Holiday Memories to Cherish
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Are you busy taking care of others, fulfilling commitments and there's never time for yourself? You're not alone as women are natural caretakers BUT we need to take care of ourselves too! Here are ideas to help YOU enjoy this holiday season. Happy Holidays to all of you!
What's important during the holiday season? What memories do you have from your childhood? When you children were young? You'll quickly remember things you did with people who were special in your life, like baking cookies with grandma. Very few memories are about gifts. Here are ideas to help you reconnect with old memories, and create new ones too:
- Get into the holiday spirit by reading a Christmas story like Donna Van Liere's, The Christmas Shoes.
- Reconnect with a special friend for breakfast and you'll get to relax and feel great. In fact you can do this each month with a different friend ... 12 months and 12 friends!
- Rekindle old holiday traditions that have great memories, like visiting a nearby city when it's decorated (the tree at Rockefeller Center in New York City).
- Hire a decorator to decorate your house. You'll enjoy a festive home and not dread one more holiday chore. They'll show you how to:
- Add live branches to an artificial tree, saving time (cleaning) and money.
- Fill vases your own with backyard decorations like pinecones.
- Bake your favorite holiday treat, just one or 2 so you don't overwhelm yourself.
- Maybe those special cookies your grandmother made when you were little.
- Sometimes baking provides inexpensive gifts like banana bread with cranberries.
- When my children were home, we made ginger bread houses.
- Relax while supporting one of your local community arts organizations:
- Local theater always puts on a special holiday show for families.
- Regional groups offer the Nutcracker and holiday concerts like Handel's Messiah.
- Google "holidays & XX (substitute your state)" to find lots more fun things to do.
- Change your gifting habits to focus on what people need:
- Don't spend on people who have enough. Donate to a non-profit in their name.
- Send a family (business) letter to share news with friends and family (photos are especially nice as your children grow).
- Adopt a child, senior, family or non-profit and brighten their holidays. Some ideas:
- Want to buy toys, contact Big Brother/Big Sister, A Safe Place, etc.
- Thinking globally? Find a group focusing on something important to you, i.e. www.heifer.org provides animals to help people earn a living.
- Don't have money? Donate time to a non-profit who can use your skills, i.e. My Handyman remodeled the bathrooms at a local theater.
- Give yourself a gift, something I learned years ago. My au pair went shopping for her Christmas gifts, and bought herself a new sweater too. Maybe you'd enjoy:
- A new sweater, earrings or spa day ... whatever will bring a smile to your face!
- Something you'll enjoy all year like painting a room to brighten the winter? new kitchen hardware to spice up your holiday entertaining?
There's a saying that home is where the heart is. The same is true when you're with the people who are important in your life. Enjoy your holidays!
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Links that Make Life Easier
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Some related to home maintenance, repairs or remodeling ... and sometimes they're just fun things we've seen that are worth sharing:
Christmas Traditions Around the World ... from the History Channel
Christmas as we know it today is a Victorian invention of the 1860s.
Probably the most celebrated holiday in the world, our modern Christmas
is a product of hundreds of years of both secular and religious
traditions from around the globe.
Stay Safe While Hanging Holiday Lights ... from Consumer Reports
With the holiday season now upon us, chances are good that you'll be
participating in the traditional hanging of the lights and other
decorations to put your home in the holiday spirit. You can also check my blog for more holiday tips which I'll be adding to every few days.
Holiday Decorating: Affordable and Renewable
Try these simple ideas to bring family and neighbors together while
decorating your home. Make the most of your time with these tips that
won't break the bank! Reuse old items in new ways and feel great about
slowing down the Holiday Spending Monster!
Want to Share Your Holiday Cheer with Others?
Send us your photos and each day, we'll put at least one of your photos on our new handyman blog, Nuts & Bolts |
