How to do Christmas without the stress

Get your kitchen cabinets ready for Christmas with tips from DIY Homefit

Christmas is nearly here, but how does that make you feel? It’s supposed to be the season to be jolly, but for many of us we just feel overwhelmed by everything that needs to be done, and find ourselves wishing it would all be over.

Part of the problem is that we are continually bombarded by a fantasy version of the so-called perfect Christmas. From glossy magazine photoshoots to corny Christmas film sets, adverts for apparently “must-have” (aka horribly expensive) gifts, shops full of Christmas food and decorations, and all the general buzz and hype . . . . . you just can’t get away from it.

So how do you do Christmas without the stress?

Here are five tips that might help.

Breathe!

Christmas is supposed to be the season of goodwill to all men. Not a big heap of stress. So try to put things in perspective and focus on the things that really matter. Which may mean that your house is not show home condition, your food includes some ready made elements, your gifts are not perfectly wrapped or you send less cards this year.

The key thing is to spend time with those you love, and enjoy good times together. In years to come, Christmas memories will be all about the experiences rather than the little details. So try to take time to relax, breathe and look after yourself so that you can enjoy these special times. 

Making a list of everything you need to do can help to take a weight off your mind, as once it is written down there is less danger of it being forgotten. So if you are feeling stressed, why not make a list, be like Santa and check it twice, then find a cosy corner to sit and relax.

Declutter your kitchen

Christmas might seem like the absolute worst time for a kitchen declutter! But it really is worth spending even just a couple of hours doing it before you start stocking up with Christmas food. Not only will this be more hygienic in that there won’t be out-of-date unusable items lurking at the back of your kitchen cabinets, fridge or freezer, but it will also give you space to store your Christmas provisions in a more organised way so that you are able to find things more easily when you need them.

And once you’ve decluttered various areas of your kitchen, it would also be good to give them a good clean. But don’t worry, you won’t necessarily need to do that yourself. It’s time to delegate! 

Read on to find out more . . . . 

Delegate

It’s often the case that those of us who get the most stressed about Christmas find it difficult to delegate. Which leads to you being the one in the family who is running around doing everything while others get to relax. The problem is that this becomes a vicious circle because everyone just then expects you to do it all.

So this year, it’s time for change. Take a look at your To Do list and see if there are tasks that you can delegate to others. This includes guests if you are hosting Christmas. Most people ask if they can do anything or bring anything . . . . so this year say YES to that! If guests could bring a starter or pudding, or perhaps some ready-prepared vegetables, it would not be much effort for them but less for you to do.

And back to the family at home, think about what they could do. For example:

• Printing address labels for Christmas cards;
• Wrapping Christmas presents;
• Putting up Christmas lights or decorations;
• Stocking up on / replacing light bulbs and batteries;
• Going to the supermarket with your food shopping list;
• Cleaning the fridge, freezer or kitchen cabinets;
• Sorting out extras for the table such as Christmas crackers, napkins, floral centrepieces;
• Setting the table the night before.

Take shortcuts with food where possible

If you are cooking Christmas dinner, don’t fall into the trap of thinking you have to make everything from scratch. By all means, do this if you want to and enjoy doing it, but absolutely don’t do it just because you are putting pressure on yourself to do so.

Your Christmas dinner will be just as good if you take a few shortcuts along the way. And – just as important – it will take the stress off you, enabling you to enjoy it more. Here are a few ideas of how you can take shortcuts with your Christmas dinner:

• A turkey crown instead of a complete turkey;
• Cartons of ready-made gravy;
• Trays of ready-made stuffing;
• Jars of cranberry or bread sauce;
• Frozen Yorkshire puddings;
• Shop-bought Christmas pudding, Christmas cake, mince pies.

Many of the above elements can be bought in advance and stored safely in your fridge, freezer or kitchen cabinets. And any of them would make a welcome and tasty contribution to a delicious Christmas dinner.

Create a drinks station in your kitchen

If you are hosting over Christmas, one thing that can really help reduce stress is to set up a drinks station in your kitchen if you have the space to do so. 

The ideal scenario is to dedicate a worktop and one or more kitchen cabinets to a variety of glasses and/or paper cups, bottles and cans of drink. You will also need a cooler area – either a section of fridge or ice bucket – for drinks that need to be chilled. 

If you have a drinks station, you can then make it clear to guests that they should feel free to help themselves to drinks at any time. And hopefully they will also have brought drinks to add to the collection. Which all means that you don’t have to constantly be checking peoples’ glasses and jumping up and down to refill them.

We hope that the above tips will help you to do Christmas without the stress this year.

Good luck! And do visit us again soon for more home and lifestyle tips from DIY Homefit.