The key to a less frantic holiday season
Life Kit: Parenting
NPR
4.6 • 640 Ratings
🗓️ 1 December 2025
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
There can be a lot of stress when it comes to the holidays: figuring out travel plans, preparing the perfect meal, spending time with the whole family for days on end. There can also be a lot pressure to do everything perfectly, but psychotherapist and author of All Is Calmish: How to Feel Less Frantic and More Festive During the Holidays, Niro Feliciano, says that letting go of the need for perfection can actually make your holiday less stressful. This episode, Feliciano shares tips for keeping your holiday season merry and bright.
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Transcript
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| 1:41.3 | It is December, which means you have approximately 30 days to do the following. |
| 1:45.5 | Visit a quaint holiday market and find gifts for all your loved ones. |
| 1:51.4 | Attend a sophisticated orchestral performance featuring all the holiday classics. Go ice skating, |
| 1:56.5 | preferably holding hands with somebody. String up your Christmas lights. Put up the tree or a menorah or both. Travel to an Austrian castle and fall in love with a prince. Return to your |
| 2:01.5 | hometown after years away and fall in love with that bakery owner or farmer or the carpenter |
| 2:07.0 | guy you went to high school with. Yeah, he is looking good, isn't he? Plan a menu, buy ingredients, |
... |
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