This year, I’d been planning on putting together an email workshop for simplifying the holidays and putting love and joy back into the celebration of Christmas. But I hadn’t planned on being so distracted by grad school, life, etc., this month.
So instead of a full workshop, I think I’ll just post some of the questions-for-thought here on the blog over the next few days. Feel free to tell your online and Facebook friends in case any of them would like to give some thought to how to make gentle and meaningful changes to the holiday season.
Discussion will be based on classes I’ve taught about the book, Unplug the Christmas Machine. I highly recommend this book if you’ve never read it before. And if you have read it, consider reading it again. I glean something new from it each time.
DAY ONE
A) Imagine your ideal Christmas.
Take 5 to 10 minutes of quiet time, close your eyes, and let your imagination create your warmest, happiest Christmas image. There’s no right or wrong response to this. It doesn’t even need to be realistic or include the people actually in your life. Just daydream for awhile about what your dream Christmas would be like.
B) After you have a general idea, start looking at your imaginary Christmas celebration more closely.
- What does it look like?
- Where are you — Inside? Outside?
- What does your celebration smell like?
- What do you hear?
- Is food involved — if so, what sort?
- Who’s with you, if anyone?
C) Take a few minutes to jot down some notes to yourself.
We’ll be looking at this again later. Feel free to share your responses in the comment section below. If we were doing an in-person workshop, discussing our responses would be part of the process.
Next Step: “A Simple Christmas” Day Two
A Frugal Simple Life 
Those are some great questions to ask yourself. Life is so fast-paced and sometimes we need to stop and rethink our holidays.
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I so agree, Mark. It can be easy to get caught up in the routine and the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, but taking some concentrated time to really think through our priorities during the holidays can be both eye-opening and freeing.
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