Holiday Craziness
Let’s face it: the holidays are extremely busy, and for
many, it can be a very stressful time.
The intentions of the holiday season are supposed to include sentiments
of gratitude, love, family, and faith, but with the push for shopping and a
list of almost endless activities, it can end up as anything but those things.
Peace and Simplicity
Begins with a Thankful Heart
For those like myself, we are seeking a path toward greater peace
and simplicity during the holiday season.
What I have been learning a lot about lately is that we must begin with
gratitude in our hearts and minds if we are ever to truly achieve that peace
and simplicity.
For the majority of us in the developed world, we have been very blessed to have much more than our basic needs met.
We have a bed to sleep in, a roof over our heads, often more than
sufficient food to eat, and enough clean water to drink and even bathe in. We have sufficient transportation, and
can even indulge a bit in a little entertainment every now and then. Sadly, for far too many of our brothers
and sisters throughout the world, this is not true for them. While for many of us, our lives are far
from what we would consider to be perfect, we can still take a step back and humbly
acknowledge that we are blessed in a number of ways, and that we should be
thankful for what we do have.
Once we start to cultivate gratitude in our hearts and lives, we can begin
to examine our values and then prioritize them. To have any sort of balance in life, it is important to
decide what is most important, and then decide if what you are spending your
time and energy on is really that important. If whatever you are
doing is not ultimately supporting your values, then you must let it go. This will free you to focus on those
things that truly are the most important things to you- your family, friends,
loved ones, your faith, your passions, etc.
Simpler Holidays
I’d be willing to bet that on the whole, what people
remember most during a particular holiday season is not all of the gifts that they received, but the memories that were made and the times that were spent
together with those they care about.
My advice is to keep it simple, cut out what isn’t most important, and
instead focus on what matters most.
So, what can a simpler holiday with fewer gifts look
like? Perhaps you could decide as
a family or a group to limit the spending on gifts this year and focus more on
making memories together. Perhaps
as an alternative, you might focus more on doing something special, such as
Christmas caroling, sledding, or holding a holiday movie marathon where each
person picks out their favorite holiday film and everyone watches them together
while drinking hot chocolate and enjoying homemade holiday goodies. You
could pop some popcorn and make treats for the birds in your neighborhood, or
bake and decorate some cookies and give them as gifts to some of your
neighbors. You could participate
in the National Audubon
Society’s annual Christmas Bird Count, share a special meal together at
your favorite locally-owned restaurant or cafe, volunteer at a soup kitchen, or
make some homemade Christmas cards and then take them to your local retirement
home and visit with some of the residents. Other options are to see a holiday presentation by your
local high school, or attend a concert by your local orchestra or string
quartet. There are so many things
that you could do as an alternative to focusing on gifts. Be creative, start a new tradition, and
make some memories together!
A Homemade Holiday
While it is not for everyone, homemade treasures made from crafts
that you make yourself, or from items harvested from your garden can also make excellent
gifts and can help to simplify gift giving during the holidays. For example, this year I am going to give
as gifts some basil seeds that I collected from my basil plants, some homemade
dairy-free pesto sauce made from my garden-grown basil, some lacto-fermented
pickles made from cucumbers that I grew, and some tomatillo salsa that I made
from tomatillos that I also grew in my garden. I will also be baking some homemade goodies and giving
them as gifts in reusable decorative holiday tins.
The Season of Our
Hearts
Memory making and gift giving aside, the most important
thing during the holiday season is to remember why we are celebrating in the first place. For myself and many others, this process
of remembering centers on our spirits and God’s gift of His son to us. For others, family matters most, and
for others still, showing love to our fellow human beings and cultivating peace and
kindness for a better world are very important.
From my favorite holiday movie, “The Muppet Christmas Carol,”*
I really appreciate a song entitled, “It feels like Christmas.” There is a line in it that I really I
love which says, “Wherever you find love, it feels like Christmas.” As a later line in the song says, I
believe that such a sentiment applies not only to this time of the year, but
ideally should last all year long.
Love is what everyone needs deep down within their very soul, and it is what
we all crave- genuine relationships where people are truly loved for who they
are. To me, that’s ultimately what
life is all about- showing love to others now and always. Taking the time during this season of
the year to remember what it means can be a refreshing way to make the holidays
more meaningful in our lives, and can serve as a valuable reminder of what’s
most important. I encourage you to
make that your holiday focus this year, and where I believe true peace and
simplicity in the season can be found.
May you and yours be
truly blessed this holiday season!
*If you’ve never seen it, I recommend that you rent it and
enjoy the humor and the Muppets’ heart-warming portrayal of the classic story, A Christmas Carol.
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