Hurry, Scurry… run… do one more thing…

who did I forget?

… what did I forget?

… Oh, yeah, I should…

STOP.

What is Christmas about?

Isn’t the theme about love… peace… joy…. The celebration of the Birth of Jesus… that celebration should be enjoyable, right?

Oh, yes.  We do want to show our love.  But does that have to be at the expense of our own peace…? At the expense of our very own life?

Who wins when we live the Christmas season like this?

Do you really think the people “we should buy things for” would care, if you decided to do something different?

There are lots of things we could do differently.  People think of different things every day that change things up, and those things can save energy, time, and money.  We all have imaginations, and we, ourselves, can come up with new ideas of fun or ideas of ways to show appreciation.

If you’re worn out every year from cooking and hosting, what about saying, “this year it’s going to be a “game night”.  Bring your favorite game, and some finger food, and we’ll vote on what games to play and we’ll enjoy the evening.

That’s just one thought.  But your people may be ready for something new.  And what would be wrong with everyone being able to have a good time, without gifts?

And if you decided to do gifts, just bring one, and figure out a fun way to exchange.  We call ours “Dirty Santa” where each person, in line, gets to choose a gift to open, or steal one from someone else.  We go through the line twice.  Gifts are frozen on the third time they’re taken (can’t be stolen anymore). 

It’s a very fun game for all, and the expense is for just one gift and it need not be expensive.  We have several who bring something they’ve made themselves.

Why should you “cut down on Christmas”?

Do you think Christmas was ever intended to be a stress to give gifts, looking at it from any angle?

Do you think Christmas was ever intended to be a stressful time, in general?

No.  I do not think it was ever imagined to be that way at all.

So, how should we imagine Christmas to be?

The real question is, How do you want your Christmas to be?

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I have a daughter who got tired of being at family Christmas.  I’m not sure exactly why, probably because there was just “too much”… too much of what, I am not sure.  But regardless, she didn’t enjoy it.  Which begged the question, how were others feeling about it?

At first it was disappointing (like, VERY disappointing) to me.  But the reality was, she was totally sincere. (And very brave to go against our family tradition)

I decided I’d be ok with it.  I told her it was her Christmas just as much as everyone else’s, and to do what she wanted to do.  They decided to go camping (by themselves) and have Christmas while camped out at the lake.

For our family, the rush and push to have “Christmas morning” and “Christmas dinner” with everyone rushing and doing all manner of things to make those two things happen on the same day, while being happy, was over.

”Christmas morning” and “Christmas dinner” both disintegrated.  Who was upset? No one.  Who had more peace on Christmas Day?  Everyone.  I think the key was, allowing this to happen without feeling guilty.  False Guilt is a story for another

day, but feeling guilty about things that are actually ok, is a major stress on its own.

A year or two later, that same daughter invited us to come have Christmas at their camp with them.  We’ve done that just about every year since then.  It’s a new tradition.  Sometimes they cook, sometimes we cook chili and take…we’ve done different things.  No one is tied to “having to”. 

The other two children live out of town, and we all get together on a totally different day that works for everyone.

This is what works for our family.  Every family can have their own thoughts, and preferences, and you can think of and make a plan work for you.

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OK, with that little tidbit out of the way, back to your gift for you.

(in a round-about way)

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In my opinion, there are four major Pillars of Health.

Sleep

Stress Management

Nutrition

Moving that Body

I would add Relationships to that, and we have to be very mindful of Toxins.

So we need these Pillars in our life to be as healthy as we can be.

Sleep cleans the gunk out of our brains and other places at night, and if that sleep doesn’t happen, the bad stuff builds up in our brains and bodies, and we are on our way to illness. (Yes, totally over-simplified here)

Stress; we have to manage it.  Our mind and body can not hold up to being on alert all the time without good breaks.  If we let ourselves stay hooked up constantly—even if we don’t feel stressed, our body feels it, and it can’t just keep doing it.  It will give out, and illness will happen.

Nutrition.  If you put sugar or some other thing in the gas tank of a car, it won’t run, and could ruin the motor.  Our bodies were made to be fueled with good quality, real food.  When we continually try to fuel our bodies with junk, our bodies won’t be able to hold up.  And illness will happen.

Exercise; Our bodies were made to move.  They were not meant to be still.  If we get used to being a “couch potato type”, our body will try to adapt to that.  And eventually our organs won’t work properly, we won’t get enough oxygen into our system, our joints won’t stay lubricated, and our muscles will get weak.  We will be on our way toward being ill and home-bound.

Relationships; we need people in our lives.  We need to love people, and have people that love us.  If you don’t have people in your life, you need to get some.  We’re made to have relationships with other people.

Toxins; we live in a sea of toxins, and we can’t ever get 100% away from them.  But because of this, it’s all the more important to pay attention to toxins in our foods and drinks, our skin care, our soaps, and everything else.

But in addition to these major Pillars of Health, we need to have for ourselves,

SPACE TO BREATHE.

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During the whole year long, we run and push and squeeze things into our days and our schedules. 

If we’re going to live like this, at times, we need to give ourselves Space to Breathe.

We don’t usually allow ourselves to have this space from day to day in our lives, as we’re so busy with the busy-ness of our lives.

So during this Christmas Season, give yourself the Gift of some space for yourself.  Some time for “just you”.  Some time to reflect… to think… to quietly and peacefully breathe.  To enjoy a few moments of Quiet.  You can figure out how to do it.

It’s probably the most important gift you can give yourself.

And it probably gives you the most benefits.

You’ll be able to think better.  You’ll have more peace.  You’ll have more space for love in your heart.  You’ll have more time to plan how you really want things.  You’ll be able to notice the good things in your life.  You’ll be able to notice the nudging that you will receive in your heart.  You’ll feel more joy.

So. PLAN ON HAVING A BETTER CHRISTMAS SEASON THIS YEAR.  Open yourself up to it.  Decide to do something different.  And Enjoy it.

Thank you for reading my article.

I wish you a Great Imagination, and a Great Plan for this Season!

If I can help you in any way at all, reach out to me.

Sharon