How to Celebrate Yuletide, Self-Care For Menopause.
As we step into the final stretch of the year, the world speeds up… but our bodies often ask for the opposite.
I’m bringing back one of my favourite “slow rituals” for this season – 12 simple actions for the 12 Days of Christmas.
You can approach this in two ways:
✨ Save it for the actual 12 days (26 Dec–6 Jan) when the frenzy has passed and the quiet magic begins.
✨ Or use it right now, treating each prompt as a bite-sized moment of self-care in the lead-up to Christmas, a way to stay grounded while everything (and everyone) demands more.
Either way, think of this as a gentle rhythm to follow, not another task list.
There is no pressure here – no perfection, just small rituals to bring you back into your body during a season that can easily pull you out of it.
A History of 12 Days
I hated History at school, but now I love it haha!
Traditionally people used to follow a Lunar Calendar which left 12 days ‘spare’ at the end of the year. These twelve nights became special where the veil between worlds was thin and many celebrations were held.
At the heart of the Yuletide celebration is the return of the sun at Winter Solstice, people still gather today at sites across the world to celebrate, you may be familiar with sites in the UK such as Stone Henge and Glastonbury Tor.
There is not a great deal of information known about what people did between the Solstice and New Year but in the interest of taking time to recharge and fill your personal bucket I have created 12 days of self-care.
Be intentional and set some time aside each day for yourself and perhaps take on the following self-care tasks.
1st Day of Yuletide – Take a nap
Today your self-care task is to take a nap.
Take some time out if you can, even just 10 minutes, set an alarm and close your eyes.
Studies show that taking a nap can:
- 😴 Improve short-term memory
- 😴 Lift your mood
- 😴 Make you more alert
- 😴 Ease stress
What more excuse do you need?
2nd Day of Yuletide – Laugh Out Loud
Today’s self-care task is to Laugh Out Loud.
What makes you laugh?
Try watching a funny film or sitcom or playing games with friends or family.
Laughing is so good for your wellbeing, it relieves stress and feelings of anxiety and depression.
Laughing is also a good muscle workout for your face and your abs 😜
3rd Day of Yuletide – Nature Walk
Being in nature can put life stresses into perspective for me.
How can you fit in a nature walk today?
Being out in nature has so many benefits for our overall health such as:
- 🌱Feeling psychologically restored
- 🌱Being exposed to vitamin D
- 🌱Brightening your mood
- 🌱Improving physical health
Even just a 15-minute walk at lunchtime or parking the car further away from your destination will provide benefits.
4th Day of Yuletide – Pamper
What can you do to pamper yourself today?
You deserve to block out at least 30 minutes for you.
Pampering is a good way to help our body eliminate toxins.
Why not try:
💚Dry body brushing
💚A soak in Epsom salts
💚Moisturing your skin with an aromatherapy oil
Anything you do to pamper yourself improves your feeling of self-esteem and well-being, this is not just good for your mental health but also your immune system.
5th Day of Yuletide – Gratitude
We can’t always be HAPPY but we can be GRATEFUL.
What are you grateful for today?
If you have a busy day ahead, maybe take a few moments now to connect.
Gratitude is linked to increased feelings of well-being.
It can improve your mood and lower levels of stress and depression.
6th Day of Yuletide – Quality time
New Year’s Eve sits in that curious space between endings and beginnings. Still within the Yuletide window, it is less about grand resolutions and more about how you choose to cross the threshold.
Tonight, instead of getting swept up in pressure to perform or pretend, choose quality over noise.
That might look like:
- A slow, simple meal with the people who matter most
- A cosy night in with a film and candles
- A walk under the winter sky to quietly reflect on the year just gone
However you spend it, offer someone, or yourself, your full presence. Put the phone down. Listen deeply. Look around at the life you have created.
Quality time is not about how late you stay up, it is about how real you are willing to be as you step into a new year.
7th Day of Yuletide – Have Fun
New Year’s Day has a strange energy; the world is quiet, the calendar has turned, but nothing actually feels different yet.
It’s easy to slip into that limbo between Christmas and “real life,” filling the day with chores, planning, or clearing up rather than actually living it.
Every year, I notice that having enforced time off invites my husband and me to fall into familiar patterns, tidying, organising, catching up. Useful? Yes. Restful and joyful? Not always.
So today’s self-care task is simple: have fun.
Not productive fun. Not “we may as well…” fun.
Real, light-hearted, no-reason fun.
