Ensuring a Merry, Safe, and Stress-free Holiday: Practical Tips and Reflections

Welcome to a heartfelt episode of the Griot Journal's Coming Home podcast, where you'll glean essential knowledge for a joy-filled and safe holiday season. As your host, I'm thrilled to share essential safety tips and strategies for managing holiday stress to ensure you and your loved ones stay safe while making merry. We dive into the heart of the festive season, touching on vital aspects such as home safety, from timely light usage to smoke alarm checks, and preparing yourself for potential stress triggers. 

As we move through our holiday safety journey, we also discuss practical ways to create a safe and comfortable space for your guests, including why a first aid kit is indispensable. We'll explore child-proofing and elder-proofing your home, and we'll confront sensitive issues like dealing with guests who might struggle with substance abuse. In the true spirit of the season, we close with reflection and gratitude, cherishing the joys of family, the hope that Christmas brings, and the blessings we've received throughout the year. Tune in, let's journey together towards a safer and more joyful holiday season.

Thank you for joining our podcast today. If you have any questions, or comments, or would like to share your own experiences with aromatherapy, please feel free to reach out to us. You can connect with us on social media, or visit our website for additional resources and information.

Don't forget to subscribe to our podcast to stay updated with our latest episodes, and if you enjoyed today's content, please consider leaving us a review on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback is greatly appreciated, and it helps others discover the valuable insights shared in our series.

We look forward to having you back with us for our next episode, where we'll continue to explore the wonderful world of aromatherapy and its role in promoting mental and emotional well-being. Until then, take a deep breath, relax, and be well. I hope to hear from you soon. Your feedback is most welcome.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey everybody, thank you for tuning in once more to
the Griot Journal's coming homepodcast.
I'm your host, dr Mary andJefferson, better known to you
as MJ.
Well, we are headed fast towardthe end of the year, bringing
to conclusion 2023.
I cannot believe how fast thisyear has gone by.

(00:21):
I hope the holidays so far havebeen grand for you.
They certainly have for me.
I have so much to be thankfulfor including you Today.
I want to talk about safetytips for the holidays.
I've got a couple of thingsthat I think would be very
important to consider ahead ofpeople visiting or ahead of you
traveling, so I've got a fewtips I wanted to talk about.

(00:44):
The holidays can bring a lot ofjoy, but it can also bring a
lot of stress, and so I thinkthe best way to manage that is
to become aware of the thingsthat really are triggers for you
and to plan ahead, and so todaywe're going to talk a little
bit about when we get ready totravel, what that may look like

(01:05):
or what that needs to look likefor you, and then how do we
prepare for others coming intoour home for the holidays.
So, first off, let's talk abouthow to keep your home safe Now.
Many of you probably have a lotof things that you traditionally
do during the holidays when youget ready to leave.
Some things that we do at ourhouse traditionally has been to

(01:30):
ask a neighbor to pick up themail for us, so it doesn't look
like that we are away for a longperiod of time.
Some other things we might doare to have a post office stop
our mail and, depending on howlong we're going to be gone
forwarding that mail, usuallythere's someone always here.

(01:50):
So of late in these latteryears we haven't had to do those
things.
But those are some things toconsider, especially when you're
going to be away and it is outof the pattern for you.
People may notice that this isnot the pattern for you and may

(02:11):
take advantage of that.
Another thing that we might doto keep our home safe is
consider the lighting.
If you're going to be traveling, want to use a timer if you are
able to use a timer for lights,so that they're not on all the
time, because if they're on allof the time, people are coming

(02:32):
and dropping things off or mail,or maybe visiting around your
neighborhood may notice thatthose lights don't ever go off,
which can be a red flag forsomeone, or a green light, if
you will, for someone looking todo something nefarious and so
using timers and you can getthem pretty inexpensively these

(02:54):
days because there's such demandfor them.
Everyone is using them and Iwon't promote any particular
brand, but you can get themrather inexpensively at a
Walmart or our favorite onlinestore, amazon, to install.
Everyone has those ring camerasthese days and I think linking

(03:14):
them up to your phone is also agood deal.
If you can find one of those,that is very helpful, especially
when you're leaving peoplebehind as well when we're.
We'll get to that a littlelater, but if there are people
that you have house sitting orpeople that you have coming by,

(03:35):
that could be very helpful.
Also, leaving those littlecameras on On inside the house
with some people have insidesystems that work for them as
well.
Christmas trees many of us areputting up Christmas trees these
days.
We haven't put up a tree in along time, but we have family

(03:57):
visiting now and we're going toput up a tree this year
Interesting, because we've notdone it in so long.
We're thinking about all ofthese different things that go
on the tree.
The last thing we thought aboutwere the Christmas lights Very
important because we had toconsider where we were going to
put the tree in relation to theplugs that we had in the home

(04:20):
and how much power it was goingto generate generate.
Did it matter how tall the treewas?
The little animals that we havedogs that we have around,
potentially children coming over, and how that would impact them
.
And since we hadn't thoughtabout this in the long time, we
kind of pared down so that wecould make sure that everyone

(04:41):
visiting was going to be safe.
Maybe you have some similarthings to consider, especially
when traveling.
We want to definitely make surethat if we have the lights on
and they are on a timer, thatthey don't stay on for very long
, that they're not near thingsthat could catch a blaze, and

(05:04):
that we check out the cords andthe lights to make sure that
they're all functioning.
Give those a test, and thatcould be Pretty fun as well.
If you have a certain someonethat loves that.
That's their job.
You can make it a family deal.
You know Cookies and teas andall of those kind of things and
just come on together and be asupport to whomever that is, or

(05:26):
make it Something that you alldo together to check out those
lights.
It's super important.
We want to keep the risk offire down during the holidays.
Also, while we're on that, wecan talk a little bit about fire
extinguishers.
Usually there's a specific timeof year that we're doing

(05:47):
testing of smoke alarms andthings of that nature, but I'm
testing my fire extinguisher andthe smoke alarms around the
same time.
For some of us We've never usedour fire extinguisher, but here
at the Jefferson household weseem to bring it out pretty
often during the holiday season.

