By TYLER PATRICK
The holidays are supposed to be a joyful time where the cold weather, seasonal music and festive decorations bring pleasure and happiness to all.
“I like to spend most of my time during the holidays with my friends and family because it’s a reminder of why I love them, and it’s great to be able to spend my time during the holidays with them,” anthropology teacher Alyssa Goss said.
Today though, all this joy can be forgotten due to the chaos and stress the holidays entail, such as running around and purchasing gifts. However, there are ways to make one’s holiday seem more family oriented and less of a hassle.
LIMIT THE NUMBER OF HOUSES TO VISIT- On Christmas day, one will realize that traveling to every aunt, uncle, fourth cousin and great grandma’s to open an array of presents can be tedious and annoying. The best way to avoid this is to go to one house and have everybody in the family meet there. This will make driving less hectic, and the hauling of presents can all be done at once.
TURN HOLIDAY SHOPPING INTO A SIMPLE PROCESS- When gift shopping, the most annoying part can be trying to find a gift for everybody in the family and each friend. A simple solution to this task is to bake desserts or buy Visa gift cards for everybody.
“I limit my holiday shopping by only buying for close friends and family because it saves me time from shopping for so many different people,” junior Jefferson Guetzloe said.
JUST SAY NO TO ALL THE HOLIDAY PARTIES- Every holiday season, there are a million and one holiday parties to attend. The time spent attending each of these parties takes away from the time one can spend with his or her family watching movies and enjoying family time. According to a study completed by the American Management Association, each American will attend an average of three holiday parties.
“Sometimes I wish that I didn’t have to go to holiday parties because I would rather be at home relaxing and enjoying the holiday season with my family, but I feel obligated to go because they are my friends. So after a few parties, I start trying to find a reason not to go or I start making excuses so I don’t have to go, such as being sick,” sophomore Tatiana Mantuano said.
It is not mean or rude to say no. When the person is not included in the RSVP list, then the party planner will not include food and beverages or include them in party games. So if one wants more time to spend with family simply say no. It makes it easier on the party planner than not showing up after commiting.
MAKE HOLIDAY DECORATING A FUN PROCESS- During the holiday season, decorating for the holidays becomes a bigger task than necessary. The easiest way to make decorating fun is to have the entire family work together on the process. The younger kids can help decorate the tree with ornaments and stringed popcorn and then the adults can work on putting the lights up outside and setting fragile knickknacks out on the tables and counters.
These tasks may not seem applicable to all circumstances because they don’t all relate to the exact same things that one may be doing, but they can easily relate to any person’s holiday season if one applies it to his or her situation.
The simplest thing to do to make this time of year less hectic is to limit obligations by limiting activities that take too much time. The holidays are supposed to be a season of joy, not the end of the world.