May you have the gladness of Christmas which is hope;
The spirit of Christmas which is peace;
The heart of Christmas which is love.”
—Ada V. Hendricks
No matter which holiday you celebrate, I wish you a season
of hope, peace and love!
Despite my best efforts at simplifying, I’m stressing a bit right now. In case you haven’t noticed, Christmas is almost here. And even though we’re having a quiet family dinner, we have a bare minimum of decorations (see last year’s “Link Love: Holiday Edition” for the reason why), and we have what I consider a quite reasonable list of people to exchange gifts and greetings with, I still find myself dashing around—this morning, a trip to Costco is in order and my gas tank is running on empty, so I’ll have to stop and gas up, oh and while I’m out, I think I’ll have one of Chik-fil-A’s holiday peppermint chocolate chip milkshakes (a simple pleasure I missed last year to my great chagrin)… See what I mean?
The problem is, life wants to happen at the same time I’m
busy making Christmas plans.
My challenge is to take the pressure off by doing only what
is meaningful to our family, not getting caught up in what other people do this
time of year (no matter how fun it sounds), and letting some of “life” slide
for the time being. Not that this is news to me, of course, but I seem to need
to be reminded again and again. There is no “right” way to celebrate the
holidays, nor is there a “right” way to be happy. There is only the way that is
right for me.
I hope you are having a joyful and stress-free holiday season! If you have time, share some of your favorite holiday traditions in the comments section below.
Wishing you and your loved ones the happiest of holidays.
See you in 2014!
I’ll take any excuse to eat chocolate—and it would be
un-American not to participate in National Chocolate Covered Anything Day,
don’t you think? I happen to have some chocolate covered almonds and dried
cherries on hand, but there are ever so many things that can be covered in
chocolate…even bacon! (I think I’ll stick with almonds and cherries.)
Even though this is kind of a silly “holiday,” I think it’s
good to have silly little celebrations all through the year. Why can’t we make
up our own holidays? I’ve been known to celebrate horse and dog birthdays, as
well as Marmot Day. If you were making up your own holiday, what would you
celebrate?
 |
| I'm the only ornament this tree needs... |
We don’t have as many holiday decorations up this year as usual, partly because I don’t have the energy or desire to decorate the house from top to bottom (I’m wearing shorts and sweating and that’s just not conducive to putting up holly and evergreens), and partly because Prudy thinks we put up the Christmas tree for her private and exclusive use. She treats it like a jungle gym, and climbs to the top daily (not unlike her sister)—and this is without ornaments and lights. So we won’t be displaying our fancy (breakable) ornaments this year or putting the tasseled runner on the mantel (I’m sure she’d pull it and everything else down on top of her). But it’s all good. We’re expecting a cold front, Nick will be home for winter break, and I’m planning a little personal stay-cation from the usual routine after Christmas.
I hope your holiday preparations are running smoothly, and
that the weather, whatever it’s doing where you live, isn’t keeping you from
enjoying the season. Here is a special holiday edition of Link Love for you to
enjoy in between all your activities:
Artist Susan Branch offers free downloadable holiday desktop
wallpaper, stationery and other fun stuff (I especially love the bookmarks)
here.
Christmas movies can be more than just happy little
distractions—many of them, even the cheesiest ones, remind us of lessons worth
remembering. Dani at Positively Present reveals some of her favorite movies and
their accompanying lessons here.
For the book lovers among us, Belle has some ideas for end-of-the-year book “housekeeping.”
What are your favorite Christmas traditions? This post lists
50 (!) Christmas traditions for a merry little Christmas. Some of my favorites from
this list are listening to Christmas music, turning out the lights to admire the Christmas tree (well, usually—see above),
and making cookies (though I make molasses sugar cookies instead of plain
ones).
A very cool thing an airline did for its passengers:
 |
| Ho, ho, ho |
You’ve heard of Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday—how about Giving Tuesday? Tomorrow, Dec. 3, marks the second annual Giving Tuesday (#GivingTuesday), a movement to create a national day of giving on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving. Families and individuals are encouraged to be generous in whatever ways they see fit, by volunteering or donating to a favorite cause. Last year, there was a marked increase in charitable giving on Giving Tuesday, and organizers hope for an even bigger impact this year. You can read more about Giving Tuesday here.
