13 Days to Christmas: Plan of Action - Speak Up

Sit down with your “home” family and discuss what each one of you would like to experience during the holidays.

The children might be looking forward to playing with cousins and going out with the grandparents.

What would Mom and Dad like to do? Have a slower start to the morning? Is there an activity that you, as a family, want to enjoy, without the whole entourage joining you? Most of our frustrations during these holidays with family are because we do not speak up. They are not going to know what you want if you do not know what you want, and the only way they will know what you want is if you voice it.

Time for a list again. Write down what everyone in the family wants to do, who they would like to be involved, and make an undertaking that you will all support each other. (Don’t worry about the family, we will get to them.)

Important - know you do not have to do everything with everyone. You have a right as a family to do certain things just for your family, or you get time to spend with only your siblings, or perhaps all the men want to do something, then all the women get to do something. It is about remembering that it is actually okay to say what you want and then to create a situation where you can experience that.