An Intentional Christmas

Christmas, in fact December as a whole, can be a busy and stressful time. November may seem quite early to be talking about Christmas intentions.  However, if you consider what sort of Christmas you would like to have sooner rather than later, it will hopefully lead to a more stress-free Christmas, and December too!  December is often a busy month, with work events, kids events, things you might want to do as a family, and catching up with friends and family as if you won't get to see them if you don't see them around the Christmas period! And, I don't know about you, but when like gets like that for me, it means that other priorities go out of the window, like looking after myself or trying to live more sustainably (eg more reliance on convenience stuff!) Social media can add to it and make it seem like you "should" be doing lots of different things.

It's good to slooooow down.

Make the festive period more intentional and slow down.

Once you've decided what you want your Christmas to look like, you can think about how you can achieve that.  And it's not about putting more pressure on yourself for it to be "perfect" - the idea of setting intentions is to make it less stressful, not more so.  Think about what sort of Christmas you want and how to achieve it. This can not only reduce stress but most likely make it more sustainable too.  

When I was pregnant with Z, we were supposed to spend Christmas at my brother's bit a chicken pox scare meant that we didnt. It was all quite last minute and we were supposed to be having a big family  Christmas but then it ended up just us two and bump. And it was lovely. We missed family but there was something quite relaxing about it just being the two of us. Except for Covid issues, it hasn't stopped us wanting to spend Christmas with family, but I think it has changed our approach to try to make it more relaxing.

For some people, they will want to be surrounded by presents and people. Others will want something more scaled back. It's about what will work for you. 

I have a book called Green Christmas by Eilidh Gallagher and it sets out an exercise to make Christmas more special and less stressful. She poses 4 questions:

1. What are your favourite Christmas memories?

2. Think about the five senses and connect them to your Christmas experiences. Eg do you have a favourite Christmas smell?

3. What activities do you especially enjoy during the festive season?

4. What don't you like about Christmas and what would you avoid if you could?

The idea is to think about these questions and talk to others that you will be spending Christmas with - are you on the same page? If not, could you compromise?

It is not about adding more pressure make Christmas be exactly as you imagined, more that thinking about how you want Christmas to be will help you make decisions to help you get there. 

I took park in a workshop with Zoe Blaskey aka the Motherkind last (and you can still get hold of it as a podcast). It was about talking to those around you about Christmas plans.  I don't know about you but I have a habit of taking a lot of it on myself, then get stressed and frustrated.  So after listening to the podcast, I sat down with my husband and parents (who we spend Christmas Day with) and we shared out tasks - who was buying what.  Not just the big ticket items but thinking through everything we would need.  This not only took the stresss out of it but also reduces waste.  

So I'm hoping to make Christmas more intentional this year. I can already feel stress rising with how busy December is going to be so this is also a reminder to myself that balance is key. There's no point going full-on in the run-up to Christmas so that I'm then too ill to spend it how I want!

Will you be going for a more intentional Christmas this year?