CHRISTMAS TIPS SHEET PLAN AHEAD Schedule your activities so you have a date to finish each one. Include whatever is important to you – for example menu planning, food shopping, buying presents, sending cards, inviting people, sorting clothes to wear, cooking etc. SCHEDULE SOME TIME ‘OFF’ FOR YOURSELF EACH DAY FROM THE WEEK BEFORE CHRISTMAS UNTIL THE START OF THE NEW YEAR Put that time in your diary or calendar. Make sure it’s long enough for you to do whatever helps you relax – walks, hot baths, watching Christmas films or anything else you enjoy. HAVE SOME ACTIVITIES FOR CHILDREN OR GUESTS To avoid spending all your waking hours entertaining people, have some things for kids to make or staying guests to do, so they can occupy themselves for part of the time. GET OUTSIDE Fresh air and daylight energises you and exposes you to beneficial bacteria in the air, so make some time to do that daily. PREPARE SOME FOOD IN ADVANCE Restaurants can’t make every dish for every diner after it’s ordered. A lot of food is pre-prepared, so it’s easier to finish and to co-ordinate with other dishes. So here are some of their techniques you can copy: Batch-cooking and freezing, so dishes just need to thaw and re-heat Partially cooking vegetables in advance, so they only need a short time to finish Making dishes in a sauce, so they can just be re-heated and served Having some cold dishes that don’t need cooking at all on the day Freezing ice cream in small individual moulds, to turn out when needed And another useful thing is to sort out all the serving dishes, plates and bowls. cuttlery, glasses, cups and saucers, serviettes etc well in advance and also put a little note inside each serving bowl so you know what food will go in it - it really makes things easier. GET ENOUGH SLEEP Avoid late nights so you have enough energy to get through the days. And turn off devices such as mobiles, laptops, TVs etc. an hour or so before bedtime (or at least use blue-light glasses or screens). The blue light from these devices can disrupt sleep patterns and make you really tired TAKE EXERCISE Exercise helps you sleep better, produce beneficial hormones and feel good. Make time to fit whatever type of exercise suits you into your day. SWITCH OFF YOUR PHONE Avoid being at everyone’s beck and call and have ‘Switch-off days’. DELEGATE Instead of doing everything yourself, delegate some tasks. This might mean buying some pre-prepared food, having an official ‘washer upper’, getting a cleaner in to give your house a ‘once-over’, having someone address Christmas cards for you and so on. AVOID IT ALL AND GO AWAY For a change, maybe don’t ‘do’ Christmas at all. Plan a complete break for once and come back refreshed – even if it’s only for two or three days.