I have been overbooking myself lately and it shows. I have I have 18 draft blog posts right now, reflecting my inability to finish a thought to completion when I’m too hurried. (I also have dirty dishes overflowing out of the sink onto the kitchen counter.)
I decided to take a moment to publish one post, and hopefully get back in the habit. When I was working on creating our family rhythm, I decided blogging is important to me right now, but that I wanted to limit myself to 500 words or less and 20 minutes per post (except for special occasions). I’ve been good with the word count, but not so much the time. I write, read, edit, delete and rewrite. I recently got an email from a reader in Germany and then checked out my analytics. I learned that I have followers all over the world, from many countries. Something about these words going out to the world makes me want to get it perfect. I need to settle for good enough.
Anyway, here are a few words that are on my mind right now.
Winter is the time to slow down
I heard these words from Claudia Keel, when she presented at one of our recent Holistic Moms Network monthly meetings. She talked about herbs and kitchen remedies for winter health. I’m fortunate that I haven’t gotten sick yet this year (and I have been using some preventative remedies we learned and eating very well), but winter is a long way from over and I need to slow down a bit.
How do you balance the need to slow down in the winter with the flurry of holiday activities and gatherings?
In Irish tradition, the winter solstice is when you do your spring cleaning. Seems counter-intuitive to “slowing down”! But I understand; after finishing my third round of university this week, all I want to do is attend to the corners of my house I’ve had to neglect.
The key to Christmas is planning. You never want to rush out and buy some crap for someone at the last minute because you’re “supposed” to get them a gift! I keep my eye peeled all year for special things I can keep until Christmas time. It helps that I only give give gifts to my immediate family and in-laws. Things need to be kept simple. Last year, I wrapped everything in brown paper grocery bags, and just bought sparkly ribbon for them. They looked lovely, like old fashioned parcels. This year, for the little girls I watch, I took some charms that had broken off their summer sandals and put them on gold chains I wanted to declutter, making them into necklaces for Christmas. Next year, I think I’ll make the gingerbread way ahead of time, so I don’t have to rush when we suddenly need to make 3 gingerbread houses! Spacing simple gifts out over a few months makes it so much easier, and makes Christmas much more special, since you have been anticipating giving the gifts for more than 3 days.
Good luck with all of your busyness!
I wasn’t even thinking about shopping and gift giving (more thinking of places to go and people see), but you have some really great points. Thanks so much for sharing Ariel! My mom usually does Christmas shopping throughout the year too. I’ve opted to keep it simple and make some gifts this year and only give a few. I love the way you described the paper-wrapped parcels. We don’t get grocery bags, but sometimes when I buy things online the box comes stuffed with brown paper for padding. I’m sure I could smooth it out and get the same effect. (I always keep it since I try not to throw things “away” whenever possible.)
That is such a good idea! I ordering stuff online because of the inevitable packaging, but this definitely helps. Now if only we could come up with some brilliant plan for styrafoam popcorn…
I know what you mean! I try to order from small companies or individuals instead of big box whenever possible. That way I can write a note requesting only paper in the packaging. It usually works.