Admit it, moms. You’d give anything to have extra pair of hands at home during the busiest time of the year. Just think about it – placing the decorations, buying and giving gifts, shopping for ingredients, preparing for meals, and scheduling get togethers can be quite a handful that you know you’ll only be able to survive when you have a helper around.

However, my husband and I have been on the #NoYayaNoProblem train for a little while now, and honestly it is really taxing on both our ends. Truth be told, we only manage to do all tasks especially during the holidays when we intentionally plan out everything beforehand. Here are tips I find helpful that I hope you’ll be able to use this holiday season, too!

What works for my husband and me is to plot all the important dates and exact time when each of us will be busy. This also helps us manage our time in bringing/picking up our daughter in school as well as be present in most – if not all – of her school activities and extra-curricular activities.

Since we know that all our relatives would want to be with everyone this holiday season, we prioritize the gatherings that we need to attend to vs. the ones that we can just do a quick drive by. While we are well aware that holiday gatherings in the Filipino culture are important, we also know that preserving our energy for our nuclear family’s own traditions are also important. It’s a matter of learning what and how to prioritize, and speaking your truth politely and tactfully with your extended family.

  
Teach your child – even at the toddler stage – allow your child and let them be involved. You can prepare a list of items to buy for specific members of the family and let your child join in the responsibility by letting them push the cart, claim the item in the store (of course within and near your premises). Having them join the thrill allows them to feel more excited about the holiday season!

You can also allow your toddler to help you out in decorating your home. Yes, it may slow you down, but letting them be involved in such tasks allows them to understand appreciate this season better!

Christmas rush is everywhere! When buying gifts, you may want to consider purchasing it online or better yet, go to malls/stores on the hours of the day when everyone is busy. As for us, since our daughter’s school schedule falls in the afternoon – we get to do most of our errands during those times of the day.

Involve your kids on a simple but exciting Christmas countdown! It may be an additional work on your end when you prepare tiny details on the countdown calendar, but it also helps them look forward to something exciting every day and will keep them busy while you’re up on your toes during the Christmas rush!

Make it extra fun by putting a simple Christmas themed activity per day such as Snowman Playdough making or even as simple as packing away their toys to be on the Nice list in time for gift giving!

If you are attending Christmas parties with your friends or families, you may opt to order ahead of time so that you will have more time in decorating your place, or may prepare frozen food packs that can be easily reheated when needed. This may come in handy most especially for relatives who likes surprises!

While the holiday season is also a great way catching up with friends, remember it’s also to okay to say no to simple gatherings. Traffic jams and long queues are extra stressors to manage and will just add up to the holiday jitters. Without extra pair of hands, the little stressors can be quite a handful. Prioritizing yourself, your mental health, and your family’s well-being should always be on top of the list this season.

Here are the tips that mainly works for us on most days and not only during the holiday season. It helps us navigate from one task to the other as well as help us to prioritize the times we spend with our little family and most especially with our daughter. Being able to manage our calendars wisely as well as plan ahead enables us to do so much more not only with household chores but also career wise too!

We hope this would also bring out the festive season in each and everyone of us! No yaya doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world, but we look at it as more practice for our teamwork as parents, as a couple and most especially as a family. It teaches us lessons that we can easily look back and say, we did it!