(06:08):
So it's Imperative that we knowwhat kind of fire extinguisher
we have, that we have a fireextinguisher that's going to be
prominent, where everybody knowseven our guests when they come,
if they're cooking in ourkitchen, that they are aware of
where the fire extinguishers are, where the smoke alarms are and

(06:29):
what the plan is if the fire,if the alarms, do go off.
When my kids were smaller, wewould have these fire drills and
I remember one time In late inthe middle of the night we had a
drill and I'd gotten everyoneup and they were responsive and
I headed on out the door, no onenecessarily in hand, but I look

(06:52):
back and no one was behind meand I went back in the house and
everybody was still in the bedsleeping.
I have to tell you that, youknow, after looking back on it
now I can laugh, but at thattime I was mortified.
But it was because we hadn'tbeen doing it, so they weren't
used to it.
So integrating these drills canbe very helpful, especially for

(07:15):
people who are not familiarwith your home and that plan.
If you've got elderly people,you need a plan so that there
could be a way of escape forthem and that there's Not as
much anxiety and coming to aplace that they're not familiar
with.
Also, with smoke alarms, thefire department has been out to

(07:39):
check in the communities.
I don't know that I see that awhole lot lately, but I know
that they are willing to changebatteries out several times a
year and I think that during theholidays we should be ready,
having tested those.
But if not, this is somethingthat we definitely want to do.
We definitely don't want tohave a fire and not have these

(08:02):
things be tested and availableto us if we need it.
Another thing is a first aid kit.
First aid kits are important tohave around just in general,
but especially when you'rehaving other people over,
accidents do happen.
You can get first aid kits fromWalmart, from your CVS.
You can order them online tohave around.

(08:24):
They don't have to be reallybig and fancy, but it is good to
have not just one but multiplefirst aid kits.
One of the places that's idealfor a face first aid kit is in
the kitchen, believe it or not,maybe in your laundry room If
you have a multi upstairs anddownstairs, multi level home one

(08:47):
upstairs and one downstairs.
But also many people may notthink of this but keeping one in
your trunk, keeping one in yourcar.
A lot of times when people arecoming for the holidays, they're
also doing things together inthe community, whether it's
parks or doing picnicking ortheater or movies or going out

(09:08):
to eat those kinds of things.
Driving through communitieslooking at Christmas lights
anything could happen where youmight need that kit, and so it's
good to have it and not need it.
Then need it and not have it,even for the elderly and for the
young as well.
If you're not used to havinglittle ones over, then you may

(09:31):
not think in terms of homesafety, child proofing your home
, but also elder proofing yourhome.
So what is elder proofing yourhome?
Well, I'm so glad you asked.
As people get older and aredealing with the issues of aging
, there are certain challengesthat they face.
They may have difficulty withambulating, may have difficulty

(09:56):
picking up their feet all of theway, and sometimes they may be
prone to tripping.
So if you've got rugs aroundthat are not necessarily tacked
to the floor, it could be a riskfor the elderly as they move
around, or even the young.
If you've got end tables orother kinds of coffee tables

(10:19):
that are around that have thesharp edges and you know that
people are coming, whether youngor elderly, that may have
difficulty with ambulating,that's a good space for you to
think about purchasing somethings to go on the end of those
tables to keep people safe incase they were to fall, or to

(10:42):
remove them all together.
Giving room.
Children tend to run around alot, and so, if you know that
you have young children who arebound to be bouncing around a
lot, these are some definite,important safety tips that you
want to take into consideration.
If someone gets overly tired orthey feel sick, do you have a

(11:07):
place for them to stretch out?
Have you prepared that room tomake sure that it's comfortable,
that there's linen in there andthings that they could utilize
in order to feel better.
I know when I was growing up, wewould spend a lot of time at my
grandmother's sister's home formany of the holidays and there

(11:32):
was always some place that wecould go, and that was usually
my great aunt's room if someonewere to get sick or just need to
lay down for a moment.
And when you're dealing withthe very young or the elderly, I
think that that's a reasonableaccommodation to make and to
know ahead of time what thesethings might be that your guests

(11:55):
might be facing Drugs andalcohol.
If you've got people that youknow are coming to your home who
might be struggling with thechallenges of drugs and alcohol,
this is a conversation I wouldsuggest that you have ahead of
time with them.

(12:16):
These can be very challengingconversations, but we need to be
open about the needs and theexpectations when people are
coming into your home.
Also, make sure that they areout of the way of children.
If you've got prescriptiondrugs, please make sure that
they are in a lock box away fromother people and that you have

(12:39):
prominently displayed by phonesor in the bathrooms or other
places, poison controls phonenumber so that you can readily
make those calls.
This is going to conclude thisepisode of Safety First for the
holidays, and I look forward tohearing from you all how your

(13:02):
Christmas holiday has been, howtraveling with family has been,
spending time with family andthe goodness of God that you've
experienced throughout thisentire year, and sitting around
the table sharing the good newsthat Jesus came, he was born and

(13:25):
he's coming back again.
For you and for me.
Happy holidays everybody.
Merry Christmas and God Bless.