How to Make the Most of the Holiday Season

Dec 22, 2025 — Soft Services newsletter

An over-achiever’s guide to effective relaxation

How to Make the Most of the Holiday Season by Katie Stone I think we can all agree that the holidays bring up a lot of feelings. Excitement, joy, anticipation, grief, nostalgia, anxiety—pretty much all of them are valid sensations for this rather loaded time of year. On the spectrum of Total Scrooge to Santa Himself, I’d position myself somewhere closer to the latter. That wasn’t always the case though.

I grew up amongst people who believed wholeheartedly that Christmas was The Best Day of The Year, and as a Jewish kid who was uncomfortable in her social environment in that classic Middle School way, I felt…lonely. I don’t share this in hopes of receiving pity for my inner child, but rather so you can understand the absolute feat I’ve accomplished by shifting my POV.

Somewhere between my college graduation and my foray into optimism, my rock-hard heart began to soften and I started to allow myself the pleasure that is the Christmas spirit. Even though stocking stuffers mean nothing to me, I will still bravely embrace and truly enjoy the childlike wonder of the bright lights and the smell of pine. Plus, I have my own traditions to soak in; the stereotypical movies-and-Chinese-food evening, the latkes, the non-denominational gift giving.

Even though I am a Certified Holiday Lover these days, there’s still one problem I encounter every year. Once the calendar strikes December 25th, the trees are tossed to the curb, my neighborhoods—both the physical and digital ones—become ominously quiet, and that familiar loneliness comes creeping back in. Loneliness is not necessarily about a lack of company, it’s a feeling of discomfort in one's own brain.

This year, I’m on a mission to properly relax and restore; I’m experiencing pleasure in the present moment while I recharge my metaphorical batteries. So if you, like me, find empty calendars frightening and have an inability to mentally clock out, I’ve created a choose-your-own-adventure syllabus for the strange solitude of the post-holiday what-do-I-do-with-myself week. 1. Pick a director and go deep on their body of work We’re starting off with a bang.

How many times have you scrolled through every streaming service you own in search of a movie to watch, only to end up watching reruns of [insert comfort show here] while feeling guilty about the amount of money you spend on said streaming services. Decision paralysis is real, and in this glut of content we find ourselves in, the best thing we can do is self-inflict some limitations.

This works well both by yourself and with your family, both of which are impossible movie-picking scenarios for a multitude of reasons. Because I’m in the business of service journalism, here are some routes for your holiday movie watching itineraries, using this year’s hits as starting points. —If you liked One Battle After Another , now’s your time to go in on PTA. That includes Licorice Pizza (I know people felt some sort of way about it.

), Magnolia , and Boogie Nights —both of which I will be viewing in the near future. —If you liked Bugonia but thought it could have been even weirder, boy do I have news for you. Yorgos has been a freak, as evidenced by Poor Things , The Favourite , and Dogtooth . Get in there. —If you liked Sentimental Value , I promise that The Worst Person in the World was better.

I will be rounding out my cinematic trip to Norway and the Joachim Trier filmography with his earlier works, Oslo 31 and Thelma . —If you liked Anora , I would implore you to watch The Florida Project . It’s a hard watch, but it's an extraordinary film. That’s all the Sean Baker praise I can muster. —If you liked One Battle After Another , now’s your time to go in on PTA. That includes Licorice Pizza (I know people felt some sort of way about it.

I will be rounding out my cinematic trip to Norway and the Joachim Trier filmography with his earlier works, Oslo 31 and Thelma . —If you liked Anora , I would implore you to watch The Florida Project . It’s a hard watch, but it's an extraordinary film. That’s all the Sean Baker praise I can muster. If you don’t want my amateur film opinions—understandable. My friend and esteemed movie critic Elissa created a great resource for family-friendly watches . 2.

Reflecting and goal setting I can feel myself wincing as I type this. I know how new age TikTok manifestation-y this sounds, but truly, it’s meaningful. I used to be incredible at consistently journaling and meditating (read: every single day) and I’ll admit that I’ve fallen off the wagon in recent months.

After feeling uncomfortable in my own mind for a few too many days in a row, I decided to crack that Moleskine back open and let me just tell you, the results are unbelievable. There is nothing that makes me feel more connected to myself, more at home in my own body, and more regulated on a parasympathetic level, than organizing my thoughts in written form.

