That Time of Year
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As I sit down to write this, we’re exactly seven days away from all the holiday craziness, if you celebrate Christmas. Or maybe the craziness started much earlier and you’re now able to relax?
Just kidding! I don’t know of many women who relax much at all until the end of day on December 25th.
Admit it - you or someone close to you is currently freaking out about the schedule, the food, or the gifts that most certainly aren’t going to arrive on time.
I would be willing to guess that there are even people out there who haven’t done a thing about decorating their home yet.
<Insert giant sigh here.> Why do we do this to ourselves? We know the holidays show up at the same time every year. I would be willing to bet that most people have the best of intentions when it comes to buying the gifts, decorating the house, making the food, and even creating a schedule that works for the entire family.
But let’s be honest. There are too many variables. We’re already stressed out more than any other time of year (crazy how we all end up sick, isn’t it?), we can’t control the snowstorm that has derailed all the packages, and to many of the family, the master schedule just doesn’t matter that much.
Bah humbug!
I don’t want to be a Scrooge, but just once, I’d like the holidays to happen authentically, without all the extra stress.
I’d like the focus to be on quality time spent with whoever could make it, whenever they could arrive. I’d love for gifts to be the last thing we were expecting. And it would be magical, especially for someone who’s not crazy about cooking, if all the food could just fall deliciously together.
In my mind, the commercialism of this holiday season has gone off the rails. We all (especially the women in the family) push ourselves harder than at any other time of year. We make all the goodies, decorate like our home is about to be photographed for a magazine layout, and stay up late wrapping gifts as beautifully as we can.
The thing is, we’ve lost our sense of direction. Instead of trying to cram fourteen more things into the month, let’s scale back. Heck, let’s do the same with our spending!
There’s still time to change!
My Christmas is going to be centered on gratitude. Every single time I start to freak out, I’m switching gears and making a list in my head of all the things I’m grateful for. I’ve already found myself doing this a lot lately and it gets easier every time.
The very first Christmas was a celebration of love, not things. Let’s bring that back into style.
As the book Simple Abundance says:
“The first gift was of Spirit: unconditional Love. The next gift came from a Jewish teenager named Miriam, who was known to her family and friends as Mary. Her Christmas present was selflessness, the complete surrender of ego and will needed to bring Heaven down to earth. The gifts of her fiancé, Joseph, were trust and faith. He trusted that Mary wasn’t pregnant with another man’s child; he believed there really was a Divine Plan to get them through this mess. The Child brought forgiveness. Wholeness. Second chance. Third chances. As many chances as you need.”
Thinking of the amazing gifts offered back then, I’m simply looking forward to a couple of days with family and friends, playing games, or enjoying just being together. This is where I’m putting my efforts, and I hope you’re able to do the same.
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