Christmas Favorites

I love Christmas.  I admit it, I really do love everything about it; the noise, the people in the shopping malls, the shopping, the music, gifts, the wrapping, the ribbon, the cards, the chaos in the parking lots (OK, maybe I don't love the parking lot chaos, but it does make me laugh), the baking, the decorating inside and outside the house, all of it just makes me happy.


There are a few highlights to the Christmas holidays that I just love best of all, and because the holidays are about sharing, I'm going to share my favorite holiday traditions and memories. 


Christmas stuff
You know those crazy singing reindeer?  or the Santa doing push ups while the theme from Rocky plays?  or the Santa swaying in a hammock while 'it's 5 o'clock somewhere' plays?  I'm the person who pushes the play button on all those things in the store just to see what they do.  They make me giggle and smile and the temptation is just too much ~ I have to press "play" every time. 


Christmas Baking
Christmas baking was always a special time in our house.  Growing up, I helped my grandmother do the Christmas baking each year.  It was always something we did together and when she passed away, I continued to bake the Christmas treats Gran always made.  In recent years, my niece has joined in by coming over to help me bake.  We laugh and giggle and on more than one occasion there has been cookie dough or icing on the ceiling and no, I'm not exactly sure how that happened, but I can guarantee it was because we were having fun together.


Wrapping & Ribbons
There's just something wonderful about brightly wrapped gifts tied up with ribbon and placed under I tree.  I love the way they reflect the twinkling lights, the array of coloured paper, the way the ribbon curls. Gift bags just don't do it; there has to be paper and especially ribbon, lots of ribbon tied and curled.  According to family and friends, gifts from me are harder to get into than Fort Knox.  


Christmas memories
These are the best part of Christmas and I've been blessed with many years of happy memories and some pretty funny Christmas stories over the years, two of my favorites are Slinky and the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree.


When I was about 4 years old, I wanted a Slinky and Christmas morning I was overjoyed to find Santa had given me one, along with a beautiful red tricycle.  It was awesome, at least for the first hour or so, until my big brother took my new Slinky and twisted it into the spokes of my tricycle.  My parents tried to get it untangled but sadly the only way that Slinky was coming out of those spokes was by cutting it out with wire cutters.  I was heartbroken.  Strangely, my parents never thought to get me a new Slinky, probably because they figured my brother would find something to twist it into. It was one of those Christmas stories that in later years we would retell and laugh about; if you had celebrated Christmas with us once, odds are you knew the Christmas Slinky story.  


Then one Christmas about 12 years ago, when my sis was dating the guy she would eventually marry, he gave me an Executive Slinky for Christmas.  As silly as it may sound, it was one of my favorite gifts that year and yes, I still have it and every time I see it I smile and yep, I do play with it now and then.  


Then there's our family's version of the Charlie Brown Christmas tree.  I'm sure most people have seen the Peanuts Christmas classic cartoon where Charlie Brown goes out and buys a Christmas tree that looks pretty much like a little twig with a few pine needles on it.  Well, my story doesn't start quite like that.  Instead, my story involves my younger sister, who at the time was in her late teens or early twenties.  She decided she was going to get a Christmas tree for our livingroom downstairs so we could have two trees in the house.  So, she and a friend went out to pick the perfect tree.  Now, anyone who has shopped for the perfect tree knows, the better the tree, the higher the cost.  Sis had a limited budget, but she was young, cute and a great negotiator.  So with a little negotiating, flirting and flattery she managed to come home with a beautiful huge tree that should have cost her at least twice what she paid.  Now, this tree was literally too tall for our livingroom, so dad pulled out a saw to just cut a little off the bottom.  Well, while dad was great at many things, cutting straight was not one of them, so he cut it and the tree leaned to the left, so he cut it again and it leaned to the right which required another cut and another and another.   Yes, the Christmas tree started off as a 7 ft. tree had been reduced to about 4 ft. by the time he got it straight.  Sis's beautiful tree became known as our Charlie Brown Christmas tree because it had to be placed on a small wooden box (which I wrapped up like a gift), and the box with the tree on top were placed on a small coffee table.  While sis would bemoan the fact that it's now a little tree, dad would simply point out that at least it was straight one.  


