This holiday season I have managed to avoid creating Christmas stress. I have breath in the slow mood and accept the fact that Christmas time goes as it does. I am not going to force it to be perfect, and I don’t want to poison my mind with stress.
How to do this? Well, firstly I am not going to stress about buying Christmas presents. This year again we won’t buy presents for adults. We got a couple of books and games for our daughter. Recently, when I asked her, what she wanted, she told me an orange present. I realized by asking this question that I am about to teach her a manner that in Christmas time Santa is going to bring lots of gifts. I said to myself: stop. What she really needs is that we spent time with her and that we do things together, like baking gingerbreads or making snowmen. The biggest gift is the time and our presence, not the number of gifts. And lets face it: the more kids have presents at the same time, the less they concentrate on playing any of them.
Also, in these past few weeks I have consciously started to slow down. I have stopped to notice the Christmas magic around us. I have pay attention how the city is full of beautiful Christmas lights, how the snow falls down, how the Christmas trees look in the market. I have eaten in a mindful way a piece of chocolate and smell how the warm glögi brings the Christmas spirit to our home. I have woken up early to do my meditation and yoga practice. I lit the candles and then wake up my daughter with lots of hugs and kisses. Together we look at the Christmas decorations and that little elf that is looking at us. In the morning we play Christmas songs that she loves to sing and dance. We share the magic that she experiences when she opens her Advent calendar.
The joy of Christmas is in these little moments, don’t let them go by.
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Have a lovely Christmas time my dear reader!
