christmasstress.info

Our friends at the Christmas Myths blog have some stress-busting Christmas tips for you this week when it comes to decorating your home for the Christmas season.  If you tend to get caught up in perfection, don’t worry about it so much. Simplicity is the key. Sit back, take a deep breath, and focus on the spirit that your décor conveys, not on whether or not everything is perfectly in place.

While you might love your perfectly decorated room, chances are that your guests will feel slightly unwelcome because they’re afraid to touch anything-it’s too perfect.  Instead, give the room “warmth, light, cheer, and good smells” to design the ideal space for creating lasting holiday memories.

Money is a huge stressor when the holidays come around-it seems like there’s never enough to go around. You have dozens of gifts to buy and only so much to spend, but it’s so hard to find what you want when it’s actually on sale!  Stocking stuffers can easily rack up a huge expense if you aren’t careful, especially with all of today’s electronic gadgetry that fits great in a stocking but takes a bite out of the budget.  ChristmasStockingStuffers.info has a nice list of suggestions to help you fill up all of the stockings you need to fill while keeping your spending under control.

If you need to take a break and need a smile at the same time, check out this video of the Magical Christmas Caroling Truck.  Their semi truck features a row of miniature houses with porches where carolers stand, singing traditional Christmas songs as they parade around Toluca Lake and North Hollywood, California.  The truck is lit with thousands of Christmas lights-you can’t miss it when it goes down the street. If you miss Christmas caroling or love Christmas parades, you’ll love this. Enjoy!

One great way to relieve your Christmas stress is to get a head start on your shopping. Finding the latest and greatest toy for our kids can be one of the most daunting and stressful tasks on the holiday to-do list, so why not knock it out now? If you’re wondering what’s popular this year, there are several resources available to guide you. CBS News has a short article talking about the toys that were hot at the February 2009 “Toy Fair,” a toy industry trade show. Blogs are another good resource, with the Best Toys Guide blog featuring new gadgets the kids will just have to have, and the Christmas Toys Blog covering which characters and themes will continue to be popular. Several classic toys are also making a comeback, so you may be able to relive a piece of your own childhood when you buy Mackenzie her own Snoopy Snow Cone Machine or Princess Big Wheel.

This Christmas season, have fun with friends and relieve your party-planning stress at the same time by hosting a cookie exchange party.  A cookie exchange will give you dozens of different cookies to share at your holiday parties and gatherings without having to make dozens of recipes yourself.  Instead, you’ll make several dozen of one recipe to share, and so will all of your party’s attendees.  Each person leaves with the same amount of cookies that they made.  Learn how to host your own cookie exchange party at ChristmasDinnerParty.info.  Just don’t eat all the cookies before your party!