This has been my best Christmas holiday in recent memory.
Why? On top of the laughter and the joy was something even sweeter: never getting sick.
Nope, for the past four years, I’ve made it to the finish line (Christmas morning) and then collapsed in a heap as the flu bug ravaged my body.
Oh, I had a humdinger of a cold 2 weeks ago. And a cold sore the size of Kansas to accompany it. Pretty. Yeah, not so much.
But I never – not once – not this year – got the flu.
No body aches while wrapping presents.
No fevers while cooking breakfasts.
No wishing for bed while entertaining a house-full.
Nothing.
And I think I might know why.
This year, I stopped doing much of what I’ve always done.
I didn’t sign us up for Holiday visits.
I put up 1/4 of the decorations, and even less than last year.
I mailed only a few Christmas cards and most were to elderly aunties. If you received one, you might be elderly. 🙂
I never made fudge and I barely baked. Everyone plowed through the chocolate covered peanuts, though.
I wrapped quickly and with industrial-strength tape. (Hubbs has since been renamed “He who was not amused.” I laughed my face off as he tried to open gifts. Still am. Not apologizing.)
Yes I’ve stayed up, but I’ve also read up, slept in, and slowed down.
I’ve paid attention to what matters most to me and I’ve kicked my inner lizard to the curb, surrounded myself with battery chargers and heeded my own advice.
I didn’t continue rituals just because I always had.
I didn’t allow time for relationships that aren’t healthy for me.
Instead, I cultivated joy and rest, peace and quiet, laughter and music and happiness. I harvested love and romance and take out menus and days without schedules. I stopped shoulding on myself.
I didn’t water the weeds.
How about you? Can you resist “watering the weeds?”
Here comes 2014. Let’s ignore the weeds & embrace the flowers in our lives!
