A PRACTICAL HOLIDAY PLANNING WORKSHOP
Celebrating the Holidays Without Losing Yourself
A practical 90-minute workshop for handling family expectations, competing priorities, and personal limits
A practical 90-minute workshop
Make room for what matters without abandoning your limits.
The holidays are supposed to be meaningful. They can also become a complicated production involving family expectations, travel, traditions, money, food, gifts, schedules, and at least one person quietly trying to keep everyone else happy.
Is this for you?
This workshop is for you if the season feels like a series of negotiations.
- You are usually the person coordinating holiday plans, family needs, and logistics.
- You struggle to say no, especially when someone may be disappointed.
- You are managing competing expectations from a partner, parents, adult children, siblings, or extended family.
- Your family structure or role has changed, and old holiday traditions no longer fit neatly.
- You want to be generous without overextending yourself.
- You are trying to communicate a limit without creating a larger conflict.
- You want a more peaceful holiday, but you do not want to pretend that difficult people or complicated dynamics do not exist.
What we will cover
Clearer priorities, usable language, and a plan grounded in real life.
During the workshop, Drs. Vickie Bhatia and Karen Hammack will help you move from automatic responses to more intentional choices. We will focus on conversations with the important people in your life, personal limits, and plans that account for their priorities as well as your own.
Name what matters
Identify your actual holiday priorities instead of automatically responding to everyone else's requests. Notice the predictable situations that create the most stress for you.
Clarify the limit
Distinguish between a preference, a limit, and an attempt to control another person's choice. Consider what is workable, what is flexible, and what is not.
Prepare the conversation
Prepare for conversations with a partner, parent, adult child, sibling, or another important person. Practice communicating what you can offer, cannot offer, and are willing to negotiate.
Make a realistic plan
Create a concrete holiday plan that accounts for time, travel, hosting, money, gifts, communication, and recovery time. Respond to disappointment without immediately abandoning your plan.
Your registration includes
Practical materials to return to when the calendar fills up.
This is a live, 90-minute Zoom workshop designed to give you both time to think and language to use.
- A live 90-minute Zoom workshop
- A downloadable participant workbook
- Communication scripts for preparing and starting difficult conversations
- A practical Holiday Game Plan template
- Access to a workshop replay for 90 days
This is not a workshop about creating a more impressive holiday. It is about making choices that are more realistic for your actual life.
A different kind of checklist
A thoughtful plan is more useful than a perfect-looking one.
You will have time to consider the questions that are easy to avoid until the calendar is already full: What do I genuinely want to preserve this year? What am I agreeing to because I want to, and what am I agreeing to because I am afraid of the reaction? Which responsibilities are actually mine?
We will make space for reasonable limits, for the difference between a request and an obligation, and for the realities of complicated relationships. The goal is not to make everyone happy. The goal is to make a thoughtful plan and communicate it clearly.
You will not leave with a magical solution for every family disagreement. You will leave with a clearer plan and language you can actually use.
Meet the presenters
Clinician-led, direct, and practical.
Dr. Vickie Bhatia
Dr. Karen Hammack
Drs. Vickie Bhatia and Karen Hammack are licensed clinical psychologists with Ph.D.s in Clinical Psychology. Both are certified in Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy (IBCT).
Frequently asked questions
Before you register.
Do I need to attend with a partner or family member?
No. This workshop is designed for individuals. You will participate on your own and decide what you want to communicate to the important people in your life.
Can I attend from anywhere?
Yes. The workshop is online via Zoom and is open to participants from anywhere. Please confirm that the workshop time, 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. Central Time and 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time, works for your location.
Can I keep my camera and microphone off?
Yes. Camera and microphone participation are optional. You may keep both off throughout the workshop and use the exercises privately. Participant video and audio will not be included in the final replay.
How will questions work, and what will be in the replay?
Questions may be submitted through the Zoom Q&A box and read aloud by the presenters. The final replay will be edited and available for 90 days after the event. Please avoid sharing identifying or confidential information about family members or other people in the Q&A box.
What if I cannot attend live?
You may still register. The edited replay and workbook will be sent after the workshop, and replay access will be available for 90 days.
When will I receive the Zoom link and workbook?
The Zoom link and workbook will be sent to the email address used during registration approximately 48 hours before the workshop. Please check your spam or promotions folder if you do not see the message.
Is this therapy?
No. This is an educational workshop, not psychotherapy or individualized clinical care. Registration does not establish a therapist-client relationship. The workshop is not intended to provide diagnosis, treatment recommendations, crisis support, or emergency services.
What is the refund policy?
All workshop registrations are final and non-refundable, except where required by law. If you cannot attend live, you will still receive the downloadable materials and access to the workshop replay for 90 days. If you are unable to attend, you may transfer your registration to another person by emailing drvickiebhatia@gmail.com no later than November 5, 2026. If the presenters must reschedule because of a scheduling conflict or technical problem on their end, registrants may attend the rescheduled workshop or request a refund.
A note about the format
This is an educational workshop, not group therapy. You will not be asked to disclose private details about your family. You may participate with your camera and microphone off, and you may use the exercises privately.
The workshop does not provide individualized clinical advice or create a therapist-client relationship. Please do not share identifying or confidential information about other people during the workshop or in the Q&A box.
Tuesday, November 10, 2026
Make a plan you can actually live with.
The holidays do not need to be perfect to be meaningful. They also do not need to be organized around everyone else's expectations.
Join Drs. Vickie Bhatia and Karen Hammack for a practical conversation about priorities, communication, limits, and making the season more manageable.
6:00 to 7:30 p.m. Central, 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. Eastern
Online via Zoom, attend from anywhere
$39 through October 25, then $49