The Holiday season is nearly here and for many it's a mixed blessing--Holiday Stress mixed with Holiday Cheer.

Who isn't charmed with glittering store displays, eager children, and all the tempting cookies and candies everywhere? And a major high spot is arranging comfortable quality time with family and friends at Holiday dinners and gatherings. There are high expectations and a variety of pressures to ensure happy celebrations.

However, the reality of the season can be quite different; it's an exhausting month, jam-packed with time-consuming activities and social obligations, stress around finances and gift giving, jam-packed stores with no parking, over-excited children, and the challenge of preserving emotional and physical health. Sometimes just the anticipation of the Holidays can be overwhelming.

Blended families have additional pressure that may involve spending time with ex-spouses and multiple sets of grandparents, visiting kids who may be lonely for the other parent, loneliness if your child is spending time with the other parent, step-sibling rivalry, competitive gift giving, and a group of children who may be over-excited and over-indulged transitioning between households.

Everybody is exhausted and spread too thin, preparing, cooking, dealing with conflicting family schedules, and organizing transitioning children. And this year, because financial worries are a serious concern, there is even greater anxiety around creating a firm budget and being creative about gift giving.

The Holiday season is an emotional period that can make issues more acute; even though everyone is supposed to be enjoying themselves and each other, tension and worry can take over and stress us out.

What is the secret to lowering Holiday stress and dealing with common issues and problems as blended families come together over the Holidays?

The experts recommend several stress-reducing strategies including:

Planning ahead and prioritizing Keeping it simple Setting a budget and sticking to it, no matter what Asking friends and family for help and not being a martyr Agreeing on a Time Out for family issues and problems until after the Holidays Keeping children on a schedule and minimizing sugar overload, over-tiredness and meltdowns Maintaining emotional and physical health by getting enough rest

We also recommend treating yourself to affordable, flexible Blended Family group coaching to help reduce holiday stress around any of the above issues or helping you prioritize and implement useful strategies to make this Holiday season your happiest ever.