Christmas Baubles – Tip One

As the holiday season approaches pressure is mounting to go out all for perfection. In this post I’m talking about celebrating Christmas but it applies to any celebration, whatever your faith or culture. Magazines, colour supplements, adverts, make over shows, all are encouraging us women to provide the perfect Christmas experience.

Don’t fall for it.

Take a moment now to think about your best festive holiday times? My guess is that they won’t have been reliant on perfect table linen, professional floral arrangements, massively expensive gifts and an ‘advertisement perfect’ family.

Three Things for Christmas Perfection

List three things that make a festive holiday perfect for you; pick from emotions and feelings as well as material things. It’s very easy to get caught up in materialism and beating yourself up for not being the perfect hostess. If you take a little time now to really focus on what makes the season special for you and your family and friends, that’s where you can direct your energies for the next few weeks, and where you can see a real return in creating your idea of perfect Festive Time.

Forget the Matching Candles!

I love Christmas and I have done my fair share of wittering about matching candles, trying to do it all myself, and wanting a spotless house looking like something from Ideal Home. In the end none of that really matters. If people step across your threshold into a wall of tension and simmering discontent it doesn’t matter how perfect it all looks. No one will relax and enjoy themselves, least of all you.

Resolve now to make this festive period one which you enjoy and relax. Aim to create your three most important things as best you can and simply enjoy all the hustle and bustle, lights, music, crowds for what they are, and stop working towards some idealised version of the perfect Christmas!

Please do share your own tips for not only surviving but having fun too!

One Wedding and a Holiday!

In yesterday’s post I exhorted you all to take a proper break from work, have a real holiday from the 21st Century.  Even if just for one day.

And I am following my own advice! (Although I’m not sure that crossing the Atlantic on a plane counts as leaving the 21st century behind but the spirit is there…).

By the time you read this I will be in the US where I am attending the wedding of good friends. Gwilym, whom we have known since childhood, is marrying a lovely American girl, Molly, in California. And my husband has the honour of conducting the ceremony! He is not a priest, he’s a fire-fighter (!) but will be sworn in for the day as a marriage celebrant. Previously the only person he has married was me, 33 years ago: I’ve had great fun telling folks my husband is marrying our friends’ son!

And I am going to give myself over completely to enjoying the trip. No lap top, no obsessive checking of emails, (although I must admit someone else will be doing that and taking course bookings), and no phoning the office every day just in case the world has tipped on its axis because I am not there.  I am going to relax and enjoy the whole experience. Laughing, crying (weddings- I can’t help it), I’ll be doing it all.

But one thing I won’t be doing, is working!

Whatever you’re doing for a break this summer, the important thing is to have one, a proper one. Whether it’s sunning yourself on the coast, lying in bed late every day with a great novel, touring a stately home, it doesn’t matter. Its purpose is to refresh you and recharge you, so do what you need to do, for you!

Regular readers will know that I place great importance on celebrating the good things in life, so in that spirit, please join me in an international toast, to Molly and Gwilym, the bride and groom! Much love and happiness forever!

I’ll catch you all after the break!

Celebrate!

Celebrate – It’s Good for You!

Are you a good celebrator? When did you last really celebrate and appreciate all the good things in your life?

Sociologists the world over have noted that we humans need to mark significant events. We have all sorts of ceremonies to help us note changes in our lives: weddings, funerals, baptisms, parties, birthdays and so on.

Don’t Wait

But we don’t have to wait for the next big event. Even the smallest of our successes deserve marking, maybe  just rewarding ourselves with coffee with a friend after a tricky piece of work.

Difficult Times

If you are in the middle of a difficult period, know that it will come to an end, and plan for how you will celebrate your coming through. Having something nice to anticipate will help you through it. Just think how much pleasure you can get out of planning your annual holiday, months before it actually happens. The same principle applies.

And if you have just come through a difficult time in your life, pat yourself on the back for getting to the other side and plan a small celebration. It may just involve you, it may involve others – you decide!

Never Too Late!

Think back over the last few months; have you missed any opportunities to celebrate? It’s not too late!  The good thing about celebrations is that you can have them at any time. So, don’t wait for the next family wedding (or funeral) to have a get together. You can organise one now!

The Importance of Ritual or Have a Party!

All humans need ritual. We like to think that we’re rational beings but many of the rituals we hold dear are not rational yet they serve us well.

Mark Events

Rituals and ceremonies help us mark significant events in our lives, feel kinship and solidarity with others, and cope with changes both personal and professional. Some are common to most cultures, like rituals associated with partnerships, end of life, births and so on. Others are more associated with particular cultures or religions, like the ritual of a thanksgiving dinner.

Change

When I’m working in organisations undergoing change I always urge them to mark in some way the transition from one state to another. It can be quite simple or more elaborate but people need a marker from which to date the change.

Celebrate

In your own life do you mark events? You probably do with changes in status like marriage and so on but when did you last really celebrate the good things in your life? Your successes?

The sad stuff comes at us unbidden and ritual helps us then but don’t forget to mark all the good things in life; maybe celebratory tea and cake with a friend who has come through a bad patch, a party to wish someone well in their new home, perhaps just a beautiful card to someone who has been inspirational or helpful to you.

Take every opportunity to celebrate the good things in life. Party on!