The holidays are right around the corner. You may be looking forward with excitement and anticipation. Or you may be just trying to survive the holidays. On this podcast, Aleisha shares some of the Bridechilla communities concerns and comments about the holidays and gives her take on how to survive them. Whether you are trying to create your own traditions, dealing with divorced parents, or concerned about someone bringing up politics at the dinner table, rest assured you are not alone. The Bridechilla podcast is here to help you survive the holidays.
How to create your own holiday traditions
Every family has their own holiday traditions. But how did those traditions get started? And how can you start new traditions with your partner and family? Parents and extended family can unknowingly place their own expectations for how the holidays should go. However, creating your own special customs is important. Aleisha discusses the difficulty of instituting new holiday traditions while being respectful of the ones already in place.
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Don’t be too flexible
Accommodating parents can turn into a juggling act during the holidays. When you each have a set of parents who want to spend time with you, it can be difficult to manage your time. If either partner has divorced parents, the scheduling can become exponentially harder. While it is good to be flexible and try to honor everyone’s plans, being too flexible can ruin the holiday. Aleisha recommends having open communication with your families before the holidays so that you don’t overextend or exhaust yourselves.
Tackling taboo topics at the holiday table
Imagine the spread of food on the holiday table. Ham or turkey with all of the sides. The family is all gathered together, smiling and laughing while enjoying each other’s company. Then imagine that, all of a sudden, someone decides to bring up politics. Now imagine that lovely dinner table atmosphere taking a drastically different turn. Inevitably, each family has that one member that wants to discuss taboo topics during the holidays. How can you handle it without losing your cool? Hear what Aleisha has to say about that and other ways to survive the holidays on this podcast.
It’s time to start creating your own traditions!
There is more than one day
One way to survive the holidays is to remember that you don’t have to do everything in one day. Trying to go to all of the family gatherings, traveling here and there can be exhausting and could cause you to miss out on a relaxing and enjoyable day. If the day of the holiday isn’t good for you, you can celebrate anytime. The specific day isn’t as important as just finding time to be together. Use the weekend before and after to spend time with the ones you love. With the help of the Bridechilla community and the Bridechilla podcast, you can survive the holidays.
Show Highlights
[0:25] Aleisha introduces the episode which is about making it through the holidays which are drastically different than what songs and commercials portray
[3:29] This episode is a companion for while you are traveling and going to family events so that you remember you aren’t the only ones struggling
[5:51] Bridechilla Steph posts that she’d like to discuss splitting time between families over the holidays. Aleisha share Bridechilla Kristen’s response
[7:36] Corina shares about her inconsiderate family who they try to accomodate
[11:34] How to manage parents expectations and why they bristle at the thought of change
[12:29] The additional challenge of having divorced parents during holidays
[13:40] Bridechilla Ariana comments on how they try to visit all of their families during the holidays
[15:31] How to deal with politics and other taboo topics that might come up around the dinner table
[18:14] Aleisha explains that she is an introverted extrovert and she handles that during the holidays or time with extended family
[21:36] Dealing with unwelcome questions about your wedding from well meaning family members
[22:37] Even though it’s difficult, everyone should be willing to compromise
[25:02] Start having conversations about the Christmas traditions you want to have before you have kids
[26:18] You don’t have cram all of the celebration into one day. Find a weekend close to the holiday and celebrate then
[28:58] When in doubt, remember, you can always say “That’s not going to work for me.”
It’s like a weird obligation time of year that we all go through the motions when I think a lot of us would rather be doing our own thing.
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Why do we cram it all into one day when you can take the weekend before, let’s do a family event the weekend before. Or if you are in America and you celebrate Thanksgiving, maybe you can celebrate Thanksgiving with your family and Christmas with my family
With thanks to our Bridechilla Partners, Better Help
Show image by freestocks.org