I often psych myself out of sitting down with the notebook, feeling dread for the next hour or so that this could take, but something that’s helped me a lot is taking the pressure off. There are no rules about how to journal or self-reflect or goal set. It can take 5 minutes or 45 , depending on what you’re feeling. Some of my type-A sisters will feel inspired to set SMART goals , others are going off of vibes. I don’t judge.

Just spend a little time in your own brain for a second. 3. Nail a new recipe This one goes out to all the people whose NYT Cooking bookmarks are overflowing with millennial-ass recipes that look amazing but have never seen the light of day. Now is the time to go in on that harissa roasted vegetable with an herby labne situation you’ve been sitting on for a year and a half.

In 2026, I will be cooking more often (a goal I’ve set as the result of aforementioned exercise), and in doing so, I will be re-making the same recipes until I hit it out of the park. These all feel doable: Once I perfect this recipe from Yewande Komolafe I will achieve my black belt in roasted veggies. I already know this bone broth miso soup by Karolyn Pho is going to change my life. Miso butter onions could be the first Ottolenghi recipe I conquer.

This yuzu salmon soba dish looks impressive and there are barely 10 ingredients. When all else fails, The Stew ™ will always be there for us. Once I perfect this recipe from Yewande Komolafe I will achieve my black belt in roasted veggies. I already know this bone broth miso soup by Karolyn Pho is going to change my life. Miso butter onions could be the first Ottolenghi recipe I conquer. This yuzu salmon soba dish looks impressive and there are barely 10 ingredients.

When all else fails, The Stew ™ will always be there for us. 4. Clean out your X I’m tempted to tell you to clean out your closets, shelves, drawers, cupboards, and other related synonyms, but let’s not get carried away here. This is all about emotional restoration, so we don’t want to overdo it, but we can still reap the cathartic benefits of a good old fashioned purge.

My advice would be to pick out one specific region of your home that’s looking a bit overgrown and going to town on it. ), your medicine cabinet , and last but not least, your camera roll . Also, listening to a great playlist will make this 10X more enjoyable. It’s just science. 5. Reading during the day This is, again, obvious, but you cannot deny the utter luxury that is reading during the daytime. That never happens! At least, I never do it.

I’m going to use this week of nothingness to throw my phone in a closet, make myself a cup of tea, and get reading. I’ve heard plenty of people tout fiction’s ability to inspire creativity, but I’ve always been more of a memoir type of gal. ( That is, until my dear friend Erika Veurink wrote a delightful romance novel that I inhaled in a total of 2 hours.

) My favorites of late include Unplugged: Adventures from MTV to Timbuktu by Tom Freston and Night People by Mark Ronson . If I’m being really honest, though, my favorite reading materials are not books, they’re magazines. So what, I love the feeling of flipping through the glossy pages of The New Yorker and getting immersed in some longform journalism. It’s glamorous! And I’m supporting a dying industry (sorry)! 6.

Audit your routines This one is related to the “Clean out your [fill in the blank]” concept, but it’s not quite the same. Here, I’m talking about reviewing your daily routines—the ones you typically have on autopilot—and deciding which steps actually still serve you. A lot of the time we don’t realize how much we do just because we’re habituated to do so, and while this is largely helpful in our world of too much choice, it’s probably wise to reevaluate on occasion.

Tangibly speaking, this could look like an audit of your morning routine and deciding that the journaling you’re doing by compulsion isn’t actually bringing you that much joy or clarity, and in fact, maybe you’re all set for the day after your 5 minute meditation.

For me, I’m going to get ruthless with the products that add unnecessary bulk to my shower skincare routines, and paring it down to a capsule collection that works well for my body: Comfort Cleanse , a Buffing Bar , and Carea Cream to top it all off. It feels so good to purge clutter in all facets of life, and it feels even better knowing you’re bringing only the best things into the new year with you.

Some final notes: As important as it is to do things, it’s almost important to NOT do things. That was my vague transition into telling you not to go on social media. Again, not a novel concept, but I mean it—this is the time of year when we are most vulnerable to FOMO. We cannot let photos of other people’s tropical vacations and holiday festivities fool us into thinking that they’re not fighting with their families or rotting on their couches like the rest of us.

If you’re able to effectively rest without relying on self-imposed structure, then by all means, disregard this entirely.

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