Tip # 6 Unobstruct Your Holiday

Are you ready for a simpler holiday season?

Tis’ the season of joy and merriment! You know, an opportunity to come together with family and friends to celebrate your own unique holiday traditions. A time of year where peace, love and joy rain down on all mankind!!! I mean really…don’t all families wait months in anticipation of this joyous time of year to celebrate their holiday of choice???

When I was growing up, Dad would officially declare the holiday season in full swing by giving the cattle call to gather all the children to participate in the annual tree trimming ceremony. Mom… no amateur to this Olympic sport… declared it was time for her to “head-out” (I think even the family dog Starsky knew to head for the hills). We all knew full well she was escaping before there was any carnage! You see this was no “Norman Rockwell” painting in the making.

Dad would direct us like little soldiers, yelling at every turn, identifying which boxes must be exhumed from the attic crawl space. Next was the meticulous opening of each colorful box… slow and steady… finding the perfect order for the treasures wrapped beneath the crinkled newspaper. The older two siblings would be unleashed to trim the room with holiday garland. Dad’s philosophy was the more the merrier…the ultimate sin was having leftover tinsel. My brother, who was two years older than me, was given the warrior task of helping dad put together the fake silver tree (yes I said SILVER)! The color-coded branches did NOTHING to simplify this task for my dad (never known as a handy-man). More often than not, it would end with my brother in tears, just as my mother was pulling into the driveway. As the youngest in the family, my job was easy and straight-forward, do anything anyone told you…and don’t complain. After all this was a joyous family event… are we all having fun yet?

On one particular occasion, my dad was struggling to get the tree to fit AND stay in the tree stand. After several unsuccessful attempts it began to look like a scene out of “The Christmas Story”. Envision dad retreating to the basement, only to reappear with a hammer and a stake (not to be confused with a nail). In his infinite wisdom, he decided it was best to take matters into his own hands. He had designed a way for the tree to stay in place (perhaps permanently). He slowly and methodically drove the stake through the tree and into our delicate green shag rug. He rose and stated “Now that is a Christmas tree­ – wasn’t that simple”!

So the moral of the story is… regardless of the holiday you celebrate, we are all striving to create our own special memories and find peace and simplicity in all that we do. If you’re struggling to find ways to have this holiday season not seem so overwhelming then here are a few of my last minute tips to keep you on-track:

Tips to simplify the season:

• Give yourself permission to let go of some task, chore, event or idea that isn’t working for you this year! You always have next year to recommit. (My personal guilty pleasure was giving myself permission to say NO to a tree this year. Our house is simply decorated and we decided, as a family, we could live without the tree... We also agreed to reinforce a judgment-free/guilt-free zone around our decision!

• Schedule time to do nothing but enjoy the fruits of your labor (operative word is schedule). Have a family night that involves sharing stories, playing board games or just listening to holiday music. Find one night to escape the craziness and make it a “family first” event. Don’t worry, everything will get done…it always does, doesn’t it?

• Think outside of the box, when it comes to gift-giving. Some of the best and most memorable gifts don’t come from the retail stores. Here are some of my favorite alternative gift ideas:
  
  Share your creative talents:

• My niece is a clever and brilliant artist; she stenciled me a picture of my new home and framed it as a gift. It is still one of the most special gifts I’ve received.


• My life coach presented me with a gift that I proudly display. It was a colorful piece of paper in a 4X 6 frame that had my name in the center of the page. Surrounding it were words that described me, from her perspective (kind, energetic, passionate, beautiful.) In today’s economic hard times who couldn’t use an ego boost like that!


• I provided my girlfriend with gift that utilized my organizing talent. Last year she talked in great detail about wanting to convert an extra room in her house to a home office. I knew she was short on time, but committed to having a special place to do her work. I presented her with a gift certificate that said I would help her de-clutter the room and decorate the space. It still gives us both a sense of pride when we look at the room!
  
  Give the gift of time:

• I created a certificate for my step-daughter that said “Girl’s Day Out”. In the spring, I took her out for a day of fun and made her a scrapbook to capture our special moments.

• One of my girlfriends and I decided not to exchange monetary gifts; instead we used our time to volunteer at a food bank. Sharing the time to make a difference in the world was more rewarding than any gift! The Better Business Bureau has a website that lists a variety of national charities. Find the one that speaks to you! http://www.bbb.org/us/BBB-Accredited-Charities/

• One year I picked my brother, who is difficult to buy for, in our holiday swap. I remembered hearing him say he would love to have all of his family photos in an album someday. He had two huge boxes filled with random photos. I took the time to arrange the photos and created scrapbooks for each of his children and one for the entire family. This was one year that he was speechless when he opened his gift. It has now become a tradition for the family to look at the photo books every holiday season.
  
  Do you need help organizing your life and need an accountability partner? E-mail me at Juliann@theunobstuctedview.com and let talk about ways I might be able to help you!

Unobstruct your view!

Juliann