Five Steps to Ease Holiday Relationship Stress

“Give your stress wings and let it fly away.” - Terri Guillemets

For couples the holidays create many opportunities for stress, even in the best relationships. There is so much to do such as shopping, traveling, visiting, and cooking. So many decisions to make - how much money to spend, who to visit, what gifts to buy - and so little time. It’s important to remember that we have the choice to allow holiday stress to wreak havoc in our relationships or look to our relationships as a respite from all of the outside stress.Here are 5 steps that will help ease the holiday stress on your partnership:

1. Plan as a team - Brainstorm all that has to be done and create a strategic plan as to how you will accomplish it. Compromise and make decisions together.
2. Use “To Do” lists - Set time frames to accomplish tasks and divide up the work. Build in extra time for crises and delays.
3. Talk about money up front - Decide how much you will spend and what gifts you will buy before you go shopping. Keep in mind that overspending will create more stress in January when credit card statements arrive.
4. Set realistic expectations and boundaries - Remember you can’t do it all, you won’t do it perfectly and you can’t please everyone.
5. Schedule “us” time - Treat yourselves to dinner out, a romantic evening, or a couple's massage during holiday time. Put your relationship on the list.

Staying connected as a couple during the holiday season will turn your holiday hassles into holiday bliss.We would love to hear your feedback about tips to reduce holiday relationship stress on our Facebook page.To Your Relationship,Lori and Bob Hollanderwww.RelationshipsWork.comSign up for our monthly eNewsletter, Radical Relationships, to receive more tips and articles about relationships.