A Package Deal.....

So I forgot to write in November and just barely realized it, so to finish the year of monthly blogs, you're getting a double dose....

I got kinda of quiet to close this year out.  It wasn't a depression, it was more of a massive inward reflection time and I do not regret it at all.  I cut back on things, but did not completely disappear.  I hung out with AMAZING people and had fun, but I said no to the chaos.  It was WONDERFUL!

I'm going to confess something, I am so over the commercialism of the Holliday season.  The ads that start WAY too early, the store displays in OCTOBER, the BUY, BUY, BUY for one day.  I struggled with finding my Christmas spirit when I was so annoyed with that aspect of the holiday season.  It's something I need to work on...

I did my Christmas agreements again this year and that was nice and kept some traditions that I love and enjoy doing.  I spent a lovely Thanksgiving with extended family and yes, stayed out of stores all weekend long.  I connected, not shopped.....

I think that is what this past year has been about for me, connections....  How to maintain, how to re-establish, how to just connect in a world that seems to be about the go, go, go..  Letting go of what people think and just doing what feels right.  I know that for the most part I don't go with the flow much anymore, I'm finding my own current and my wish for you is that you find your own.......

Feeling reflective,
Melissa

December Agreements....

It's the most Wonderful Time of the Year?

Happy Holidays?

Enjoying Holiday Lights at Luminaria

Joy?

Every couple of years, I find myself struggling to get into the Holiday Spirit.  It has nothing to do with what is going on in my life; it is completely random...

Living in Utah, I am conditioned to expect a White Christmas or at least snow during December..  Some years, it even snows on Christmas!  :).  The weather this year absolutely got to me, dreary, grey and blah, but then at last moment, and while I was driving home, it snowed on Christmas Eve.

I still struggled with Christmas Spirit throughout the entire season, however.  I even began joking that I liked my Grinchy status, so I did something kind of different.

I made  Christmas Agreements.  If you have ever read the book "The Four Agreements" by Miguel Ruiz, you'll know exactly where I am heading with this.  I do 4 Agreements every month, so this wasn't too far out of the realm of normal for me.  I agreed to 4 Christmas activities this month.

#1.  Do something for someone else...

I wish I had taken a photo of the 70 plus stuffed animals that my mom and I knitted throughout 2017 and donated to the Utah Highway Patrol for their Teddy Bear program, but I didn't.  :(. Trust me when I say that they were cute and it felt really good dropping them off!  We also donated to the Road Home Shelter about 40 scarves, hats and gloves.  We enjoy knitting and this was a fun and easy way to give back...and plan to repeat this in 2018.

#2.  Do some sort of Christmas Activity...

There was massive debate and decision making to be done.  How much money to spend, if any at all?  Inside or Outside Activity?  Play, concert, or other art type event?  Decisions, decisions....

The winner.... Luminaria at Thanksgiving Point.  I will admit as I purchased the tickets, I was questioning my choice, but it won because I had never done it and the reviews from people who had gone were positive.

It was cold and a bit windy the night I went, but this was a beautiful thing to do.  You walk the gardens of Thanksgiving Point that have been transformed into a enchanting light display.  There are different sections and even fires throughout to warm your hands.  The craziest part, as you were walking in different sections, they had added scents!  In the Peppermint Alley area, it smelled like peppermint; in the Woodland Forest, pine; Candy Cane Lane, sweet candy (not my favorite...but still cute). You can even meet Reindeer.

A real live REINDEER!

I'm not sure I'll go every year, it is about $20 per person, but I'm going to keep it in my Christmas rotation.  

#3.  Have a Holiday Movie and Christmas Tradition Night

Charlie Brown's Christmas, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, Frosty, White Christmas, and yes even the Nightmare Before Christmas and Die Hard.....all shows that just say Holiday Spirit.  Over the past couple of years, I have found them all on DVD on sale, because I forget to record them or I'm not home when they are on.  Full proof watching, right?  Well.......last year, I think I only watched White Christmas....  Hence, the Agreement....

Now for the Tradition, every year as a kid, we would make Pomander balls...Oranges with whole cloves pushed into the peel.  Smells amazing, yet I vaguely remember very sore fingers from the cloves.  I had clementines on hand and will never go back.  Same smell, thinner peel!!!  

See the pomander balls? and guess what, I made that wreath!

#4.  Go Downtown.....

Christmas Lights in the Relective Pool

Salt Lake City is known for its Christmas decorations with Temple Square being the crown jewel.  I have a tendency to avoid large mobs of strolling people, so I haven't been downtown to see the lights, window displays, and decorations in YEARS.  The really sad part, I can be downtown, even with traffic in under 10 minutes from my house.......oops.  It is incredibly beautiful and yes, it can be crowded, but it is so worth it.  I parked in City Creek Center's lot and because it was under two hours-free parking.  I need to do this every year....

Busy but not Crazy....and absolutely Beautiful.

I completed my Agreements for Christmas and you know what, it ended up being a Merry Little Christmas after all......
Melissa

Christmas Spirit......

Tis' the Season....
Deck the Halls....
FaLaLaLa.....

I can't quite stay in the Christmas spirit this year.  I don't know if it's the weather, the massive cold I had that was followed by a flu that kept me in bed for 4 days, or the utter and complete lack of snow.

It started of well enough, my Christmas spirit, with the adoption of my Angel from the Salvation Army Angel Tree.  I went shopping for a 7 year boy who needed warm shoes for winter.  It puts things into perspective when you have multiple warm shoes for winter and this boy doesn't have any.

Then my cold came.  I sounded like a bullfrog and was not a happy clam.  I didn't want to go out and see the lights when the air was chewy and I couldn't breathe.  

Christmas spirit gone.  aargh.

I think I may have found it again, and strangely enough, it was a smell that did it.  I am 'real' tree fan.  Give me the dropping needles near the new year; I'll gladly slide under the tree to water it; I'll take it all.  Saturday, I finally got my tree and got it in the house and that's when it happened, the smell.  The evergreen, Christmas is just around the corner, smell.  :)  I started to sing, badly I'll admit, 'O Christmas Tree' to the point even my dogs looked like their ears hurt.  I felt excited.  I wanted to go out and see lights and feel the excitment.  Deck the Halls, indeed.....

So, this prompts a question....
What is your no fail, get you in the mood, Christmas Spirit moment?
Is it volunteering?  Decorating your house?  Your tree?  Or is it the calendar counting down?

Melissa
The Christmas elf