Celebrating Christmas in our house is a time of love and laughter, sharing memories and making new ones.  


Our house is always full at Christmas with family and friends.  There has always been a steady flow of people through our home Christmas day.  Dad's friends would stop in first thing in the morning to wish us a Merry Christmas, then mom's family would arrive and stay for lunch, members of dad's family who lived nearby would join us in the afternoon and stay for dinner, and there has always been an array of friends, my brother's friends, my sister's friends, my friends, anyone who couldn't make it home for Christmas or who didn't have family to go home to joined us.  There is always room for one more, especially since we use a ping-pong table as a dining room table to make sure everyone has a place at our table.  There is always more than enough food, fun, laugh and love to share, and really, isn't that the true meaning of Christmas?  


May your holiday celebrations be filled with the love and peace, joy and laughter, that the season is meant to celebrate.


Blessings

Talking To Myself

I am sometimes asked how I choose the topic or theme of my newsletter and blog.  To be honest, most of the time it chooses me by appearing in my life as a pattern being experienced by those around me which, in turn, means I am experiencing on some level as well.  If we are all experiencing the same thing in various forms, then it's likely we can all benefit from looking at the pattern from a different perspective which may mean seeing how someone else is dealing with it (or not dealing with it) and then examining our own actions or inaction. 

Writing gives me an opportunity to ponder aloud about the issues, triggers, and patterns which appear to me and allows me to share my thoughts on them.  When I'm writing there are times when it feels a lot like I am talking to myself.  The voice that appears as words on the screen is the voice in my head.  The voice that asks the questions and seeks answers. Questions like "What is the pattern here?", "Where are you experiencing this in your own life?", "What's the bigger picture/message?", "How, where and when does this pattern play out?"  "Is this something a lot of people are experiencing now?"  There's always lots of questions and there are times when there appears to be far more questions than answers.

Since I tend to be a very visual person, I will admit I don't always listen to the voice in my head.I actually need to see what it's been saying and the only way to do that is to write it down. I figure if it's something that I'm working on, pondering, or thinking about, or a common issue my clients are dealing with, it may be something others can relate to and if, by my sharing it, I have helped them in some way, then it's worth sitting down and writing about.  I write a lot. Some of it gets posted here; some of it is still sitting in draft mode, to be shared at a later date or rewritten or perhaps not shared at all.  At the moment I have 5 draft blog posts, will you ever see them?  Who knows, maybe...or maybe not. Like everything in life, writing is a process in which one creates, changes, completes and then begins anew.

People tend to believe that I don't have challenges in my life simply because my work is based on transforming what doesn't work in one's life into something that does work. However, the truth is, no one is exempt and we're done when we're dead and since I am very much alive, I too encounter life challenges from time to time.  The advantage I have, if you want to call it that, is a set of personal development tools and skills and a process which gets me out of what's not working in my life and into what will work.

These tools and skills along with the knowledge and belief that everyone, yes everyone, can succeed in creating the changes they desire (if they are willing to commit to the process of change) is how I am able to guide my clients through their process, to get them out of the Problem (whatever the issue is) and into Solution so they are able to move past the challenges and reach their goals easier than ever before.


While I hope what I write is relevant, I no longer wonder about who is reading it.  I have come to realize my writing is part of my process, it helps me take the next step in my work and in my life, whatever that step may be and wherever that step may lead me. If writing the thoughts from the voice in my head resonates with my readers and gives them a laugh, a smile, some insight, a new perspective, a glimmer of hope, or inspires them to take action towards committing to the change they desire, then I feel I have made a difference in their world.  For me, my work is all about guiding people in a way that empowers them in their life and in the world around them.  I strive to accomplish this through my writing, my work, my day to day life, my conversations with others and with each and every person I work with and that is my commitment to the process of change in my world and the world around me. 

Yes, there are times when I feel like I'm talking to myself, yet I know those who need to hear (or see) the message will; at least that's what the voice in my head tells me and it's never wrong.


Blessings