How To Enjoy A Stress Free Holiday Season

Show notes

About This Episode All the planning, shopping, and traffic can make a stressful holiday season seem impossible to avoid. But what if you could enjoy it with peace and joy instead of stress and anxiety? Aaron and Jennifer start with a few tongue-in-cheek bad tips before sharing real ones: check your heart, communicate expectations with humility, keep expectations light, and remember that these holidays are not biblically required. They warn against expectations driven by insecurity or outside pressure and against going into debt for gifts. Then they reframe the season as a chance to minister, from filling Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes to opening your home to people who are lonely.

About Aaron & Jennifer Smith Aaron and Jennifer Smith are the founders of Marriage After God and authors of Husband After God, Wife After God, and Marriage After God. Married since 2007 and raising six children in Bend, Oregon, they started Husband Revolution and Unveiled Wife to share what God was teaching them, not from a place of having it figured out, but as fellow travelers pointing couples back to Jesus.

In This Episode Bad tips first — a ten-course meal, sky-high expectations, crowds, and buying everything on credit. Check your heart — start with your own attitude before the season starts. Communicate — share feelings, plans, values, and expectations with humility. Light expectations — holding light rather than lofty expectations. A sober mind — remembering these holidays aren't biblically required. Insecurity and pressure — where unhealthy expectations come from. No debt — avoiding credit cards for holiday spending. A season of ministry — Operation Christmas Child, prayer, hospitality to the lonely, and teaching kids generosity.

Resources from This Episode Take our 31-day marriage prayer challenge and join the 1000's of couples who have done it For more marriage encouragement: marriageaftergod.com For wives: unveiledwife.com · Unveiled Wife on Facebook For husbands: husbandrevolution.com · Husband Revolution on Facebook Check out our marriage resources! Instagram | @marriageaftergod Instagram | @unveiledwife Instagram | @husbandrevolution Get our new book The Marriage Gift - 365 prayers for your marriage! Full show notes and blog post

If this conversation encouraged you, please share it with a couple you love, and subscribe wherever you listen. Follow us on Instagram: Marriage After God · Unveiled Wife · Husband Revolution Want to go deeper? Become a patron and help us keep creating resources for marriages that pursue God together. Smith Family Resources, Inc © 2026