Making The Holidays Sparkle!
The Holiday Season is here! If you're like me you feel it came in on an express train!! One minute I am putting Pumpkins on the porch and the next minute it is the “Season of Goodwill to All Men”. Don’t get me wrong I love the Holidays. The decorating, the shopping, the cooking, the gift buying, the whole nine yards!! That is, I did.
I loved the Christmas preparations when I had 5 little children in tow. The jammed-packed December calendar. School nativities, carol concerts and plays. I loved the anticipation of Father Christmas with excited little fingers wrapped around pencils and pens writing their secret notes to Santa. The joy of excitement as the decorations announced that the House was ready. We were ready to let the magic of Christmas begin!
I loved the organizing of menus and the Christmas cooking. One memory that I will always cherish is that of my elderly Mother sitting at my kitchen table with a huge mixing bowl in front of her stirring away at the ingredients of the Christmas Cake I was making. Her laughter and obvious joy at participating in the Christmas preparations was infectious. The children would love it when Nanny came to visit. Nanny also had an important role in the Christmas shenanigans!! Nanny’s house was ‘present central’. All the purchased gifts were left at Nanny’s to be wrapped before the children’s Christmas holidays began.
So what has changed? Life, very cruelly moves on. Children grow up and move away. They have children of their own. Elderly parents pass on. Situations change. It’s very easy to feel melancholy about what was. I miss the house full of children and bustle. I miss the ones who are no longer here. So how do I make the ‘Holiday Sparkle’? I have to embrace the changes and make new traditions. I am lucky to have a husband, children and grandchildren and although some of the children are far away we can make time to connect via Facetime. I am not alone. For those that are it is a different story.
Making the “Holidays Sparkle” isn't just about the ‘magic’ it’s about giving ourselves. Making sure everyone is included in our celebrations. Big gestures are great but it is the small things that make the difference. All it takes is for us to notice. Loneliness is one of the biggest killers and the Holidays make anyone feeling lonely a million times worse. Immersing ourselves into the Season by giving. Our time, our attention and most of all our hearts. This will make this Holiday Season all the more special for those around us and ourselves.
The decorations are up, Christmas baking will be done. Carol concerts will be attended and party invitations will be accepted. Visitors will be welcome. Christmas movies will be watched. Most of all, giving of ourselves will always, “Make the Holidays Sparkle”.
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