Family Traditions

I just want a normal holiday season! 

I want to spend time with my friends and my family. 

I want to hug my parents. 

I want to visit my brother on the other side of the country. 

I want to have a family dinner and see the aunts and uncles that I haven’t seen all year. 

Just like a child who eagerly awaits the moment they can rip into those presents and send balls of wrapping paper flying through the air, I am awaiting the moment I can hug my family and  keep our family traditions alive.

December is usually a hard month for everyone  This year is even harder with all the safety precautions, sickness, and fear.  We are unable to visit with our loved ones and most of our holiday plans have been cancelled, downsized, or made virtual. 

Being human, our first thought is about everything we are missing.  If we aren’t careful, we could spiral down a big hole of depression.  Nobody wants to spend the holidays in that state of mind.  But what can we do to keep the depression at bay?

Instead of focusing on all the things we are missing, why not focus on the things we can still do?  Changing our focus allows us to the freedom to find things to be happy about.  Being happy allows us to not only enjoy our holidays, but it allows us to spread happiness to the people we love.  Isn’t that what the holidays are about? 

• Spend some time today thinking of ways to be happy during this pandemic Christmas season. 

• Write them down and make it a point to do the happy things. 

• What can you do to make yourself happy? 

• What can you do to make your loved ones happy?  What are the traditions you are keeping this year? 

  If you are unsure which traditions you can keep, write them down.  When you see them in writing, it could help you to figure out a way to make them work. 

  It’s okay to tweak them a little to get them to work for you this year.  Who knows, that new version of your tradition could just become the new family tradition!