Be Happy, Go Slow
This year, I reclaimed the holiday spirit. The secret? I changed. I shifted from concentrating on everything that had to be done into enjoying whatever I decided to do. Holiday time is meant to make us happy and appreciative; not crushed, stressed and feeling inadequate.
For the past decade, growing worse every year, the holiday season became another burden of more things to do and less time to do them. By the end of the month I felt exhausted and resentful.
I decided the best way to enjoy the season was to do it week by week, leisurely and slowly. If people have discovered the benefits of slow food, then we can apply some of those same ideas to savoring the holidays.
So, the first week of Advent Lori and I decorated outside–we hung Christmas wreaths on the front and back porches, and one full of red berries for the birds on the shed door. Our little Norway spruce in the front yard has a gold star on the top. Old-fashioned colored lights twine around the front porch, and red “crab lights” from Greenport’s Arcade department store decorate the back.
Last weekend, we decorated indoors. Our centerpiece for Christmas dinner is on the dining room table with a special Santa candle for our son, Robert. The wooden duck decoys in the living room are dressed up with red bows. We found a beautiful mantle wreath of evergreen and holly for the fireplace, and the prince, drummer and two soldiers from the Nutcracker Suite stand guard. The mistletoe is in place.
This Saturday we go to get the tree. I’ll take some photos and post them next week.
