Celebrating Christmas, the end of a hard year and holiday celebrations will feel a little different this year, says Shelley Ware.
We all have a lot riding on December after the year we have had. We’ve all drawn the line in the sand on the year and ready for it to be done.
Many of you may know I come from Adelaide and we traditionally put our Christmas trees up after the famous Christmas pageant.
Traditionally, others wait till the first day of December. But this year, people have put their Christmas trees up early and are ready to celebrate life together. We certainly all deserve it.
I even saw photos of Christmas trees on social media posted in late October. In 2020, we just need simple pleasures, and let’s face it, a Christmas tree is completely joyful.
Of course, not everyone celebrates Christmas, and many will be preparing for Hanukkah and other different end-of-year celebrations and customs of their own.
The theme, though, is the same. After the year we have had, as a global community, it’s time to celebrate, show gratitude and enjoy our loved ones together.
Celebrating Christmas, the end of a hard year and holiday celebrations will feel a little different this year. I think since Covid-19 began and took so much away from us that we now appreciate the little things in life a lot more, and are looking at life differently.
Outdoor gatherings, after being denied them for so long, have come to mean more.
I couldn’t remember the last time I had a picnic. It felt like that’s what you did with a new sweetheart and then the picnic basket collected dust and it became a “we’ll do that again, someday” sort of thing.
But since the end of Lockdown, I have enjoyed many a picnic in the park with my beautiful people. I’ve even bought a new picnic rug, to make sure I continue this simple joy into the future.
Another thing I think the pandemic taught us after we were forced to sit still in our homes and re-evaluate what is important to us, is that we don’t need “things” to make us happy.
For many of us, it was a time in which important values were underscored. We remembered that a connection to the special people in our lives is what matters the most. I can’t speak for everybody, but that was certainly the case for me.
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I’ve never been a “keeping up with the Joneses” kind of person. I only buy what I like and need. Indeed, sometimes my husband says I could do with a touch of it, as I’m such a dag.
But I think 2021 also taught us the keeping up with the Joneses isn’t what makes us happy. It’s sitting down with them, trading stories and belly laughs, that makes us feel happy inside. Connection to community and people is what brings value to our lives.
In saying that, as we prepare to head to shopping centres, full of gifts and Christmas carols on repeat, keep these lessons in the forefront of your mind.
Not only was our emotional and mental wellbeing hit hard this year, many of us were hit hard financially.
So let’s not fall into the trap of thinking you need to buy expensive presents for your loved ones. The greatest gift you could give me, as a friend or family member, is if you looked after your financial wellbeing, too.
We should always live within our means, but for some reason, Christmas is a time we seem to forget this rule. It’s basically a mixture of media messages and pressures we put on ourselves to show our love with gifts which we often can’t afford and will pay off over the coming months.
So don’t spend money you don’t have and go into debt just for one day of the year. Ask yourself honestly, could you write a list of the gifts, you have received over the last five years? I’m thinking not.
Christmas is a special day, but we don’t need all these presents. What we do need is to know our family is financially safe after what has been a difficult year for so many. And we need to know that our family and friends are surrounded by love and people who genuinely care about each other.
Maybe you might do a Kris Kringle for your family this year, or chose to give homemade gifts made with love. You might choose to donate to a cause dear to your heart, an organisation that helps people who are doing it tougher than you.
We all learnt this year how quickly this virus can turn our lives upside down. We learnt a little about ourselves, our resilience, and what’s important to us.
So let’s crank up our favourite holiday tunes, hang the candy canes, get caught for kisses under the mistletoe, and just enjoy the joy of being together.
This Christmas, more than any other, we need to remember that it’s really about spending time with our loved ones, about nurturing our connections, and the simple joys of holiday traditions.
