I hope your Thanksgiving celebration was special and that you were able to spend some unhurried time with your family. We returned home from a trip just before the temperatures dropped and the moisture started. The icy weather conditions made it a bit challenging but we were happy to have our kids and grandkids home at various times throughout the weekend.
Now that we are in to the holiday season, it makes squeezing in work and routine tasks an even greater challenge. Here are some strategies to help you manage your time and energy:
• Set some priorities. They are doubly vital when the must-do and the want-to-do take on equal importance.
• Do a day-by-day account of activities that come first and others that can be done if time allows or postponed to the next day.
• This is not the time to procrastinate. Make “do it now” your motto. Buy food for the holidays over the next few weeks, instead of waiting until the week before Christmas.  
• Consider who in the family has the time and ability to help with household chores. When children carry out tasks, it fosters responsibility and conveys their importance as family members. Even little ones can dust furniture or help seal the Christmas cards. I’m looking forward to having our two granddaughters help me decorate the tree later today.
• When the holidays are over, encourage kids to keep helping; they need to know their efforts are needed year round – not just at Christmas time.
• Lower your expectations a bit. Maybe this is the year to buy the table centerpiece instead of making it or to try a smoked turkey and skip preparing Grandma’s recipe for dressing. Simplify family traditions to allow time for what is really important.
• Consider hosting a holiday party the week after Christmas instead of trying to squeeze it in during the busy weeks before Christmas. Your house will still be decorated and it will be easier to relax and enjoy your guests.
• Toys, toys everywhere and which ones to play with? Children usually receive many gifts from “Santa.” Before the merry elf arrives, encourage children to have a gift giving party of their own. Select some nearly new toys and games, and let them choose ones they would like to give to local toy collection sites.
Just because National Family Week came to a conclusion last week, celebrating your family should always be a priority. Families are the nurturers, caregivers, role models, teachers and counselors for the next generation. Take time out from your busy schedule to “Celebrate” your family!
Donna Krug is the Family and Consumer Science agent with K-State Research and Extension – Barton County.  You may contact her at: (620)793-1910 or dkrug@ksu.edu