Ho Ho Ho!
It’s that ‘most wonderful time of the year’ again. The time of year filled with good cheer – feasting, fun, family and friends. But it’s also a time of year when there’s loads to prepare and lots to buy. There’s the pressure to be merry, to rush around meeting relatives you don’t see at any other time, and to eat and drink more than is sane or sensible.
At Caffeine, we love Christmas, and we want everyone else to love Christmas too. So in the spirit of giving that characterises this time of year, and because one of our promises to clients is to help them find shortcuts to success, here are twelve helpful hacks to ensure you make the most of your festive season.
Each tip is from one of us and so comes with a guarantee that it has worked at least once for one person. Please feel free to choose the one or many that suit you most!
1.Burn to earn. Do whatever exercise you can do on Christmas Eve or even the morning of Christmas Day, so that the over-indulgence feels like mild indulgence. Even a bracing walk in the morning will make you feel you’ve burned enough calories to have earned the right to replace them (and a few to spare).
2. Beware the tyranny of the turkey. If there is only a few of you don’t cook a full turkey. Cook a turkey crown, so much faster and easier than a full turkey. Even better have roast beef; it’s much tastier. Treat Christmas lunch as just another Sunday lunch (with added pigs in blankets).
3. A Christmas pudding is for life, not just for Christmas. If you like Christmas pudding buy lots of individual microwave portions in the post-Christmas sale and keep them for desserts for the rest of the year.
4. Do good to feel good. Do something charitable like Meals on Wheels delivery on Christmas Day, volunteer for an hour at a local shelter or visit an old person’s home. Or just keep your eyes open for the opportunity to perform a random act of kindness.
5. Rest in the run up. Don’t commit to too many parties, drinks gatherings or work events. And try to avoid crowded public transport and crowded public spaces. You don’t want to be ill or too tired to enjoy Christmas Day!
6. Forget ice skating. The romantic image rarely lives up to the actual experience. That hour session you book feels like a three-hour endurance test. It’s cold, often wet and dangerous. Nobody wants a Christmas visit to A&E so don’t risk it!
7. Go to a candlelit carol service. They are magical.
8. Book one day to be a Christmas couch potato. Get the heated blanket on, switch on the OOO and watch back-to-back Christmas movies. Let’s face it, if you don’t book that day off it isn’t ever going to happen.
9. Hack your mince pies. When baking your own mince pies just cheat a little: buy a pastry stamp that does fancy things like intricate snowflakes and holly leaves. Your guests are going to think you just won Bake Off.
10. Perfect your Snow Angel. To do the perfect Snow Angel, carefully fall backwards with your arms outstretched and land in a T position. Then move your arms and legs as if you’re doing jumping jacks (arms above your head and back down to your sides, legs out and then back). Bonus: this counts as a gym visit.
11. Powerball your snowball. For a really powerful snowball throw, think like a baseball pitcher. Twist from your hips; this initiates the kinetic chain, which transfers energy from your legs and core through your torso and into your arm. This sequence allows your body to generate maximum force and velocity, much like a baseball pitcher. You will be famous and feared. Of course, you’ll need to have snow first…..
12. Remember the message of Christmas: Peace and goodwill to everyone. Try as often as you can, hard as it will sometimes be, to keep that message alive for the whole of the year.
We wish everyone a Merry Christmas and let’s hope that 2026 is a very Happy New Year for us all.
