Creating a Calmer Holiday Season for Your Family

Every year around this time, many parents tell me the same thing:
“I want the holidays to feel special, but it always ends up feeling stressful.”

It’s incredibly common. The holidays bring excitement and tradition, but also expectations, overstimulation, disrupted routines, and added pressure on families, especially parents. Kids feel that shift too, and it often shows up as bigger emotions, less patience, or more conflict at home.

But a calmer holiday season is possible. Not perfect, just calmer. More connected. More grounded. And it doesn’t require a full overhaul. Small shifts can make a big difference.

Here are a few simple ways to bring more ease into your home this season:

1. Slow Down on Purpose

Holiday weeks tend to fill up quickly, and before you know it, every day has a plan. Try intentionally keeping a few days or even a few hours open.

A slow afternoon can act like a reset button for your whole family. Kids decompress. Parents breathe. Everyone eases back into themselves.

2. Protect the Routines That Help Your Child Feel Safe

Sleep routines, mealtimes, and transition rituals matter even more during busy seasons. You don’t have to follow them perfectly, just keep the general rhythm.

When routines stay semi-steady, kids stay more regulated, and the whole house feels calmer.

3. Lower the Bar (Really)

There’s so much pressure for the holidays to look magical, meaningful, and picture-perfect. But kids don’t remember perfection. They remember connection.

Simple decorations, slower traditions, and fewer commitments can create more room for the moments that truly matter.

4. Expect Big Feelings

Excitement, disappointment, overstimulation, joy, all of it comes out this time of year. Kids aren’t being difficult. They’re navigating more input than usual.

Planning for big feelings helps you meet them with empathy instead of surprise.

5. Build in Micro-Moments of Connection

Even on the busiest days, there are tiny pockets of connection waiting for you:

• a shared laugh
• a quick snuggle
• a whisper in your child’s ear: “I love doing this season with you”
• a moment of eye contact that says, I’m here

Those small moments anchor kids when everything feels fast.

A calmer holiday season doesn’t mean nothing goes wrong. It means you’re choosing presence over pressure, connection over perfection, and slow pockets of peace inside a busy time of year.

Take a moment today to tell someone in your life what you appreciate about them, and then reply to share how it felt to express it. Calm grows when we share it.