I start holiday planning early. It takes the pressure off and my kids know what to expect.

The author (not pictured) starts celebrating on October 1st, and her kids know what to expect.

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As a mom, I know how stressful the holidays can be for making magic happen. Still, I think traditions make parenting through the holidays easier. My kids know what to expect every year because we do the same thing starting October 1st.

There is so much pressure on parents to make the holidays “magical” for their kids. It’s no longer just the holidays we’re supposed to celebrate but an entire season. With work, school, sports, after-school clubs, and whatever else life throws at you, it sometimes feels impossible to make any magic during this busy time of year.

My secret to making the end of the year easier as a mom of two is having family traditions for the holidays.

It’s all about what to expect

The key to family traditions is that they are repetitive events that are continued throughout a person’s life. My kids know what to expect once fall rolls around.

Activities can include visiting the local pumpkin patch, preparing a special meal, or reading a favorite holiday story. Keeping these traditions more or less the same every year means you give your kids core memories that they’ll cherish forever without having to do the mental gymnastics of coming up with ways to keep them entertained.

I want less stress in my life

Traditions don’t have to be an additional burden on your already busy schedule. Instead, think about the tasks you have to do to get ready for the holiday season and turn some of them into a family event. Whether it’s Thanksgiving food prep or Christmas shopping, you can turn these tasks into fun family traditions.

One of my family’s favorite days of the year is when we decorate the Christmas tree. I need to do it anyway, but instead of making it a chore, I include my kids.

We play Christmas music and get some of our favorite snacks out to make it an event. My oldest son puts the star on top of the tree, and my youngest gets to flip the switch to turn the lights on. Their involvement makes the tradition more special and memorable for all of us.

We lean on our community

Community events like a holiday parade or seasonal festival are easy traditions to incorporate since there’s not much for you to plan aside from figuring out where to park and what time to get there. You should put a little bit of effort into making the community event feel extra special and hype it up so that your family has time to get excited about it since anticipation is key in creating traditions.

Our family’s holiday season starts on the first Friday in October. That’s a lot earlier than I’d like, but that’s the date of our town’s annual pumpkin drop. We attended this event a couple of years ago, and my kids absolutely loved it. Now, they look forward to it all year long. Before we head out to the pumpkin drop, I make sure I have the Halloween decorations up by the time the kids come home from school; we eat a quick dinner and then go downtown to see some spooky dance numbers, drink apple cider, and of course, watch a giant pumpkin get dropped from a 15-foot crane.

My biggest learning was that I needed to do what worked for our family and forget about others.

I thought having a family gingerbread house-making night would be fun, but I found it to be overstimulating and messy, and I hated it, so we didn’t do it again. Now, we just do things that bring us all joy and that are memorable for the entire family.