Christmas is coming! Christmas is coming!
Christmas has become the season of abundance – lots of, parties, prezzies catching up with friends, concerts, cooking, shopping, and decorating. So much fun and joy packed into one small corner of the year.
This abundance has a stressful side. So much eating, drinking, staying out late, rushing from one event to the next, and shopping in harried crowds, too. Unless you have a your own merry band of elves to make stuff appear you’re probably feeling a little run down and, dare I say it, fed up with Christmas by this point of the seasonal festivities.
I’ve started to give thanks at Christmas that my “make it perfect” days are behind me. While I fondly remember the painstakingly coordinated Christmases of yore – the lovely traditional dinners, the mounds of presents under the tree, the gingerbread house decorating – I’m putting a different emphasis on the joy of Christmas. And it’s the joy of celebrating what’s here now.
I had a stunningly simple idea last year at Christmas.
I asked my family what would make Christmas most meaningful for them and then made those things happen first. Before I bought a single gift, or planned a single meal. I was guided by what they said they wanted to experience to make it a joyous and memorable Christmas for them.
This is what happened – what everyone wanted was really, really easy to organize. Nobody really likes turkey, so off the menu it went. We’re having raclette instead and I’m saving myself hours of work. It was all about connecting with friends and having time to enjoy the respite from the usual routine. Chocolate was on the list. Watching movies we don’t get to during the year. Staying late at parties.
The biggest difference for me is that Christmas has stopped being a “project” I need to push through and then recover from. I don’t need the same supports I gravitated towards in other years – sugary treats, a steady flow of wine, protective crankiness, emotional eating. I feel more like I’m choosing those pleasures rather than using them as a prop to get through the next task.
And it’s starting to feel more like joy.
Image: Green Christmas Balls by Christmas Stock Images. Licensed under Creative Commons