Give the gift of time together this new year

At a time when many couples are trying to cut back on spending for gifts, sharing an experience together this new year and thereafter may be a good option to save money and improve communication in marriage.

Share Time Together on New Year and thereafter

When deciding to share an experience as a gift, consider if the couple will choose the event to attend together or if each spouse will pick an event. If each spouse is picking, consider if the event will be a surprise or not. No matter which way is selected, be open-minded about the event. The gift is the willingness to try something new and to spend time together. Give the other person the gift of understanding.

Share Each Other’s Personality

Each person in the marriage may have something he or she has wanted to see, do or try but may not have had the opportunity. Allow this experience to fulfill a desire to try something. Instead of fighting about how one spouse never wants to go to the opera, museum or truck rally, use this as an opportunity to see that side of each other’s personality. Perhaps the spouse may hate the truck rally or museum, but there is still value in spending time together and sharing in each other’s interests.

Renew Old Interests

Choosing to share an experience may be an opportunity to share old interests. Many interests that were enjoyed when dating or newlyweds can fall by wayside as responsibilities of a career and home grow. A married couple who enjoyed hiking when they were dating may want to plan a short hike together to rekindle that interest. It doesn’t have to be a major expedition to bring a couple together for time to communicate and share past memories.

Get Away From Responsibilities

Planning a trip to a museum, play or sporting event can be a great way to catch up with a busy spouse. A stay-at-home mom may feel like there is nothing beyond caring for the house and children. She may feel as though she has lost a whole side of who she was. A working husband may feel as though there is no time for recreation and that all his hard work is rewarded with more hard work. It may be hard to find the time to schedule an event together or arrange for babysitting but it is well worth it. Even if it is only for Christmas or an anniversary, a couple needs time together to have an opportunity to communicate.

Choosing an experience that renews old interests or fulfills a dream to see, do or try something new can be a great opportunity to reconnect with a spouse. It can be a great reminder of what brought the couple together and how much they enjoy time together.

Christmas Chores for Couples

Couples have something called a transactive memory or a shared memory that makes it more efficient for them to function because they have both assigned things to remember and, in effect, a larger scope of memory, when they combine forces.

Since couples usually do it anyway, as a consequence of being married, they might as well exploit it for the holidays. Here are five things that a couple can do to make the holidays stress free.

Combine Gift Lists

A couple will have a list of all the people they need to give gifts to. They shouldn’t assume that they have the same list or that the other spouse will remember to add Mr. A or Ms. X in their list. The best thing for a couple to do is combine their lists so that they remember everybody.

Assign Gifts

The next thing that couples can do is assign the people in the list to one another. Perhaps one partner is better at choosing stuff for the women and girls while the other partner is better at getting gifts for the men and the boys. This way, they get to be responsible for one half of the list and not have to worry about the other half.

Print Lists and Compare

Once they’ve agreed on who is in their list, the couple can then check on each other to see if they’ve covered everyone in the list. This is where they can actually help each other out. If one partner is behind, the other partner can chip in. They can remind each other of what still needs to be done. This doesn’t have to be constrained to gifts but can apply to other holiday-related chores.

In the same manner that each partner shouldn’t assume that the other has covered a gift, they also shouldn’t assume that chores are already assigned. They have to agree on what chores need to be done and who gets to do them. This way, there are no unmet expectations due to erroneous assumptions.

Writing out Cards and Wrapping

The couple can choose to divide the tasks either by the lists that fall under them or by expertise. One partner can wrap all the gifts while the other one is assigned to write out all the cards. The couple can also divide up based on all the holiday-related chores. One partner can take care of finishing the gifts (both wrapping and writing the cards) because the other partner is assigned to decorating the house and putting up the Christmas lights.

It would also be a good time for the couple to remember that the holidays is about being generous and kind and not about keeping score and getting what’s fair.

Create Holiday Stories Together

A good exercise for couples to reinforce their shared memories is to take the time to put together an album of Christmas memories. They can put together all the cards they received, all the photos that they took and all the artwork that the kids did during the holidays. Together with the children, a couple can create a powerful story of what the holidays meant to them as a family.

Going through this exercise will help the couple not only treasure each and every moment together but also prepare them for more shared tasks throughout the year.

While some might view it as a disadvantage, couples are lucky to have a bigger coverage of memory because they can rely on each other to remember things that they couldn’t possibly remember as individuals. Putting this to use during the holidays is one way to lessen the stress. They can do this by sharing the following tasks: combining lists of gifts and tasks, printing the lists and checking in on each other, assigning tasks to each explicitly like writing cards and wrapping and lastly, creating a shared story together by putting together a scrap book or album.