Ahh, the holidays. Christmastime is here, and many will be traveling this week to rejoin loved ones and family members. We’ll be traveling too, as we often do during the holidays, to visit with long-distance family.

Wouldn’t you like your holidays to be a bit smoother? Me too. So here are some tips to help smooth over your holiday stress and make this time of the year more enjoyable for you and those you’ll be visiting.

1. Plan early.

Well, it’s a little late for this one. If your trip isn’t yet planned, I can’t help you. But this is good information for next year, as sometimes people wait until the last minute to plan their travel or where exactly they’ll be and when, when visiting the family. These tips can also help you reduce stress about holiday travel.

I think people get into trouble here not with forgetting to plan, but forgetting to plan the important things. Who’s family will you be spending Christmas eve with? Christmas morning? When will you see Aunt Phyllis? Sure, you can let all of this work itself out at the last minute, but the more you set expectations ahead of time, the less stressed you’ll be (and the less likely it’ll result in some unexpected family drama or hurt feelings).

Planning also means being specific and direct with those you’ll be visiting with. Say, “We’ll see you Christmas day around 2 pm and we’ll be happy to join you for dinner!” rather than, “Well, I’m not sure what we’ll be doing, let me call you on Christmas and let you know.”

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