The holidays are a time for family connection, rest and reflection, not stress, fatigue, and conflict.

Last year on my Parenting Great Kids Podcast I talked about the four main reasons we get so stressed over the holidays. These are timeless issues, so I’m bringing em’ back to you this year!

For your physical and emotional health, do all that you can to avoid these stress traps:

Unrealistic Expectations

Every year for Christmas, I want to bake all of my kids’, and their spouses’, favorite holiday cookies. I want my house to be neat at all times. I want to host all of my friends for a Christmas lunch. I want to entertain co-workers, send out holiday cards, and the list goes on.

Doing all of this is an unrealistic expectation I’ve put on myself. Moms are really good at this, especially during the holidays.

My advice? Confront your unrealistic expectations now. Write them all down, in order of priority. Then, fold the piece of paper in half. What’s on the top half of the paper? Whatever it is, that’s all you’re doing this year. Period.

Be ruthless about sticking to only the first half of that list, and let the…