Episode 35: Celebrations

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You’re thinking about not decorating for the holidays, aren’t you?

You’re exhausted and overwhelmed with what is going on in your life right now and you just can’t think of a good reason to celebrate a holiday when things aren’t going well. 

Maybe you aren’t thinking of even celebrating a holiday! Maybe it’ll be just the two of you. People can’t come to visit or you can’t go visit anyone so you will just stay home. You spend every day at home anyway so it’ll just be one more day. 

Let me ask you something… why are you giving up?  

Holidays are times when we break away from the monotony of life. Times when we can let go and enjoy the day or the season. Scents are tied to holidays in our brains. Maybe it’s the smell of a dish you loved eating when you were little or the type of candle your mom used to burn. Maybe it the smell of flowers you only had that one time of the year.  

Let talk about the reasons why you might be feeling this way. 

If only two people are around to celebrate a holiday it’s not worth it to celebrate because we usually have more people. Why cook for just two? 

Do you not cook for just two people on other days? Or if it’ll be just you… do you not eat? Who said you have to cook anyway. If you have family in town and you can’t be together for health reasons then just ask them to make extra of their best dishes and bring it over to you. Or set up ways to pick it up holiday meals. Or order. I know, I haven’t seen a lot of places that have thanksgiving meals for two. But you could order a dinner that feeds four and have leftovers. Or you could order sides you like and make the main dish at home. There’s something that just feels right about a house that smells like dinner all day on a holiday or a dessert you really look forward to eating. Or maybe you make up a new tradition. Maybe you order Chinese food or something that you would rather eat anyway. Make up your own new traditions. No matter what you do, try to make it special and not just another meal.  

Holidays aren’t all about food anyway. I can’t tell you what makes a holiday special for you but maybe take just a second to think of a holiday you usually enjoy celebrating.  

Why do you enjoy it? 

Now ask yourself what is the real reason deep down inside that you loved that holiday? Was it the games you played? The special movie you watched? The special time spent with other family members? How can you bring part of that to the holiday now that things may be different for you. Maybe you can’t leave home to visit people you loved to see. Or maybe you usually host it but can’t this year.  

Don’t give up on the holiday because you can’t have it the way it always was. Celebrate the holiday because you can still make those connections and memories but just have to find new ways of doing it. Maybe this year is the year you really figure out why a holiday is important to you and the meaning of it is enough to make it important for you to celebrate.  

Even if you are tired and stressed out try to find a way to enjoy the day with the ones you are with. Make that day special even if it isn’t the same. 

Now the decorating is another matter. I go hot and cold with decorations. But let me share something with you.  

Halloween is one of my daughters’ most favorite days. She starts watching Halloween movies on October 1st and continues until the 31st. She loves dressing up in costumes and, until this year, has loved going trick or treating. Thankfully, she had already decided last year that she was too old to go trick or treating anymore. This year I didn’t feel like decorating for halloween. I knew that hardly anyone would be trick or treating and the idea of it just seemed to fall flat with me. I wasn’t going to pull out the decorations or even really buy candy. Why? It would be just us with no parties to go to or people to hand candy out to.  

But one day she started to tell me how excited she was for halloween to come and I realized that in two years she probably will be at college for halloween. So why not celebrate her favorite holiday with her? We decorated outside and in. Not much, but enough. We bought halloween candy and made halloween desserts. ON halloween we watched scary movies and set a bowl of candy outside. We celebrated for most of the month of October. Was it too much trouble? No? Did I want to do it at first? No? Did I enjoy seeing how much fun she was having and so had fun as well? YES! 

It made a boring month like October exciting.  

That’s why you should consider celebrating those holidays you just don’t want to bother with. To bring a little entertainment and excitement. A little love and connection to your life. And if that also involves pie and cookies even better.

I’d love to know if you have special things you like to do for the holidays. Send me a message and let me know.

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