special How many times have you heard a friend say about someone who's no longer here, "I never got to tell her (or him) how much I really cared."We've all felt this way at some stage about someone in our lives. Gods Gift to You... Mom Have you ever thought what you would have done without your Mother? Then why is it Mom's are usually the low woman on the totem pole? God thought enough of us to give us an earthly Guardian Angel and so many times, more than we could truthfully count this is the person we lash out at the most with the excuse it's OK it's only Mom. Thinking of the old cliché "we always hurt the one we the love the most" truly believing that all is forgiven. Kids Birthdays - How to Throw an Unforgettable Kids Birthday Party Kids take their birthdays very seriously, and are extremely disappointed if their birthday parties are anything short of spectacular. Throwing an unforgettable kids birthday party can sometimes seem like a task better suited for a professional event planner. The Only Way to Turn New Year Resolutions Into Reality! So you ate, drank and spent too much over the Holidays. Now you are overweight, bloated, tired and broke, and you are promising yourself that you are going to change all that this year!There are two reasons why New Year Resolutions don't work;1st we try and take on too much,2nd we don't believe in ourselves. What Are And How To Use Free Ecard and Free Ecards You can consider free ecards as being the same thing as normally greetings cards. The difference is that an ecard is an electronic card. I Just Love It! "I Just Love It!"You know the scenario. You're sitting at the family Christmas gathering and your ten-year-old opens one of Aunt Martha's itchy homemade sweaters. 5 Things Your Christmas Table Should Not Be Without Christmas dinner probably the most elaborate and complex dinners you will have to prepare all year. Chances are there will be many friends and family members attending so you will want to make sure everything is just right. The History of Teddy Bears Teddy bears have been around since 1902. The teddy bear came to being when President Theodore Roosevelt refused to shot a black bear held captive by his hunting party. How to Overcome the Overwhelm of the Holiday Season (And Reduce Holiday Stress) The Holiday Season can be a wonderful time of year, filled with lovely decorations, gift exchanges, visits with friends and family and delicious meals. But for many of us, the Holiday Season can also be quite overwhelming with all the added activities such as decorating our homes, selecting, buying, wrapping and exchanging gifts and hosting friends and family while we prepare multi-course elaborate meals! The question is, "What can we do to Overcome Overwhelm during the Holidays?"1. Home Made Gifts, The Best Way To Teach Your Kids The Value Of The Holiday To a large extent the holidays have come to be more about materialism than the original values of peace, harmony, and faith. Advertisers hit us from all sides with messages of greed and pettiness. Magical Plants of Christmas Most of the plants we associate with the holiday season are from Europe or the Mediterranean. We know the holly, ivy, mistletoe, christmas rose, rosemary, hawthorn, bay and of course, evergreens while the New World is represented in Christmas legend by the poinsettia.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
