You deserve a holiday too. Here's how you can carve out a little slice of rest, relaxation and sanity for yourself this season.

The holidays are usually depicted as a time of relaxed gatherings with family and friends, but when you're the one in charge, there are times when they can feel like one big long to-do list. And that's when the season can lose a bit of its magic.

Syndicated humour columnist Lisa Earle McLeod says, "Like it or not, we women own the holidays. If the kids are going to have matching sweaters for the photo card and your house is going to be clean enough for the company, you're the one who has to make it happen."

In the rush to make the holidays perfect for everyone else, many women put so much pressure on themselves that it becomes a season to be endured rather than enjoyed. "We often start cringing the day after Thanksgiving and the grimacing continues until we vacuum up the last straggling strands of tinsel after the new year", says McLeod, author of Finding Grace When You Can't Even Find Clean Underwear.

Give yourself a "Me Zone"
McLeod, also the author of Forget Perfect, suggests that scheduling time with your girlfriends and giving yourself short, five-minute "Me-Zone" breaks are the key to actually enjoying the holidays.

"The two biggest mistakes women make during the holiday season are neglecting time with their friends and not giving themselves at least one five-minute multisensory Me-Zone break each day," says McLeod.

So what's a Me Zone? It's a space and time to call your own and it's the birthright of every woman, according to McLeod.

"My own Me Zone is a few carefully chosen items on my desk that allow me to take an instant holiday whenever I need one," she says. "I've got my MP3 player with my favourite song loaded onto it, some dark chocolate and a Glade® Scented Oil Candle. The multisensory experience of looking at the flickering candle, listening to the music, smelling the candle's Apple Cinnamon scent and savouring the chocolate quells the holiday crazies and gives me the fortitude to tackle another task."

Add friends to make it a "We Zone"
McLeod suggests turning your Me Zone into a We Zone at least once or twice during the holidays. But don't pressure yourself to make things perfect.

"We women often think that we can entertain only if our home looks like a magazine layout. Consequently we cheat ourselves out of one of the very things that make the holidays special: friends."

Known as the Queen of Sloppy Entertaining, McLeod says, "I just dim the lights, put out a few Glade® Scented Oil Candles and order takeout. And if you serve the food on your best china, no one but you and your deliveryman need ever know it's not homemade."

So this holiday season, treat yourself to a real gift. Take five minutes every day to enjoy some time in your Me Zone.

And if stress starts to mount, call in the reinforcements and turn it into a We Zone. It's your holiday too, so give yourself and your friends permission to enjoy it.