Holiday Coping Articles

Listed by most recent articles first.

• Alone During the Holidays? Join the Crowd
  You know the scene. It looks so warm and cozy and loving. The large, smiling family is gathered around an exquisitely laid-out table, brimming with beautifully prepared food. All of this is playing out against ...
• Seven Steps to Keeping Your New Year’s Resolutions
  How much money would you bet that you're going to keep your New Year's resolutions this year? Just think of what it will do to your self-esteem if you could pull it off! These tips ...
• Making the Most of a Holiday Apart from Your Kids
  Spending a holiday without your kids doesn't have to be an exercise in misery. Margorie Engel, Ph.D., president of the Stepfamily Association of America, offers these suggestions for making the most of a holiday apart ...
• Preparing Kids for Holiday Visits
  If kids will be traveling between households for the holidays, then the "sending" home and the "receiving" home need to work together to ensure a smooth transition. Margorie Engel, Ph.D., president of the Stepfamily Association ...
• Nine Ways to Beat the Bah Humbugs
  Not everyone delights in all the festivities and joy of the holiday season. People from all walks of life and in all sorts of situations feel depressed, sad or out of it during the holidays. ...
• Holiday Drinking: Keep It Safe
  Every holiday season, people have to deal with the increased pressures and stress that the holidays place upon most of us. Whether we're traveling to be with family or doing our last-minute gift buying, most ...
• Managing Children’s Expectations: A Key To Happy Holidays
  Ten-year-old Sara keeps her holiday wish list in a notebook, adding new items as she watches Saturday morning cartoons. The list is six pages long by October, including several items costing $100 or more. Devon, who ...
• Beating the Holiday Blues
  Joy to the world! 'Tis the season to be jolly! Festive music fills the air; holiday cheer abounds. Everyone is happy at holiday time — right? Wrong. Truth be told, many people feel lonely, sad, ...
• Not in the Holiday Mood? It Might Be the Blues
  It's that time of year again. Multicolored lights twinkle across houses and front yards. Parents and squirming children form long lines to sit on a Santa look-alike's lap. Red and green decorations adorn every store window. ...
• Wrung-Out by Ringing-In the Holidays: Dealing with Post-Holiday Blues
  "The Holidays," generally defined as the period from Thanksgiving through New Years, can be an emotional roller coaster. We're expected to be (and would like to be) filled with joy, cheer and love for all ...
• Talking Turkey: Managing Unhappy Relatives at Holiday Time
  Almost all families seem to have at least one member who has made a career of being unhappy. In their distress, these people accuse, complain, sigh, and make it difficult for others to enjoy the ...
• Shedding Light on Winter Depression
  Thirty days hath September, April, June and November, All the rest have thirty-one Except for February— Which has 258! We extend our apologies to ...
• Enjoying the Winter Holiday Season
  No matter what your faith or cultural background, as the holiday season approaches, you may notice, as many people do, that instead of feeling a sense of warm anticipation, you feel a sense of dread. ...
• Don’t Stress Holiday Travel
  If you're planning a trip during the festive season, you're not alone. Everyone else seems to be traveling, too. The holiday season accounts for nearly 10 percent of all miles traveled by Americans during the ...
• Seasonal Stepfamily Stress: Tips to Help All Your Family Members Enjoy the Holidays
  In an ideal world, holidays would bring all families closer together and heal all wounds. Parents, stepparents, ex-spouses, children and grandparents would embrace each other in perfect harmony, and family discord would disappear, at least ...
• Holiday Stress: A Resourceful Survivor’s Guide
  Here's your chance to enjoy a serene Christmas—or Ramadan or Kwanzaa or Hanukkah The holidays are supposed to be joyous occasions marked by meaningful traditions, family connections, spiritual rejuvenation and just plain fun. Instead, for many ...
• The Ghosts of Holidays Past
  An adult daughter searches for the joy in the season, despite memories of distressing family scenes. I love the holidays. I really do. Give me cold weather outdoors, a crackling fire indoors, tantalizing smells from the ...
• The Valentine’s Day Fray
  I find human behavior fascinating. For example, I have a friend who, for 355 days of the year, is happily single. Oh, sure, she dates from time to time, but is very content living on ...
• More articles about holiday coping
  Additional articles about holiday coping and New Year's resolutions are available.
• 10 Sure Ways to Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions
  Another year is ending and many of us are gathering up our willpower for a brand new set of New Year's resolutions. But have we learned from past experience? A large number, if not the ...
• Finding Meaning in the Holidays and Christmas
  The holidays are a time of year, almost a rite of passage one might say, that you either love or dread. There's little inbetween. Most folks look forward to the holidays and Christmas on some ...
• Making New Year’s Resolutions That Last
  It's not always easy to keep New Year's resolutions. Sometimes there just doesn't seem to be enough time, energy or willpower to accomplish everything. Don't despair! If you spend some time reevaluating the way you ...