Hanukkah has begun and it is just a few more days until Christmas. As a result, all of my social media feeds are filled with laments of shopping lines, scrambles to wrap gifts, and travel headaches.

While many of us are taking it easy from our “day jobs”, it is still extremely important to care for yourself! The holidays can be a great source of stress if you don’t remember to give yourself a moment to just be.

This year, my little family is staying in town and doing a very low key Christmas. We didn’t even decorate because I realized that doing so would stress me out. We still have gifts. We are having a family dinner (for both my husband’s birthday tomorrow, as well as at the farm on Sunday). We might go camping. We will definitely be lazy.

My decision regarding how we are spending our holiday was based on the uptick in work I’ve had recently. While this is great for me, it’s also taken some adjusting that makes a stressful holiday not seem very appetizing! Things have slowed down just a bit for the holiday, so I am taking the opportunity to really care for and love myself in a few special ways.

Clearing My Schedule I was originally going to take zero days off for the holiday since Christmas lands on Sunday. That changed when I realized that my husband would be off for his birthday. I called and canceled the few clients I had scheduled for that day and I plan to clean house for dinner, exercise, and pamper my husband as much as I can on his big day.

Playing Music I Enjoy This is always a big one. I have been playing pieces I want on piano and guitar, and during a shopping trip yesterday I sang to all the songs playing in the mall. I normally keep myself from doing that too much, but with all of the neat versions of popular tunes playing, I couldn’t help myself. (and I also love what my friend Rachel Rambach gave her students! I might need some of those myself!)

Learning Something New Technically this is happening after the new year, but I signed up for Kat Fulton’s Intro to Toning Class! She probably doesn’t remember, but over a year and a half ago, I asked her about toning and she pointed me towards some resources. I skimmed it and was interested, I just didn’t do a good job following through. Kat is teaching an online course about toning in January, and when I saw it, I jumped! I’m so excited to learn something new that I can incorporate with my clients!

Shopping for ME I do not hide the fact that I have an awesome mother-in-law. Her gift to me for the past two Christmases has been to take me shopping at the outlet malls in Charlotte. Since I don’t shop very often, it was definitely a piece of self care that I needed!

How are you taking care of yourself during the holiday? I’d love to hear what you are doing for YOU!