The holiday season is upon us. It’s the most wonderful time of the year! 🎼🎼 Or is it? It could be, but for busy, already stretched thin women like us, this can be a time of added stress. I remember one particularly hectic holiday. I was newly married and foolishly attempted to host

Christmas dinner at my house while attending Christmas dinner at my mother-in-law’s. Needless to say, it was a total bust. I spent my whole day cooking, setting up, and driving back and forth. In the end, I ate a cold dinner -- alone.

I had succumbed to the pressure to do all. You know how it is. We tell ourselves that we can keep adding items to our to-do lists. One more thing won’t hurt – until it does. We don’t want to disappoint anyone, but the truth is when we fail to set boundaries around our time and energy, we end up exhausted and disappointed in ourselves. I decided that day that I would not spend another holiday trying to be Superwoman. I deserve to experience the magic of the holidays and so do you!

Are you ready to uplevel your joy, peace and presence this holiday season? To help you do this, I have created a list of the top 8 practices I use to make the holidays the most wonderful time of the year for me too:

1. Be present. At the end of the day, the holidays are supposed to be about quality time with loved ones. When you are busy doing, you miss the conversations, laughs, hugs and connections that happening all around you. Stop gifting that experience to everyone else while you miss out. You deserve to feel the joy and the love of the season too. Decide to intentionally slow down and give your undivided attention to at least 3 conversations during each gathering you attend or host.

2. Get enough sleep. It is difficult to enjoy anything when you are exhausted. You should be at your best when you are making priceless memories and building legacies. You can only do that if you take care of yourself. We need 7-9 hours of restorative sleep each night. Make it a priority!

3. Delegate! Delegate! Delegate! You don’t have to do everything. In fact, you shouldn’t. Get the entire family involved in the preparation, execution and clean-up. If there are things you can outsource to buy back your time, do it.

4. Set boundaries. No is a complete sentence. You don’t have to accept invitations to every celebration. You don’t have to host 75 guests. You don’t have to purchase 200 gifts. Accept the invitations that will bring the most value to your life. Host the number of people you can comfortably while still being able to be an active, engaged participant in the festivities. Gift experiences and items with deeper meaning. Stop running yourself ragged trying to satisfy other people’s expectations or meet your self-imposed standards.

5. Capture the memories. The older I get the more I value and appreciate pictures and videos. Stop avoiding them because your hair and make-up aren’t perfect or you haven’t lost that 15 lbs yet. Today is what we have, tomorrow is not promised. Take lots of pictures during the happy times. Record silly videos of people singing, laughing and playing games—enjoying life. It is these precious moments that will sustain you during the difficult days of loss that are an inevitable part of life.

6. Don’t sacrifice self-care. Maintain your regular self-care routine as much as possible. Don’t overindulge in food, dessert or alcohol. Move your body daily. Continue your daily prayer and meditation practices. Drink enough water. Get enough rest (see #2). Do the things that bring you joy—reading, baking, crafting, journaling, whatever. Take care of yourself-- first because you matter and second because you can’t take care of others if you are not healthy.

7. Practice gratitude. Make a list of the things for which you are grateful. There are so many! Go around the holiday table and ask each person to share something for which they are thankful. You are abundantly blessed. Don’t take those blessings for granted. Acknowledge and celebrate them.

8. Remember those less fortunate. Give to charitable organizations. Support toys for tots or Angel Tree ministries. Donate your time to homeless shelters or soup kitchens. We were not created to live for ourselves alone, we are here to connect with and serve others. An important obligation of that connection is to help those in need. Giving not only benefits the recipient of your generosity, it feeds your soul too.

That’s the list! Commit to implementing at least 1 or 2 of these practices. I guarantee this will be one of the happiest, most memorable holidays ever! Remember, you only get one precious life, savor and enjoy every day!