It seems that during the Holiday Season the lists grow and grow, consuming our time and our joy and leaving us feeling more like the Grinch than good old St. Nick.
With that in mind, here is our list at Ascension of things that you can do to bring the Miracle of Christmas into your home this year.
Week 1: Be Present
1. Practice Gratitude:
Either at the beginning or the end of the day, find three things to be thankful for and say a prayer thanking God for those gifts.
2. Simplify, Simplify, Simplify
Find ways to make your life simpler. Say no to some things. Don’t put up all the decorations. Look at your calendar before the week starts and set aside free time to do something that you want to do. And…maybe simplify your gift giving strategy. There’s a wonderful Victorian tradition that might be helpful. Everyone gets 4 gifts:
3. Engage in creative activities
That’s right! Baking cookies is good for your mental health! But so is making homemade Christmas ornaments or building ginger bread houses. Even wrapping presents will work! Being creative helps to stimulate our minds in a different way, lowering stress and increasing our joy.
4. Contact Friends
When we contact friends just to talk, we are reminded of fond memories and enjoyable moments in the past that help to put today’s stresses in a different perspective, leaving us more ready to make new memories with the people around us.
5. Take a moment
Take a moment to breathe. Do a quick devotion. Say a prayer. Just stop and enjoy the creation that God has given you. Whatever it takes, by stopping the activity and focusing on the moment, it helps us to be more present in the moment.
6. Nothing is perfect
Maybe the biggest stressor is that we just want everything to be perfect. We want to get the perfect gift for everyone. The dinner has to be perfect. The decorations have to be perfect. The family pictures have to be perfect. It all has to be perfect so that we have perfect memories of a perfect family with a perfect life. But…just think for a second. Have all your Christmas’s past been perfect? No? But you still enjoyed them right? They were still pretty good. And some of them even gave you some funny stories that now are the perfect story about being imperfect. So yeah…Christmas won’t be perfect. But that’s ok. Everyone is going to love it anyway.
With that in mind, here is our list at Ascension of things that you can do to bring the Miracle of Christmas into your home this year.
Week 1: Be Present
1. Practice Gratitude:
Either at the beginning or the end of the day, find three things to be thankful for and say a prayer thanking God for those gifts.
2. Simplify, Simplify, Simplify
Find ways to make your life simpler. Say no to some things. Don’t put up all the decorations. Look at your calendar before the week starts and set aside free time to do something that you want to do. And…maybe simplify your gift giving strategy. There’s a wonderful Victorian tradition that might be helpful. Everyone gets 4 gifts:
- Something to eat
- Something to read
- Something to play with
- Something they need
3. Engage in creative activities
That’s right! Baking cookies is good for your mental health! But so is making homemade Christmas ornaments or building ginger bread houses. Even wrapping presents will work! Being creative helps to stimulate our minds in a different way, lowering stress and increasing our joy.
4. Contact Friends
When we contact friends just to talk, we are reminded of fond memories and enjoyable moments in the past that help to put today’s stresses in a different perspective, leaving us more ready to make new memories with the people around us.
5. Take a moment
Take a moment to breathe. Do a quick devotion. Say a prayer. Just stop and enjoy the creation that God has given you. Whatever it takes, by stopping the activity and focusing on the moment, it helps us to be more present in the moment.
6. Nothing is perfect
Maybe the biggest stressor is that we just want everything to be perfect. We want to get the perfect gift for everyone. The dinner has to be perfect. The decorations have to be perfect. The family pictures have to be perfect. It all has to be perfect so that we have perfect memories of a perfect family with a perfect life. But…just think for a second. Have all your Christmas’s past been perfect? No? But you still enjoyed them right? They were still pretty good. And some of them even gave you some funny stories that now are the perfect story about being imperfect. So yeah…Christmas won’t be perfect. But that’s ok. Everyone is going to love it anyway.