I am already feeling sucked into the hectic state of the holidays and it’s not officially begun yet!
There are cookie baking exchange parties to plan, 3 dozen carry out containers of 6 types of cookies to bake (yes, CHC, I’m making them again this year!), Christmas concerts to attend, presents to buy and wrap, a house to decorate, the Turkey Trot to run, another 1/2 marathon in Pueblo the next week, and on and on….
Every year I so desperately want to push “PAUSE” on this time year, sit for an hour with coffee and just reflect over all the blessings we have.
I am going to make a pact with myself. And since I’m making it publicly on this blog, I suppose I’ll have to stick with it (if even for just one person, ie Matthew, who will remind me of my public pact.)
My pact is this: At some portion throughout the day (until January 1), I will take 5 minutes to stop and write down one thing I’m thanking God for this year.
I know, sounds simple, but at this time of year, I end up falling into bed exhausted and without thanking my God for ALL that He’s given us (and I’m going to make a prayer as well that our baby girl will be with us next Christmas!)
Okay, there it is. Simple, small but needs to be done this holiday!
I was born in Jos, Nigeria many years ago. I spent the next nineteen years living in Liberia, Kenya and Ethiopia.
I feel the same way about the holidays. my schedule is getting so jam packed already, i hardly know when i’ll have time to do my regular schedule stuff. it’s overwhelming. i, too, have made a pact to keep things simpler this year. no traveling and less gifts. i want to enjoy my holiday instead of just feeling like i’ve rushed through all the obligations. good idea you have with thanking everyday for something. i hope you have your daughter next christmas too. although, i hope much sooner!
It is hard. Thankfully, on the gift front we have made things very simple. We always go to visit my sister and her family for Christmas. We put all the names in a hat, and each person buys a gift for one person with a limit of $30. Each person also gets only that one gift. We email each other what gifts everyone wants, so there isn’t even guessing to do. It’s been most helpful with the kids (she has 6) as we don’t have to try to make sure they all get the same number of presents. It’s fun to get a gift, but it also doesn’t break the budget and it keeps the point of Christmas where it belongs.
I’m a little lucky because neither of my kids are in school, so we don’t have school activities. This year I made only one commitment for a holiday open house that a Pampered Chef friend is doing. That’s it. We are having several families over for Thanksgiving, so I figure that’s enough work and I’ll just enjoy my December. We’ll see if it works!