Attack of the holidays - reasons to be hopeful and how to reduce stress

Attack of the holidays at Pinot's Addison

Reasons to be hopeful and how to reduce stress

I was at the hardware store this weekend and was not at all mystified to see aisles and aisles of holiday decorations stacked up willy nilly. 

We’re not just talking Christmas trees in every imaginable iteration (multiple sizes, pre-lit with white lights, pre-lit with colored lights, pre-tinseled, even pre-decorated), but we saw dozens of inflatable trees, menorahs, dreidels, reindeer, elves, snow men, snow women, snow globes containing all of the above and the wreathes! 

Who knew there were so many variations of wreathes? There were wreathes made of plastic, wreathes made of yarn, wreathes made out grass and wreathes made out of sticks (also in every imaginable decorative style). We might be praying for fall weather and arguing about whether or not candy corn is gross (it’s not) but that doesn’t mean we aren’t amped up about getting the inflatable Christmas decorations ready to rumble.

Studies show that those who put up their holiday decorations early are actually happier. Check out this article in popsugar which explains “If you were one of those families who had their tree decorated and the Christmas village out and in full swing by Nov. 1, you might be in luck. According to experts, decorating for Christmas early may make you happier, so you might want to consider pulling your garlands and gigantic Santa statues down from the attic a bit sooner.

"In a world full of stress and anxiety, people like to associate to things that make them happy, and Christmas decorations evoke those strong feelings of the childhood," psychoanalyst Steve McKeown told Unilad. "Decorations are simply an anchor or pathway to those old childhood magical emotions of excitement. So putting up those Christmas decorations early extends the excitement!" 

That seems logical enough. Pyschotherapist Amy Molin agreed, explaining that Christmas decorations can take you back to a simpler time, at least mentally. "Nostalgia helps link people to their personal past, and it helps people understand their identity. For many, putting up Christmas decorations early is a way for them to reconnect with their childhoods." She also says that it can help those who have lost someone feel closer to the loved one in question, adding that "decorating early may help them feel more connected with that individual." Now pour yourself some eggnog (or a pumpkin spice latte, it is October after all) and get down to it.

While layering your Christmas decorations over your Halloween decorations may be fun we also recognize that while you’re listening to your favorite Christmas music playlists on repeat AND shuffle that you are most likely also starting to agonize about your gift list. This article in Psychology Today explains why: ”For some of us, gift giving is no simple matter. Not just because it’s challenging to find affordable, thoughtful gifts given our limited time or finances, but because we recognize that gifts are often wrapped in symbolic meaning and we obsess about it.

Especially in complicated or conflicted relationships, gifts are not just gifts. Holiday gifts may be peace-making gestures, or symbols of anger, hurt, indifference, or dislike (or interpreted as such regardless of our motives). Indeed, we have to accept that sometimes there is no right gift we may bestow. A recipient with low self-esteem or depression may have trouble interpreting the gift as the loving gesture intended. When someone has a negative stereotype of us, our gift may be wrong for no other reason than it came from us. Our thoughtful gift will be interpreted as thoughtless, our expensive gift as trying to buy love or show off.

Fearing embarrassment or judgment, self-conscious people worried about what others think may spend ridiculous amounts of time trying to make the right impression and gain others’ approval with their gift giving. Will our gifts make us look like we’re thoughtful or thoughtless? Like spendthrifts or cheapskates? Will they fit with the group’s norms regarding how much effort or money to expend? Will our gifts look paltry or generous in comparison to others’ gifts? Will we be embarrassed that our gift is smaller than the one received?

For empathic people, gift giving can engender all kinds of time-consuming thought and effort as they anticipate what their gifts may mean to others. Recognizing that some people will see their gifts as love yardsticks (“How do you love me? Let me count the gifts!”), they take great pains to choose the right gift. Knowing that some of their children (or friends) are like holiday hounds sniffing for scents of favoritism, they struggle to insure gifts are of equal quantity and quality.

Paint this vintage Santa with us!

For those of us who need to reduce our holiday giving for financial or “energetic” reasons, the threat of disappointing recipients looms large, especially when our generous gift giving is part of a long-standing tradition. The threat of disappointing others and messing with beloved traditions leads some of us to continue giving at levels that strain our finances or our health. Although it might feel like the end of a family era to cut back and adopt new family norms, it might be time for your family to adopt new gift giving traditions to reduce the gift-giving burden. Consolation may found in the knowledge that even if that particular family tradition changes, other less materialistic traditions can remain intact, and new traditions quickly become old ones.

