Have you had an open-ended conversation with your partner about what you expect from the holidays? This is a conversation so many couples skip, and in doing so both sides tend to make assumptions that can cause stress and conflict down the line. What are your hopes and expectations for the holiday season? How can you have a lovely, memorable, healthy holiday? This doesn’t just mean talking about where you’ll spend Christmas dinner, although that’s important, too. No, the holidays bring changes to every area of our lives, so make sure you and your partner are on the same page with all of it.
Some questions to discuss might be:
-What diet do you want to consider? How do you want to eat? How do you want to drink? What about exercise?
-What are our financial expectations for the holiday? What kinds of gifts will we be getting, and for whom? What’s our budget?
-Are we able to host parties? Do we have money or time budgeted for that?
-What events are on our calendar? How busy do we want each week to be? Do we want to limit to one a week? How can we compromise about that?
-What kind of down time can we plan? How will we relax?
-What kind of romance are we hoping for in this season? When will we have dates?
-What would make this season extra special? What could possibly derail it, and how can we support each other in that?
What do you think? Did we miss any? What are some important topics you discuss as you prepare for the holidays?
