Surviving the Festivities! Tip 6
Love Thine Enemies!
Well, maybe not love but at least try for ‘tolerate your enemies’.
And maybe not enemies (hopefully none of those lurking in your lives) but people who irritate you, or with whom you’ve fallen out over the past year. Carrying anger and frustration around with you is emotionally very draining and, unless you’re directing it to a good cause, can be a useless emotion. (Although I don’t advocate suppressing angry feelings, just don’t let them take over.)
So give yourself, and them, an extra gift this yuletide and decide to forgive them. To err is human…..you’ll feel the benefits!
Surviving the Festivities! Tip 5
Don’t concentrate all your efforts and expectations into just two days. It’s way too much pressure on everyone to have a good time.
Instead think about the festive period as really lasting two weeks or so and resolve to enjoy all the component parts. That way, if one day doesn’t live up to expectations you always have another!
Surviving the Festivities! Tip 3
Get outside! It’s all too easy over the Christmas period to never set foot outside, particularly if you’re managing the catering and entertaining.
But a bit of fresh air is vital to helping you keep your cool – in all senses of the word! If you can, try and make sure you set foot outside each day, even if it’s just a step into the garden to grab some fresh air and two minutes to yourself.
Surviving the Festivities! Tip 2
Here’s my second tip – go out and buy some good quality lavender oil! No, not for great aunt Matty, it’s for you!
The proponents of lavender oil say it is great for removing nervous tension and there might just be a bit of that around in the run up to Christmas.
It’s also claimed that lavender oil helps promotes restful sleep; a little on a tissue hidden in a pillowcase might calm excited children at bedtime. Don’t drip it onto the pillowcase as it is an oil, and also they may well object to the subterfuge and you’ll be running around looking for new pillows half the night!
And not just children, try it on all visitors and yourself. However, (health warning), it may not suit everyone so check before liberally applying it on your guests!
Get a wee bottle and keep it in your pocket to put a few drops in your bath, or whisk out at the first sign of the vapours – yours or your guests!
Surviving the Festivities! Tip 1.
The Pressure is Mounting…
We’re into December and the pressure is mounting. Suddenly every magazine you open is full of hints and tips to tell us how to stuff a turkey with one hand while designing creative place settings with the other- and managing to look incredibly gorgeous and composed all at the same time!!
I guess there must be some women out there who manage this but I have yet to meet them. Every photo ever taken of me on Christmas day shows me extremely red-faced, (heat from oven not champagne-honestly!) I always have frazzled, frizzled,frankly deranged hair, as steam from veg has shrivelled my immaculate Christmas coiffured look to ‘through a holly hedge backwards’ chic! And my optimistically applied mascara has melted in the heat giving me a ‘Bride of Frankenstein meets Whatever Happened to Baby Jane’ look! I’ve grown to like it….
So my first tip is:
LOWER YOUR STANDARDS!
Ignore the glossy, air brushed models in magazines.
Read the magazines for fun (I love them!) but regard them as a work of fiction; don’t set yourself impossible standards and count yourself lucky if you manage to glean a tip a or two that actually helps.
And if you have any sage advice from your own experience, please do share it!
