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Ah December… a chance to sit back, relax, unwind and enjoy an endless supply of mulled items.. or is it?

We make no secret of the fact we’ve got young families and with that, December has taken on a whole new meaning. From the relentless school activities and the need to remember to bring in empty toilet rolls to make decorations with/Christmas jumpers/presents for the PTA tombola through to the planning and execution of the big day itself…it can feel more than a little overwhelming at times. And let’s not even get started on the Elf and it’s antics.

Like many of you, we’re also still working. And with that comes planning for 2024 and how we’re going to deliver even more value to those who support Urbanberry Recruitment.

But first!  We’re taking this blog opportunity to hold off on the recruitment talk (because it’s not very Christmassy is it?!) and focus on sharing a few tips on how we manage to juggle December and hope it helps 😊

Booking in too much. 

We’re all guilty of this around December., suddenly everyone you’ve ever known (and not seen all year) wants to meet up, you feel like you “must” do that Christmas catch up etc etc.  We’re here to tell you it’s OK TO SAY NO. There physically isn’t enough time to meet everyone, some people are just gonna have to wait till the new year.  Be careful not to book up every single minute of spare time rushing around to cram in playdates or nights out when you’d rather spend time sitting on the sofa watching Christmas films stuffing Toblerone down your neck. Do what you WANT to do and what makes you feel happy.

Ignore the noise.

Be careful on social media this time of year. Because apparently everyone is having a magical time, visiting incredible places and had their Santa visits booked in from March last year and frankly, it can make you feel rubbish. The reality of December is that whilst of course there’s excitement and magic and fun… there’s also stress, financial concerns and a feeling of inadequacy, particularly we find, for those of us who are parents. So, we try to remember that probably 95% of peoples lives are actually like ours. Days out with kids are unpredictable and often exhausting, the house is pretty chaotic, the tree might look like Christmas threw up on it…  and everyone’s a bit more stressed/emotional than usual. Don’t let a few carefully chosen photos’ make you think otherwise.

Lists lists and more lists.

Sometimes, when you’re lying there in bed at night, the thoughts of what you need to do JUST KEEP ON COMING. You can’t switch off, one thing spirals in to another.. it’s impossible to sleep for fear of forgetting something important that you need to do. We’re both BIG fans of lists. The paper kind, not on our phones (although that works if out and about!). But basically, getting those “to do’s”, out of our heads and down on to something physical means we can stop relying on just trying to remember.

Keep your boundaries (and respect others)

There’s SO much pressure this time of year to drink alcohol. Any maybe that’s who you once were but you’re not now. People should respect your decision and never question it but that’s not always the case. They’re mostly unintentional comments but nevertheless, frustrating and can lead to you feeling uncomfortable or making a decision to drink when you don’t want to.  You don’t owe it to anyone to explain why you aren’t drinking so we find if we feel like we’re going to be in a situation with impending pressure..  we avoid it.  Similarly, if we’re hosting a party, we have plenty of non alcoholic options available for non drinkers. And never question anyone who declines an alcoholic drink, just pour them their drink of choice- their reason is their own business and no one elses.

The FAM.

Christmas is about family to us, 100%. But that doesn’t mean it’s always plain sailing does it? Juggling extended family visits, clashes in values and beliefs, judgemental comments and family feuds.. it can be hard to navigate. And for those who have lost family members, whether it’s your first Christmas without them or the 20^th.. never more so is their presence missed than this time of year. There’s no easy way around it, emotions are amplified and particularly if you’re staying at someone elses house or you’re hosting yourself, there can be a lot of walking on eggshells and trying to keep the peace.

We’d definitely recommend getting a good friend on text standby for when you need to vent!! And try and carve out even half an hour to be on your own and go for a walk, eat nice food and remember that it’ll all be over soon…

You’re doing enough.

Just to finish our blog piece this month, we were both thinking about our favourite Christmas memories as kids and thought we’d share them! It’s likely that yours will be as simple too which proves that as nice as it is to do allll the things at this time of year, sometimes, it doesn’t take much at all to make memories that last a lifetime.

Caroline: It’s got to be when my older brother was convinced he’d heard the reindeer bells on the roof of our house. As kids, it was the most exciting thing, listening for them every year after that in the hope that we’d hear them again! Now, I tell my girls about the time their Uncle was lucky enough to hear Rudolph and they love the story so much.

Emma: Sitting on the floor in our living room (which somehow always felt different on Christmas morning!) opening presents with my Mum, Dad and sister in our pj’s and dressing gowns. The presents weren’t extravagant, sometimes it’d be a packet of socks split up in to individual presents to make it look like we had more but it was all just so exciting and so special.