Are you ready for a holly jolly anxiety attack?The holidays are here and that means it’s time to put so much stress on your relationship you start thinking about putting a breakup note in your sweetie’s stocking.
If you want your relationship to survive the holidays, preparation is key, so here are the biggest challenges to get ready for during the most wonderful time of the year.
- Bloated Expectations.We all aren’t dating Mariah Carey whose only Christmas wish is our presence alone.Non-Mariahs tend to want to see their family and friends, personalized gifts, and to go on made-for-TV-holiday-movie level dates involving horse-drawn carriages or something equally ridiculous. You’ll need to see what their expectations are by talking with them beforehand and try to make them more reasonable by compromising.So maybe an Uber through a neighborhood with Christmas lights instead of the horse?
- Making the Rounds with Family and Friends.Many couples have tried the Christmas day family split and failed. Do you really want to spend half of the holiday commuting? Try the every-other-year approach.Your family this year, theirs the next year.Coordinating holidays will eliminate.
- Expenses, Expenses, and More Expenses.Gifts are just the tip of the festive spending iceberg. Traveling and party expenses, food, ugly sweaters,Ho-ho holy crapdo the bills pile up. The best way to avoid a fight,and bankruptcy,is to have a set budget and stick to it. Don’t go full Christmas morning Scrooge and start spending like a madman.
- Not Enough Time.Unless you own a time machine, you will not have enough time for family, friends, co-workers, and also you SO. Try taking coordinating a shared day off from work in the next couple weeks with your boo where you can knock out all your holiday shopping together. You can avoid all the lines while everyone else is still stuck in the office.Use your federally mandated days off to actually relax!
Source:The Good Men Project