Alison Brie, 42, says she and her husband, Dave Franco, have a simple fix for making holiday time with each other’s families a lot more manageable.
“The holidays are about family in a way that is beautiful, but can also be a little stressful,” Brie told People in an interview published on Wednesday. “So I think in a marriage, it’s nice to kind of be one another’s allies, acknowledge the kookiness of it all.”
Brie and Franco first met in 2011 while celebrating Mardi Gras in New Orleans. They married in 2017 and don’t have kids.
“I think the key to a happy marriage during the holiday season is being able to acknowledge privately, together, all the quirks of each other’s families with no judgment,” Brie said.
The “Community” actor also says there’s “more acceptance and a lot of love” in the act of “venting with one another.”
To make holiday shopping for family less stressful, Brie says she and Franco try to “divide and conquer.”
“I will do the shopping for my family. He will do the shopping for his family, and the gifts are given from both of us,” she said.
The couple’s commitment to supporting each other extends beyond the holiday season.
Speaking to Marie Claire in August, Franco said they’ve made a habit of sending each other a “mini love letter” every night before bed whenever they’re apart.
“It really makes you focus on the other person and let them know in a unique way, every single night, how much they mean to you,” Franco said.
Holiday gatherings can be stressful for the brain, four psychologists told Business Insider in 2019.
“Overall, there’s an intensity to the experience that we don’t typically have in our day-to-day lives, so often our feelings and interactions feel heightened,” Paraskevi Noulas, a psychologist at NYU Langone, said.
Testosterone, cortisol, and other hormone levels can also fluctuate more significantly over the holiday season, in part due to factors like travel stress, Robin Edelstein, a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, said.
To manage holiday stress, the psychologists say it’s essential to prioritize basic self-care, including getting sufficient sleep and staying physically active.
