How Do I Host the Holidays Without Losing My Mind?

December is loud. Choose what matters, and let everything else be decoration.

Let’s begin with this: you are not doing the holidays wrong. December is simply loud. It arrives with charm and chaos in equal measure, and even the calmest among us can find ourselves trying to sprint through a season meant to be savored.

Choose what matters, and let everything else be decoration.

You don’t need every tradition. You don’t need five side dishes. Choose the rituals that make your home feel like yours—your Christmas Eve supper, your favorite candle, the glow of the tree in the early morning. People aren’t coming for a perfect Christmas—they’re coming for a warm one. Light your lamps. Place a bowl of clementines in the kitchen. Add a few branches from the yard to your favorite vase.

Keep the food honest: chili after the parade, roasted chicken before the candlelight service, pears with good cheese. Guests are more starved for connection than complicated menus.

Holiday hosting brings emotion to the surface. Make room for all of it. A gracious hostess doesn’t control the mood; she creates space for whatever the season brings.
Before anyone arrives, give yourself ten quiet minutes. Pour something warm. Stand in the glow of the tree. Hospitality begins in the host, not the house.

If you need permission: your home is enough. Holiday hospitality has never required perfection. Only presence.

Wishing you grace and peace,

—Kristy

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kristy McCormally is a writer and hospitality educator whose work explores how atmosphere, intention, and the way we gather shape a meaningful life. Through Truitt House Living, she teaches a modern, quietly authoritative approach to gracious living rooted in beauty, connection, and everyday practice. She lives in Suffolk, Virginia, where she and her husband make their home at The Truitt House, a 1909 landmark.

Please submit questions or comments below or to DearMom@TruittHouseLiving.com.