As December begins, we can create the time for reflection. The holidays are a great time to slow down, reflect on how things have gone, and determine some things we’d like to improve next year. Instead, we may get caught in a frenzy of holiday activities that keeps us running ourselves ragged. With a little effort now, you can prevent an avalanche of tasks that keep you from having time to reflect when you get a few days off.
Make a list and finish your shopping. If you haven’t finished your Christmas shopping, finish it now. Today is Cyber Monday and a great time to find a discount. This task will go faster and remain more budget friendly if you make a list and stick to it.
Start wrapping immediately. You don’t have to wrap all the gifts in one day but start soon after you purchase them. Take an hour or two each night while you’re watching TV to wrap your gifts. You can make this task go faster by getting the children to help.
Cut decorations down to the essential. Use a lighted wreath on the door in place of strands of lights on the house. Hang stockings and decorate one tree, but forego garland, extra candles, Christmas villages, and extra trees.
Prepare the guest room. If you have people coming to stay, go ahead and locate the extra blankets and pillows. Locate the blowup beds. Change the linens or put them with the temporary mattresses to save time later.
Create a general menu. Once you have a sense of the items you want to serve, create a backward timeline that allows for bundling tasks, prepping, and/or freezing in advance.
Premix pancakes, waffles, biscuits, rolls, or cinnamon rolls. When you must avoid wheat or other grains, you can’t always pick up a mix or prepared product at the last minute. Instead of waiting until guests start arriving, premix the dry ingredients for baked goods you plan to make. Put the mixes in clearly labelled containers and print out, or bookmark, the recipes so you can finish them quickly.
Carefully choose parties. How many times have you attended some event that drains you? Perhaps you can forego some of the usual events in favor of greater investment in the ones that are meaningful.
Mix your friends. I had a friend who religiously refused to mix groups of friends. Ironically, most of us knew each other. When we gathered for his memorial party, it was easy to see how silly the rule had been. Minimize the number of days you’re busy by inviting groups you might not normally pair. You may discover they mesh wonderfully. If not, you’ll probably get an interesting story!
Practice mindfulness. If you hurry through the holidays or busy yourself to avoid bad memories or trauma triggers, this is a great time to ground and breathe.
Ditch regret. Some of us spend time and energy punishing ourselves for the things we regret. Spending time reflecting summons all those demons adding fuel to the flame. This is time and energy wasted. We all do things we regret. We can’t undo them. The best we can do is learn and do better next time.
Reflection is both a time to learn from mistakes and a time to revel in all the good, serendipitous, heartwarming things this year brought us. Fully embracing the good bolsters us for any difficulty we may face next year. Reflection is an excellent ingredient in the recipe for fortitude.