10 Wonderful Ways To Find Some Christmas Calm!

Christmas is a wonderful time of the year, but it can be such hard work!

Last year was my first Christmas as a single mum, and I drove myself to no-end, to make sure the girls did not feel as though they were missing out on anything! I slaved for hours putting up all the decorations and lot’s of lights, as this is what we had always done in the past. BUT this year, I am not putting myself through all of that again.

Our Christmas tree is up (and looks gorgeous). A few select decorations have pride of place, but that is it, I am not going the whole hog, and guess what, there have been no complaints from my two gorgeous girls!

So to help you all find some calm this year, I have put together my Top 10 things you can do to make this Christmas as joyful as possible.

10 WONDERFUL WAYS TO CALM

1. CUT YOUR EXPECTATIONS NOW! –  Be realllllly honest with yourself. What do you still need to do and will the world collapse in a big heap if some of these things don’t come to fruition. More often than not, YOU think they must be done, be reality says ‘It’s no biggie’!
2. RAMP UP MAGNESIUM – Magnesium in one of the miraculous minerals, that our body craves, but does usually not receive enough on any more in our modern day diet. A magnesium supplement taken daily, is a fantastic way to help your body cope with stress.
3. FIND YOUR SENSE OF HUMOR – Make light of the hard work, giggle if you botch up a recipe, laugh inside if one of your relatives is being annoying, just try and find the funny side of anything that is not working out right.
4. SHOP ON-LINE – The parking, the crowds, the chaos that hits shopping centres at this time of year, is enough to try the best of us. You still have two weeks before the big day. What ever you still need to buy, go on-line, just try and find it as locally as possible, to help guarantee arrival on time. Make your grocery list and use Woolworths or Coles to pack and deliver them to your door.
5. LOVE LAVENDER PURE ESSENTIAL OIL – Get the burner out and fill the air with the calming veil of Lavender Pure Essential Oil. Add to a bath and soak for a few minutes. If you don’t have time for a bath, put 6 drops on to a face washer and place it on the shower floor, the warm water will help to release calm. Put 2 or 3 drops on a tissue and tuck in between the pillowcase and pillow for children that are in super excited mode.
6. CHANGE YOUR FOCUS – Instead of spending your day agonising over all the things you still have to do, take a few minutes to focus on the positive in your life RIGHT NOW and just feel the change in your energy – powerful and effective!
7. ASK FOR HELP – Get of the pride pedestal and ask for help if you need it. You do not have to do everything yourself, just learn to delegate. Even if it is just small and simple tasks that you get help with, it still lightens your load.
8. BLOWING THE BUDGET – This is truly one of the best ways to destroy Christmas, spending time worrying about the credit card bills that will fly into your letterbox in January. Stop right now and assess where you are. If you need to reign in the expenditure, do it! Family and friends will not want you to go into massive debt to provide them gifts you simply can’t afford. Tell them the truth, your piece of mind is so worth it. If you don’t have a special savings account for Christmas expenditure, go and open one today, start contributing to it weekly and next year will be so much easier.
9. START WRAPPING NOW – If you don’t wrap as you go, start today. Leaving the pile of pressies till Christmas Eve can make for very hard work. An hour now can get you on your way and help you double check that what you need is in place.
10. LEARN TO SAY NO – If anyone asks you to do another thing that you really don’t have time for, politely say NO! Over stretching yourself leave you tired and cranky. For everyone in your household, the happier you are, they happier they will all be.

Wishing you all a safe and merry Christmas and a totally awesome New Year!