Every year as part of our holiday tradition, we like to choose one or two charitable organizations to donate to, and this year, we’ll start by participating in Giving Tuesday with a donation to Affordable Christmas, a program that allows lower-income families to purchase new Christmas gifts for their children at 1/10th of the retail price.
Every year as part of our holiday tradition, we like to choose one or two charitable organizations to donate to, and this year, we’ll start by participating in Giving Tuesday with a donation to Affordable Christmas, a program that allows lower-income families to purchase new Christmas gifts for their children at 1/10th of the retail price.
What are your favorite holiday charitable activities?
Here’s a poem for this season by Tim Nolan, of Minnesota .
Once we begin to be thankful for things, there are more and more things to be
thankful for. [Introduction by Ted Kooser.]
Thanksgiving
Thanks for the Italian chestnuts—with their
tough shells—the smooth chocolaty
skin of them—thanks for the boiling water—
itself a miracle and a mystery—
thanks for the seasoned sauce pan
and the old wooden spoon—and all
the neglected instruments in the drawer—
the garlic crusher—the bent paring knife—
the apple slicer that creates six
perfect wedges out of the crisp Haralson—
thanks for the humming radio—thanks
for the program on the radio
about the guy who was a cross-dresser—
but his wife forgave him—and he
ended up almost dying from leukemia—
(and you could tell his wife loved him
entirely—it was in her deliberate voice)—
thanks for the brined turkey—
the size of a big baby—thanks—
for the departed head of the turkey—
the present neck—the giblets
(whatever they are)—wrapped up as
small gifts inside the cavern of the ribs—
thanks—thanks—thanks—for the candles
lit on the table—the dried twigs—
the autumn leaves in the blue Chinese vase—
thanks—for the faces—our faces—in this low light.
Have a very happy Thanksgiving!
Today, we won’t be going to the beach or having a
cookout—typical Memorial Day activities. We’ll be giving the house a good
cleaning before all the grandparents arrive tomorrow for Nick’s high school
graduation later in the week—an event that merits a holiday of its own in my
book.
Hope you all have a happy, relaxing and meaningful Memorial
Day.
Did you know about the
National Moment of Remembrance? I did not. According to the U.S. 3 p.m. local time on Memorial Day for a minute of
silence to remember and honor those who have died in service to the nation.”
According to Chase’s Calendar of Events, National Nothing
Day was created “to provide Americans with one National day when they can just sit
without celebrating, observing or honoring anything.”
This day is just for you—so relax and enjoy it. (To learn more
about National Nothing Day, if it’s not too much trouble, click here.) What won’t you do to celebrate?
“Doing nothing is
better than being busy doing nothing.”
—Lao Tzu
Wishing you and your loved ones a very happy holiday!
Last year (I can admit it now) I was rather Scrooge-like in
my participation in holiday events. I just did NOT enjoy the Christmas season,
though I did try hard not to show that and spoil everyone else’s fun. I don’t
want a repeat this year, so I’m putting some thought into what I really enjoy
about the holidays, what I don’t enjoy (and am not going to do) and what makes
me feel festive.
Here are 10 things, in no particular order, that I like to
do that say “happy holiday season” to me:
Watch A Christmas Story. I can’t tell you why, but this is my all-time favorite Christmas
movie, and I have to watch it at least once. I especially like to watch it
while wrapping gifts.
Put up a tree. I say this, because the year we went to New York for Christmas, we didn’t put the tree up and I
missed having it all through the month of December.
 |
| Christmas in New York |
Decorate the house. We live in Florida ,
but I still decorate like we live in a log cabin somewhere in the forest. Palm
trees and sea shells don’t say “Christmas” the way fir and holly do.
Listen to Christmas music and, usually, buy one new
Christmas CD for the collection. This year, I’m leaning towards Straight No
Chaser’s Holiday Spirits. (What’s
your favorite holiday CD?)
Spend a night or two with the TV off, the fireplace burning
(weather permitting—this is Florida ,
after all), the candles lighted, and Christmas music playing. I find this so
relaxing—an antidote to any holiday craziness that creeps in.
Put antlers on the dog and a Santa hat on the horse. Because
I just have to.
Have one big family get-together, usually on Christmas day,
where all the relatives who live locally come to our house to feast and make
merry.
 |
| Last year my husband made Beef Wellington! |
“The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret
of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small
manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.”
—Mark Twain
