The week between Christmas and new years day is bliss. All of the stress and chaos of planning the festivities is over, and with the big day done and dusted, you have some time to relax and have fun. There’s plenty of food in the cupboards, new gadgets and gifts to play with and if you’re lucky, no work until after the new year. Chances are you’ll be stuffing yourself full of cheese and chocolate and generally kicking back and relaxing, but there are a few other ways you can spend this time. Here are five ideas.

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Visit friends and family

Most of us have jam packed schedules in the run up to Christmas. You might have had friends and family that you’ve been unable to see due to clashing availability. If so, use this time to go and see the people that you care about most. You could go and visit, bringing with you some homemade baked goods or a bunch of festive flowers. This time of year is great for reconnecting, and spending time with the people we love. With such busy lives, we don’t always get the chance to do so. Otherwise you could invite them over for a movie day, or use up some of your food and alcohol by planning a party or casual get together. Everyone is in a good mood and lots of people are off work, so it’s the perfect chance to be social and make the effort.

Go on a day out

If you’re getting a bit fed up of living in your pyjamas, why not get dressed and go on a day out? Aside from boxing day and new years day which are bank holidays, most places should be open as normal. You could go to a shopping centre and enjoy the sales, or take a trip to the cinema with the kids. Just have a fun, carefree day- it’s these kinds of moments that you’re likely to remember far more than the gifts when you look back. Chances are there will be fun things to do being run throughout this week, so have a look online or any local Facebook pages that you follow and see if there are any events. If not, go and make your own fun.

Clean your house

As the week draws to a close and the new year begins to emerge, it’s nice to have a day of cleaning. Put away your Christmas decorations and deep clean your home so that its nice and organised moving into 2019. Most of us get new things for Christmas, so you’ll want to find somewhere to put them- while getting rid of anything you no longer need. If you gather up a number of items, you could swing by the charity shop and donate them if they’re still good to use. If you really wanted to clean in depth, you could hire a carpet cleaner, wash all of your bedding, curtains and rugs and pull out large furniture to clean behind. If there are any DIY jobs that need sorting, you could even spend the day doing this. It might not be the most fun way to spend your time, but it’s incredibly productive and since most of us don’t get all that much time off work, it could be the perfect time to get things done.

Sort your sleeping pattern out

Living without an alarm is fantastic. It’s not that often we get to enjoy late nights and lie ins, and you have probably taken advantage. Especially at this time of year when it’s dark in the morning and dark early evening, it can make you want to hibernate. Daylight savings hasn’t done all that much to help the situation either- you can learn more about that here. But towards the end of your time off, you’ll need to get back into a good sleep routine. Otherwise those first few days back at work when the alarm goes off aren’t going to be very pleasant! Try to go to bed a little earlier in the days running up to the morning that you’re back at work. Set your alarm and get up a bit earlier too, you don’t have to be up at the crack of dawn but if you sleep in til midday, you’re going to struggle sleeping that night!

Write out your new year’s resolutions

Finally, the best new year’s resolutions are ones that have been carefully thought about and planned. Decide on your goals, and how you’ll break them up into smaller, more achievable ones to reach success. You’re far less likely to fail, compared with deciding you want to make big changes at the last minute with no real thought. For example, if you want to improve your health in the new year, you could set a realistic weekly weight loss goal. 2lbs a week is best for most people, and from there work out how long you will need to stick at it. A maintenance plan to keep the weight off after is important, so plan ahead. It’s all very well planning to go full steam ahead, cut out every bit of rubbish from your diet and aiming to go to the gym five days a week. But you need to be realistic. With health, it really is a lifestyle change rather than a quick fix. If you know you have a busy schedule, work out which days you can realistically work out on. This means you won’t fall at the first hurdle and be tempted to give up. If you plan on quitting smoking, you could make an appointment with your GP for advice, and invest in some stop smoking aids. Nicotene patches, gum and self help books can all be useful.

Most of us spend an entire year looking forward to these few relaxing days at Christmas. Decide what you’re going to do ahead of time so you can make the most of them!