Holiday help and other great posts
It’s time for me to get link happy again with some excellent posts I’ve read over the past couple of weeks. And while a few of them offer some excellent holiday help I’d like to also just pause for a quick moment to offer you a different bit of holiday encouragement as we lead into the Christmas season. Ladies please hear me. Slow down. Whatever you are planning, however many pages your list may be, do yourself a favor and scratch something off that list right now. Believe me, I’m talking to myself here as well.
The holiday season won’t be as much work if you have less gifts to buy, less cards to mail, less parties to attend and less decorating to do. That might sound Scrooge like to some but what I replace my time with is so precious to me. Relaxing at home with my family, playing board games, watching movies, singing Christmas carols. What’s important to you? Slow down, simplify, relax. The days will pass regardless of how stressed we are so why not go through this holiday season wearing a different attitude. Either way you’ll get to the other side. How do you want to remember the journey?
image courtesy of don2g
Slow down. Simplify. Relax.
And enjoy these links :)
Free Digital Taste of Home Cookbooks ~ including some for Thanksgiving
Printable Christmas Planner ~ @ Executive Homemaker
Organize for Thanksgiving by Labeling Your Serving Platters ~ @ Complete Organizing Solutions
Gifts You Can Make: Homemade Bath Salts and Soaks ~ @ Momadvice
Cultivating a Meek And Quiet Spirt ~ @ A Woman Inspired
Eleven Myths of De-Cluttering ~ @ The Happiness Project
The Lost Rule of Organizing ~ @ Small Notebook
A Peaceful Home – Be Home ~ @ Purely His
What To Do When You Don’t Feel Like Doing Anything ~ @ Serene Journey
Inconvenient Gratitude ~ @ (In)Courage (this post was particularly touching to me as we journey through our current circumstances)
Carrying Burdens That Don’t Belong To Us ~ @ Keeper of the Home
Thanks! It is so true that the holidays need not stretch us so much that we lose sight on the true meaning. Some years I have been so tired by the time Christmas comes I really do not enjoy it. Thanks for the great reminder. I plan on using your strategy this year. Thanks for the heartfelt message.
Totally agree! We’re planning a visit home for the holidays so our focus is on getting there and enjoying the time, no tree at home, no decorations and no party planning. Though I’ll miss doing our thing here it is some weight off that I appreciate.
I am the hostess this year for the “siblings” annual pre-Christmas dinner. This is a rotating job and one which I do enjoy HOWEVER this year I let all of my siblings know that I would not be cooking a turkey. I am trying to de-stress by life and am starting with those things that I can control. I still plan to cook a turkey on Christmas day for my family but will look to other fun and delicious options for our pre-Christmas gathering.
My children and I love to “window shop” at Christmas…wander around, see the decorations, maybe buy a cookie and drink and just have fun. Another alternative is to declare “Movie Day”, pick out christmas movie favorites, pop popcorn and be lazy together. The first week in December is our church’s big Living Christmas Tree musical that we are all involved in, but the rest of the month is ours to savor and enjoy. (And we don’t homeschool in Dec., so the schoolbooks will be packed away for the month)
This year we are selling our house and moving cross country by March 1st. So, I am really simplifying my Christmas. No tree and very few decorations. It is actually quite refreshing to be able to say, No to things as they come up. We are spending more time as a family packing and organizing which works for me:)
Thanks Laura for the post today. This couldn’t have come at a better time for me right now. I have been struggling with stress and sometimes we all just need a reminder in our lives. THANK YOU again, this has helped me tremendously today with the inspirational words there were posted in your links!
Thank you for these links! Two in particular REALLY HIT HOME!!!!!!
Thanks for these great links! I wanted to let you know (as you are my organising guru!) that I have just posted on my blog about my recent pantry overhaul. I was always frustrated by the clutteredness of my pantry. Pop over to my blog to see how I managed to tame this wild beast! Wendy xxx
Holiday season has always been a stressful time for me. The Printable Christmas Planner is helping me to get more organized.Anyway this year we are planning to have a very simple celebration. Thanks for the post Laura.
Thank you so much for the links!! I love your blog…even though I don’t comment much!!