Happy Holidays

The holidays are just around the corner, bringing with them cozy thoughts of home and family. Thoughts of the aroma of turkey lingering in the air, a house full of love and peace, and the making of joyous memories for the future.

This scenario is the ideal, but we all know that real life isn’t always so rosy. For those of us with a chronic illness, the holidays can sometimes be draining and stressful. Here are some tips to make this time of year more enjoyable.

WHEN YOU HAVE TOO MUCH TO DO: If you host the holidays at your house, you know that the “To-Do List” can be all-consuming. So how do you nip the stress in the bud, before it takes over your life? First, be honest about what you can and cannot do. If certain activities make you sick, or require more energy than you have, tell your loved ones that you cannot do them. You might be surprised at how willing others will be to help out. Don’t be afraid to delegate to other adult family members and friends. Secondly, it’s ok to change family traditions. Especially if you have young children, now might be a good time to start a new tradition that will make the holidays more manageable for you, as well as special for your children.

CHANGE HOW YOU SHOP FOR CHRISTMAS: We’re fortunate to live in an age when we don’t have to do our Christmas shopping at the malls. Catalogs and the Internet can take most of the stress out of shopping, if you let them. Why subject yourself to the traffic, crowds, and stress of aimlessly wandering around a shopping mall, when you can do it all while safe and snug at home?

STAYING SAFE AWAY FROM HOME: If you go to someone else’s home for the holidays, you may have other things to worry about. If you have a latex allergy, new carpeting, children playing with balloons or rubber balls, and cross-reactions to foods can take all the fun out of the day if you don’t feel safe. The same is true if you have peanut or other serious food allergies. Just being with so many family members (and children) is tiring for anyone, but if you have to constantly be on the lookout for potential dangers, family time isn’t very enjoyable.

So, how can you make the day a little bit better? Again, be honest with others and yourself. Contact your family and friends ahead of time and tell them about the things that you absolutely cannot be exposed to, and why. Ask the other adults to help watch the children, and to avoid giving dangerous gifts, so you’re not inadvertantly exposed. (For example, my niece and nephews all got rubber balloons as stocking stuffers last year, and all were asking me to help them blow them up. They had to be told twice to not bounce them around me, but they still didn’t understand that I could have a very serious latex reaction from the balloons.) If you have had serious food reactions in the past, remind the adults to not serve food that contains an item you’re allergic to (for example, cookies with peanuts, or fruit salads with bananas).

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