The holiday season is a fun and busy time. Because we want our holiday season to be enjoyable to our family, we are making a lot of preparations. These preparations can cause a lot of stress. And stress is contagious. Stress is the last thing you need this time of the year–not when you’re supposed to sit back and relax. Here are ways on how you can avoid (or at least reduce) holiday stress.

Map a schedule. Setting a timeline for the things you have to prepare will make it easier for you to accomplish everything on time.

Ask family members to help out. You don’t have to do everything by yourself. If you have assigned tasks equally and everyone is involved, tasks will be more manageable.

Set as few activities as you can, and avoid those you never really enjoyed anyway. Some traditions are more of a hassle than meaningful. This year, set a new tradition by doing only things your family really enjoys. Don’t make eggnog when no one really craves it, don’t wrap the gifts if it really doesn’t matter whether they’re wrapped or not, don’t invite relatives you don’t really want to see.

Order ready-to-eat food. Preparing the meals will eat up a lot of your time. Instead of laboring on the menu for several hours, why not order everything so that you can do the less stressful things like decorating the tree or sending out the cards?

Spend time with your family. Don’t use up the vacation time making complex holiday plans. Instead, spend every minute of it with your family. Whether it’s watching TV, going to the theaters, or just eating dinner together, make sure that you spend your vacation doing actual quality time.