Tag: holiday

Without warning, the holiday season can wreak havoc on you, your spouse and the entire family. Get ahead of the holiday rush by creating a clear vision for how you want to be. The holidays cause chaos for many people because of the change from their typical daily routine. Feeling compelled to participate in everything that comes their way, a vast number of people react in the moment to invitations for holiday parties, parades and gift exchanges. The added number of activities can result in extra stress during a time when there may already be an overload of regular commitments.

The act of gift giving during the holiday season is often a highly anticipated tradition among family members and close friends. But toss in the decision to "gift" a boss, fellow colleagues, a dinner party host and a few distant neighbors, and gift giving can quickly become a hassle and an expensive chore. Questions such as, "Do I have to reciprocate with a gift?" and, "Is it necessary to give my boss a gift?" are common. The following are the most commonly asked holiday questions:

The holidays are a time of rituals and traditions. As a newly married couple, it’s a time to examine your own expectations and attitudes about the holidays and begin to establish your own ways to celebrate.

Since each of you comes to the relationship with your own ideas about what the holidays mean and the "right" way to mark them, it’s an opportunity to merge traditions and create new ones of your own. Here are six steps to a merrier holiday season:

If there is anything good to come from such scary economic times, it is a refocusing on what is really important in our lives—our family and close friends. We can, and should, still enjoy the holidays with them.

No matter what your economic situation, I recommend that you rethink how you entertain guests this year. If you have entertained lavishly in the past, take measures to make your party a bit more homespun. Be considerate of what some of your guests may be going through. If you’ve always needed to keep a budget in mind, this year you can find new and creative ways to do that.

Holiday decorations, music and festivities surround us this time of year. People are busy decorating, sending cards, buying presents, playing holiday music and attending holiday parties. What do you do if you are just not into the holiday spirit this year?

Of course, you can choose to ignore the holiday spirit around you, but are there other ways that you can rally...especially when you have family, children and friends looking to you to join them or lead the way?

Many of us believe that we have to go home for the holidays—no matter how old we are, where we live or who we are with. For the first 30 years of my life, I spent Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays with my family in Canada. No matter where I lived, I always went home for the holidays for a banquet dinner with forty relatives. My grandmother and aunts lovingly prepared food for weeks. It was loud, chaotic and traditional. We were all expected to be there. In fact, I do not remember anyone breaking that rule…ever.

Fast forward to my married life. One year, my husband proposed that we go on a trip to Santa Fe...over the Christmas holidays! I could not imagine breaking our family's tradition.

This time of year can be stressful for a number of reasons. As a result, many couples experience more of a sex slump during the holidays than any other time of year. The reasons for the slump can be a result of factors like anxiety over holiday shopping and bills, family visits and weight gain. Here are several tips for avoiding a sex slump, as well as how to get the romance back after the holiday stress is behind you.