Holidays, in many ways, serve as life's goal posts--we move from holiday to holiday year after year, and when we prepare for the celebrations, we inevitably think about holidays past, present, and future. How has life changed?, we may wonder. What do we want this year's celebrations to be like? What will the future hold?
My holiday experiences as a child were mostly cheerful, positive, and filled with warmth and love. I want my children, grandchildren, friends, and relatives to experience a similar experience of joy and love during the holidays. I also want to include the most positive traditions year after year--traditions that comfortably bring people happiness and positivity.
In many ways, I'm repeating my parents' and in-laws' traditions with regard to creating a home that's welcoming, warm, and celebratory. We don't have a fancy home, but we can decorate and organize our home to welcome others--that's part of the fun and prep that goes along with holiday celebrations.
The holidays prompt a lot of organizations and cleaning to in order to make space for everyone, prepare the special holiday foods, and buy the expected and some unexpected gifts too.
When thinking about this year's celebrations, it's time to do the big Christmas-time clean-up, decorating, gift creation, cooking, and baking. In thinking beyond the big day, I'm thinking about ways to make our home welcoming for all the holidays to come. That means making our home baby-friendly so our little grandson can crawl, walk, and play safely and happily. It also means doing what I can to create healthy, beautiful, nutritious gardens to make our yard beautiful and supply us with healthy herbs and vegetables for our meals. Further, I want to continue to donate items we don't need--paring down our home to the essentials and little more. As I keep repeating, "Less things, more time" and time is one of the most precious gifts for me.
Onward.
