by Kris Pitcher
As the words came out of my mouth, I could barely believe I was saying them. Standing in the doorway of my colleague's office I announced, "I'm not really doing Christmas this year." Her smile was that southern kind, the kind where on the inside she's thinking something very different. By the look on her face, I must have sounded convincing.
She REALLY does Christmas...very well, and enough for many of us...including the festive sweaters. Making my announcement to her could have been like poking a sleeping bear. But she quickly started to tell me about how she was stressed out about finding the perfect gift for something or other, and on and on. Then I put on my southern smile.
Once I'd vocalized my approach to commercialism this holiday season...I thought I'd better get some consensus. Suggesting a non-gift giving season came as a relief to my mom and my sister. They were in. Gifts for the kids, none for the adults. Super low stress. And, check - that was easy!
We can create a lot of stress around the holidays. The lists of must haves, and must dos are in my mind negotiable. Traditions and family are important, but stress over gifts - let's just skip it this year.
Same goes for most areas of our life, we can choose how much stress we create. You might not realize just how much control you have over it. It begins with not over extending ourselves, with negotiating and considering different ways of doing things. As the holiday season progresses, I know you'll be making your list and checking it twice - add "stress free" to the top this year!
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