That might mean:
- Getting out of the house for something different
- Playing games with the kids (or each other)
- Indulging in a hobby you never make time for
- Doing something that has no outcome except enjoyment
Let this be the first message your body receives in 2026:
I am allowed to feel good without earning it first.
Fun is not a reward for being finished, it’s a way of remembering you’re alive.
Start the year with laughter, play, and presence – everything else can wait.
8th Day of Yuletide – Boost
I don’t like the word BOOST when it comes to health and nutrition.
If we ‘boost’ our immune health we can overstimulate it and cause a different set of problems.
Today your self-care task is to increase your intake of nutrients..
During the festive season, it is easy to get caught in that limbo of eating leftovers, munching on chocolates and crisps and not paying attention to what your body needs.
Try:
- 🥗 Eat real food.
- 🥗 Batch cook and stock your freezer with meals and treats
- 🥗Making a warming soup, sprinkle with pumpkin seeds for protein and magnesium.
The burst of micronutrients will ensure you have good energy and keep your immune system working optimally.
9th Day of Yuletide – Declutter
Never underestimate the positive health impact of a good declutter.
You may have received gifts that need a new home or still have festive tableware that needs to be returned to its rightful place.
A good way to declutter is to put everything that doesn’t have a home into a pile and then find a home for it.
If you no longer want or need it, recycle it, donate it or bin it!
A few years ago I read the book The Life Changing Magic of Tidying by Marie Kondo.
I spent the next year systematically going through my home releasing anything I no longer wanted or needed and finding a home for everything else which brought me joy!
I thoroughly recommend it.
10th Day of Yuletide – No scroll
Now I realise that if you are seeing this blog on social media you are scrolling and I thank you for your time in reading.
I am not suggesting a complete ban but today put your phone down if you can, it is so easy to get caught going down a rabbit hole only to surface 30 minutes later! Guilty 🙋🏼
Your self-care task today is only to use your phone with intention.
Try setting a timer to remind you to put your phone down, you might like to try this as a new healthy habit for 2026.
11th Day of Yuletide – Dream Big
We’re deep in the heart of Yuletide now, the sacred space between what has been and what is becoming.
In the old wheel of the year, this isn’t a time for resolutions or reinvention; it’s a time for visioning, for holding the spark of possibility while the world is still quiet.
You don’t have to list resolutions or overhaul your life during your body’s natural midwinter.
Instead, spend a little time today dreaming into the year ahead:
✨ What would you love your life to feel like in twelve months?
✨ What parts of yourself are ready to be expressed more deeply?
✨ What desires are whispering beneath the noise of everyday life?
Don’t just imagine the endpoint, imagine the way you want to feel on the way there.
Then ask yourself, gently and honestly:
What small, courageous actions could make those dreams real in the year ahead?
Not because you need fixing, but because you are allowed to grow, soften, and expand.
Dream big.
Not from urgency, but from alignment.
The seeds you plant now, in the dark, are the ones that flourish when the light returns.
12th Day of Yuletide – Tools Down
Saturday, 6 January, the final day of Yuletide.
The wheel has turned, but the world is still quiet.
This isn’t a sprint into the new year; it’s a soft landing.
So today, put your tools down.
No big plans.
No rushing to catch up.
No, trying to “get ahead” before the year has even begun.
Ask yourself:
✨ What is the bare minimum I need today to feel grounded?
✨ What can wait until tomorrow, or next week?
✨ How can I honour the rest my body actually needs?
The truth is, most things can wait.
Rest is not laziness, it’s preparation.
Let this be your final Yuletide ritual:
Choose presence over productivity.
A quiet morning.
A slow breakfast.
A walk under the winter sky.
A nap.
A book.
A meal cooked with love.
Tools down, heart open.
2026 can begin from here.
2026 and Beyond 🚀
I hope you follow some of these tasks if not all and invest in your health and well-being this festive season.
How will you continue to become more aligned with your needs and make your health and well-being a priority in 2026?
What did you dream of for 2025?
Did you get there? And if not… why?
Was it a lack of clarity? Too many “shoulds”? Trying to patch symptoms instead of addressing what your body actually needs?
Or did you simply do the same things that have never worked, hoping for a different result?
If nothing changes, nothing changes.
So here’s your moment to choose differently.
Download my Simple 5-Step Morning Reset and start reducing menopausal weight gain (and many other symptoms) naturally in 2026… without restriction or overwhelm.
Or, if you’re ready to get clear on your root causes, book a 30-minute Perimenopause Clarity Session and step into the new year aligned with what your body actually needs to thrive through menopause and beyond.
