How to Celebrate Your First Holiday Season Together

Spending your first holiday season together in a new relationship can be a wonderful and rewarding experience. But it is also often a stressful time as you try to accommodate each other's needs.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Bookstore/music Gift Certificates
• Gift Ribbons
• Tissue Paper
• Gift Bags
• Gift Bows
• Photo Albums
• Wrapping Paper
• Tape
• Camera Accessories
• Cameras
• Film

1. Set aside quality time (at least 15 minutes a day) for you and your partner to reconnect with each other.
2. Remind each other of the true meaning of the holidays if you find yourself getting strung out. The parties, shopping and gifts can be fun, but it is the spirit of the holiday, not the trappings, that really counts.
3. Prioritize your obligations as a couple. This way you can decide what things are most important to do and what things can slide if time runs short.
4. Escape from your family and friends to take a walk together or participate in some other activity that you both enjoy. This will help you reinvigorate yourself for the demands that lie ahead of you.
5. Arrange signals in advance to privately communicate with each other when you are with other people. For instance, clearing your throat or touching your forehead could mean that you want to change the topic of conversation or get ready to leave.
6. Set boundaries for your family if there are topics you and your partner prefer not to discuss, such as when you will get married or past relationships.
7. Incorporate some of each of your favorite traditions from the past into your own celebration. This can be a way to get to know one another better.
8. Start your own new traditions as a couple.

Tips & Warnings

• Embrace change, rather than resisting it. It can be exciting to try doing something in a new way instead of repeating the same routine you have been doing your entire life.
• Remember that the sparks of a new romance can make this holiday season the best one ever.