Tip for surviving Christmas - be flexible
When you have children, you quickly learn that the best-made plans of mice and men can - and will - often go astray. Having a regimented schedule will most likely need to be rethought over the holidays, especially because there is so much going on and not enough time to do it all.
Build some time into your day to cover all the things that can go wrong - meltdowns in the mall, traffic snarls, long queues at the post office, or simply a child who needs a half-hour longer at naptime. Likewise, make time for magical moments like going to visit Santa, gazing at the twinkling Christmas tree lights, and tasting cookie dough.
You want your children to have happy memories of the holidays, and if you're stressed out and grumpy, they'll pick up on it - so be prepared to let things go if you need to. They weren't all smiling cherubically and looking at the camera for the Santa photo? Your album will be much more interesting if you leave the imperfect photo there for future giggling over, rather than trying to find time to get it retaken.
Prioritise what's really important to you this season, and let the rest go.
