Lately, I've been doing a lot of thinking about the holidays. Specifically I've been thinking about my bad attitude toward them. I've stated somewhere on my blog that I'm a bit of a Bah Humbug when it comes to the holidays. That I dislike all the stress, the hustle bustle and the sense of obligation that comes along with this time of year. I found myself grumbling about this a lot in recent weeks and I was actually dreading the holidays. How sad is that?
But then Thanksgiving came and you know what... It was AWESOME! Amazing even. The day went very smoothly. And I didn't feel harried, rushed or stressed at all. I felt happy. And peaceful. And full of joy. And then I remembered that I felt this way last year, too. How come I forgot about that? How come I only remember all the years when I did feel overwhelmed and stressed out? Because really, if I think about it, I seem to remember that the last few Thanksgivings have been really nice. Aha!
So, I spent yesterday thinking about why this is. And I think I figured it out. Sure I've eliminated some of the "extras" and tweaked some of the essentials to make things a bit less stressful. And I think that did help some. But, I've done that in previous years as well. What I think has made all the difference is that this year I have not gotten caught up in what I call The Christmas Crazies. I haven't done any significant Christmas shopping yet. And I'm not getting all stressed when people ask me if I've FINISHED my shopping. In the past I would get caught up in that frenzied state of mind. In a post I wrote last week about being annoyed with nonstop Christmas music before Thanksgiving, I joked about getting through savoring my holidays one at a time. Well, you know what? I think I was on to something. Taking the holidays one at a time and just being present for each one makes me happier. There, I said it. I'm happy. And it's almost Christmas. I don't feel stressed, overwhelmed or resentful at all. This just might be a Christmas miracle.
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