Not everybody experiences such anxiety around holiday gifting. To some, a gift is just a gift, a holiday token rather than a loaded relationship or public image symbol. To those rejecting materialism or rebelling against norms equating love with gifting, gift giving is a social obligation to be rejected or minimized. While these minimalist approaches to holiday gift giving may be misconstrued as uncaring and may violate group norms, some of us can stand to take a page, or at least a few lines, out of this simpler holiday book..”

This is where we come in. We believe that the best way to navigate the minefield of gift giving is to understand that for most people the gift of an experience is going to be more impactful than the gift of a random item found while cruising the mall. We’re not saying that thoughtful, well-curated gifts aren’t impactful (of course they are) but in general people value experiencing new things and doing so with friends and loved ones over a physical item. This article from Fast Company is a few years old but the science is still valid: “Most people are in the pursuit of happiness. There are economists who think happiness is the best indicator of the health of a society. We know that money can make you happier, though after your basic needs are met, it doesn’t make you that much happier. But one of the biggest questions is how to allocate our money, which is (for most of us) a limited resource.

There’s a very logical assumption that most people make when spending their money: that because a physical object will last longer, it will make us happier for a longer time than a one-off experience like a concert or vacation. According to recent research, it turns out that assumption is completely wrong.

“One of the enemies of happiness is adaptation,” says Dr. Thomas Gilovich, a psychology professor at Cornell University who has been studying the question of money and happiness for over two decades. “We buy things to make us happy, and we succeed. But only for a while. New things are exciting to us at first, but then we adapt to them.”

So rather than buying the latest iPhone or a new BMW, Gilovich suggests you’ll get more happiness spending money on experiences like going to art exhibits, doing outdoor activities, learning a new skill, or traveling.

Gilovich’s findings are the synthesis of psychological studies conducted by him and others into the Easterlin paradox, which found that money buys happiness, but only up to a point. How adaptation affects happiness, for instance, was measured in a study that asked people to self-report their happiness with major material and experiential purchases. Initially, their happiness with those purchases was ranked about the same. But over time, people’s satisfaction with the things they bought went down, whereas their satisfaction with experiences they spent money on went up.

It’s counterintuitive that something like a physical object that you can keep for a long time doesn’t keep you as happy as long as a once-and-done experience does. Ironically, the fact that a material thing is ever present works against it, making it easier to adapt to. It fades into the background and becomes part of the new normal. But while the happiness from material purchases diminishes over time, experiences become an ingrained part of our identity.

“Our experiences are a bigger part of ourselves than our material goods,” says Gilovich. “You can really like your material stuff. You can even think that part of your identity is connected to those things, but nonetheless they remain separate from you. In contrast, your experiences really are part of you. We are the sum total of our experiences.”

…

Another reason is that shared experiences connect us more to other people than shared consumption. You’re much more likely to feel connected to someone you took a vacation with in Bogotá than someone who also happens to have bought a 4K TV.

“We consume experiences directly with other people,” says Gilovich. “And after they’re gone, they’re part of the stories that we tell to one another.”

And even if someone wasn’t with you when you had a particular experience, you’re much more likely to bond over both having hiked the Appalachian Trail or seeing the same show than you are over both owning Fitbits.

…

Gilovich’s research has implications for individuals who want to maximize their happiness return on their financial investments, for employers who want to have a happier workforce, and policy-makers who want to have a happy citizenry.”

Paint and sip events are an easy and affordable solution to this dilemma. Whether you want to join a public class or plan a private event, we’ve got you covered! Painting is therapeutic, fun and accessible. We can help you with a teambuilder that gets the creative juices flowing while foster increased employee engagement while your team thinks outside the box. 

Gift certificates are always the right size!

Family paint parties are also a great activity for everyone from the kiddos to Gram Gram and Pop Pop. With low minimums and an extensive professional background in event planning Pinot’s Palette Addison will take all the stress out of your event. 


Don’t want to commit to a particular date or specific class? Pinot’s Palette gift cards are an affordable and “one-size fits all” gift that take the stress out of your gift giving while combining the therapeutic value of art with helping your recipient create new memories with the ones they love. They can be purchased in any amount, are valid in every Pinot’s Palette location and never expire. 

Let us help you spread the joy.

Pinot's Palette of Addison
Address: 5290 Belt Line Rd Suite 122B, Addison, TX 75254
Hours: Open ⋅ Closes 9PM
Phone: (469) 248-6347