The Great Christmas Planning: how to keep everyone happy?
Christmas is the coziest time of the year. At least, it should be. Because all the planning around the holidays can sometimes cause a bit of hassle. In the end, everyone naturally wants to gather as many of their favorite people as possible to spend Christmas in the coziest way. Unfortunately, you can't be in multiple places at once, and it's also important that you can truly enjoy the festive month yourself. You don't want to be exhausted by the time January 2nd rolls around. So how do you ensure that everyone is satisfied without losing sight of yourself?
Check well in advance what the plans are
Call your parents, your mother-in-law, your brothers and/or sisters, friends, colleagues, in short, everyone you know who wants to invite you this Christmas, and ask what the plans are. What date do they have in mind? What's the idea: is it going to be a drink, dinner, brunch? The sooner you have that mapped out, the sooner you can start piecing together your puzzle. Are there, for example, traditions that need to be upheld? For us, the Christmas dinner is always on December 25th, so everyone knows that dinners with in-laws and friends are best planned on other dates if you want to be there. Of course, you can also decide to create new traditions yourself, but be a little empathetic in your communication if you plan to do this. When it comes to traditions, it can be quite disappointing when you announce that you are going to break the tradition.
Organize something yourself for everyone you can't see
If there are multiple dinners or drinks at the same time that you can't attend, it might be a nice idea to organize something yourself. This doesn't have to be exactly between December 24 and 26; you can also decide to do it on December 28, or even in January. This way, you can nicely invite everyone you unfortunately had to say no to at Christmas, and you also make it a bit right by ensuring they can look forward to a cozy drink at your place. It saves all those separate catch-up appointments.
Ask yourself: what is the most important appointment for you?
Do you and your family value Christmas more, or the tradition of celebrating it on a specific date? Then it's best to choose that date as leading and plan everything else around it. But it could also be that you now prefer to spend Christmas morning at home unpacking gifts with your loved one or your own family. Make sure that the Christmas days are as enjoyable as possible for you, but communicate it clearly and on time to your surroundings so that you don't surprise them last minute with your presence or absence. In the end, you will have to compromise a bit anyway, because schedules will never fit perfectly together and some appointments are simply ‘musts’. Keep it fun, relax, and just make sure you don't roll out of the holidays completely exhausted, but rather recharged from all the love and coziness you've experienced.
