This time next week it will be Christmas Day and I'm hoping to be lounged on the sofa, glass of wine in one hand, mince pie in the other, surrounded by my family and having a good old giggle. Christmas always creeps up on us so fast that it's so easy to get a bit overwhelmed with all the jollity, but it is important to take a minute (or two) and absorb it all. Today I thought I'd share the five things I'm going to do this Christmas to slow things down a little and I hope there may be something in there for you too.
Read something you know you'll love I'm a big fan of reading something special over Christmas week as a treat. I wrote a whole post about it a couple of years ago and my views have not changed. Some years I'll go for the re-read and others I'll try something completely new, but the decision making process is almost as special as the reading. This year I think Emma Hooper's 'Etta and Otto and Russell and James' will take the title. I'm sure I speak for a number of you when I say that grabbing five minutes with a book in the midst of the festivities can be all I need to maintain my sanity. All the people, all the eating, and all the doing can get very tiring - mentally and physically - and books have this wonderfully restorative power that I can rarely avoid.
Tell your loved ones why you love them I'm guilty of not telling my friends or family why I love them, or even that I do love them at times. It's so easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of gift-giving, cooking, and Dr Who Christmas specials, but I think it is important to slow things down and share the love. Why not lift someone's spirit by telling them exactly what it is that makes you love them as much as you do? I'm making it my mission this year.
Do something for somebody and then do something for yourself Make your household chef (in my case either my Dad or Sister) a cuppa or something stronger, treat your partner to breakfast in bed, or neatly collect the used wrapping paper ready for recycling (unless you have a pooch/cat that will do it for you). The smallest gesture can have the biggest impact. Don't forget to do something for yourself too. It's coming towards the close of the year, it may have been a good year or a hard year, but either way you deserve a treat. Take that long bath filled with copious products from Lush, paint your nails a festive colour or give yourself an evening wrapped in a blanket with a good book.
Reflect Have a good long think about where you are, who you're with and how far you've come. Christmas always puts me in a reflective mood and I always make sure to take some time, even if it's in the five minutes before I fall asleep, to feel thankful for the things I have.
Enjoy yourself Again, it is so easy to get caught up in Christmas and barely take a minute to just enjoy yourself. I quite often find the big day to be anti-climactic after all the build up, but I'm determined to just be happy and celebrate the time I'm getting with my family this year. My advice is: drink some wine, have a mince pie and ENJOY!
What do you think it is important to do at Christmas time?
I'm one of the world's biggest wrapping paper recyclers - probably (thus I thoroughly approve that advice :) ) This year I'll try to get some reading into holidays, it's always impossible because we are never at home and focus is somewhere else.
ReplyDeleteWhat I think is important... I think last advice is what I agree to most. It's sad to see how people stress themselves out before the holidays by trying to overachieve. I don't know about other nations but where I come from Christmas basically equals a food orgy and it's another thing I don't understand. Little bit of food enjoyment is of course required, but if people eat so much they physically get sick, it's not good.
Happy holidays :)
Your posts are so happy, I love it :) I can't help but reflect at this time of year, with New Years right around the corner, and I do try to enjoy myself. Christmas shopping stress is hitting me hard this year, I'm hoping to get it all done and all the things wrapped by Sunday night so that I can just have a couple nights curled up on the couch watching movies and drinking hot chocolate :)
ReplyDeleteI love the direction you are taking your blog in at the moment :)
ReplyDeleteDoing something for yourself is good advice for Christmas. Tom has two weeks off work, so I'm looking forward to snatching a bit more time to myself during the day.
Thank you, Sam. I'm really enjoying it at the moment. I hope you have a lovely Christmas and get plenty of well-deserved rest!
ReplyDeleteThank you Sarah, I'm glad you think so! That sounds just perfect - I hope you have a lovely Christmas :)
ReplyDeleteWe always use ours for our log-burner. It keeps us going for days!
ReplyDeleteIt is definitely a food orgy here too and unfortunately I often succumb to it (I've never been very good at resisting food). This year I'm hoping to stay on top of it and only eat to enjoy it, not overstuff myself.
I hope you have a lovely Christmas and find some time to chill and relax :D