If my social media feeds and the neighborhoods I drive through on my way into town are any indicator, Christmas has come early this year.
In the weeks since Halloween, there’s been a steadily increasing stream of photos online featuring halls decked with boughs of holly. Each weekend ladders lean against rooftops, as brave souls hang strings of lights to outline the eaves of their homes. During my drive home in the darkness of early evening, Christmas trees twinkle in more and more of the front windows.
Ready or not — Christmas, here we come!
But that brings up the burning question: this year, how do you want the holiday season — the time between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day — to look and feel?
Keep in mind that it’s your home, your life. Just because you or your family have always done the holidays this way or that doesn’t mean there’s a cosmic rule that says you must continue doing things that same way.
Think for a moment about what may have changed in your life since last year.
- Has your family grown because there’s a new baby…or babies?
- Are your children bringing home new partners?
- Do you have a new kitten or puppy you’ve added to the mix?
- Have you moved across country or across town?
- Have you changed careers or lost a job?
- Maybe you’ve retired and, for the first time in decades, you’re exploring what Christmas looks like when you’re not working a job?
- Perhaps you’ve experienced the loss of a loved one or cherished fur-baby, and you simply don’t feel like celebrating much at all?
Check in with yourself first. Whatever the situation you find yourself in — happy, sad, or business as usual — think about what you need before you start making plans based on what you did last year or the year before that or ten years before that.
Slow down, redefine, and reframe the holidays so they fit in with who you are and what you need right now, in this special season of your own life — because it’s the only 2019 you’ll ever have.
Don’t now where to start? Want help sorting through?
Check out Savor One Season — The Holidays, my self-paced, six-session course at Teachable.com. And as my Christmas gift to you, use the SAVEHALF coupon code to get 50% off the regular price of the course.