It’s only 5 days till Christmas, and things around here are surprisingly slow and relaxed…. A good house cleaning, meal planning and grocery shopping is on the ‘to do’ list. But things are not really all crazy around here. I am enjoying the quiet slow-paced living with just the right enough energy to move along and get things done.
This is a bit of a follow up to my ‘happiness is’ post but in photos ;)
Our Holiday Happiness is…
- watching Christmas movies curled up on the sofa
- my girl playing with Christmas tree ornaments
- yes, those cashmere socks make their appearance – they have to be red and they have to be cashmere ;) (I’m telling you ladies, it’s insane luxury (you should add that to Santa’s list)
- my girl reading, or actually pretending to read and singing out loud ‘baby it’s cold outside’ my favourite song….
- my little sister happy with her boyfriend
- pomegranates and clementines
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- daddy and daughter car racing on our new BlackBerry PlayBook (another early Christmas gift – and priced way better than the iPad ;)
- crafting designed for the little hands
- playing a few tunes on a cardboard guitar ~ Santa takes too long to come ;)
- eating gingerbread cookies while playing dress up
- and you know things get festive when my girl gets a sip of Coke!
So things are a little quiet around here…. it’s Holiday time and Happiness time.
There’s time for watching movies, crafting, talking, laughing, playing games… there’s no rush to get to the mall, wasting 30 minutes just to park the car, filling the shopping carts with things people don’t really need.
Things haven’t always been this way a few days before Christmas… we’ve joined in on the crazy madness of gift buying, experienced first hand that giving is not really all that joyful but more stressful. So, you know what happened? It just got to be too much! With a family of about 20 members ~ it got too much in the mind and in the pocket and also became too competitive. Then I started my cycle of health problems ~ I just couldn’t put up with anything anymore – not even Christmas with all its materialism. We had a family meeting, turned out a lot of people felt the same way and just decided to not do gifts!
It was that simple. We made up our own rules ~ gifts for the kids only. Because it’s nice to see kids open up gifts ~ that is the only real gift to us ;) And my husband and me still exchange gifts (although this year we’re doing an exception because I already got my gift – the kitchen! We also give small hostess gifts when we go to visit our friends and always have something for little kids when they visit our house.
Growing up, we celebrated St. Nicholas day on December 6th, with small gifts for all the kids. Then we celebrated Christmas Eve with a big but quiet family dinner and Christmas Day was celebrated with another dinner usually at someone else’s house. We had our tree decorated with sweets and gingerbread heart cookies to pick from and eat – those were our gifts. That’s how we celebrated before and that’s how we celebrate now.
Simply, quietly and happily. This is our Holiday Happiness!
ps. I find gift-giving lovely and happy and I really don’t object to it – it’s a beautiful tradition, but it’s just not for everyone, and at this point in our lives, it’s just not for us. We may re-visit the idea sometime soon and find ways to give with love. For now, we give time, hugs, kisses, home made cookies and share in making a few dinner dishes and desserts.
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I hope you are also finding ways to slow down and enjoy a season of peace and happiness.
How do you find Holiday Happiness?
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