Originally Published November
24, 2003 -- Your Wellness Guide
Create
Meaningful Holiday Memories
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The
holidays are impressionable times, especially during Thanksgiving,
throughout December, and the New Year.
Family
gathers from near and far, and we sacrifice time, money, and
resources to create happiness and joy.
What will you do this season to make your holiday time meaningful
and memorable? |
Emily
Kimball, a speaker and adventure planner, told me that every year she
rents a home near the beach and invites her children, including their
spouses and her grandchildren, to spend Christmas together.
Since the
ocean-side lodging is not at her home, which is too small now for all the
extended family, she has found that everyone treats the excursion more
like a vacation versus “going to the in-laws.”
“It’s not
like they’re ‘going to see the parents’ or like its obligatory. They
know we’re going to have fun.”
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Emily
doesn’t believe in having a schedule for family get-togethers.
She says they usually eat dinner together, but everyone does what
they want -- some go to the beach, others to the gym, and they often
play games together. They also spend traditional time going
through more than a dozen family albums and enjoying each others’
company.
“We
put the emphasis on the relationships within the family rather than
the outward material things,” she told me.
Dottie
Enrico, site director for Better Homes and Garden's website, says
that each Christmas is very important for her family because it
includes the adoption celebration of her daughter from Korea. |
Image: Wellington Media |
She calls
December 23 “Airplane Day” or “Gotcha Day,” the date her daughter arrived
in the U.S. “Instead of food and presents, our holidays
are all about family and being thankful,” says Dottie.
In her work
with Better Homes and Gardens, she has also seen a general trend in
American homecomings.
“The
emphasis is on reconnecting with families and relationships -- more the
emotional aspects than the material. People are tending to want
comfort food and classic menus and are looking at the past and traditional
sorts of things -- not the trendiest party or food idea but rather
traditional home décor and old, vintage tree decorations,” Dottie told me.
“And for
Thanksgiving, I see the emphasis on thanks and giving. Give to the
other people in your life. Make it a time of personal reflection.”
That is what
created the idea for Robert Vaughn’s new, fictional book
Christmas Past.
He spent
some vacation time in the Great Smoky Mountains near Blowing Rock and
determined that the time away from cell phones, business, and other
distractions allowed him to reconnect with family.
“It gave me
the idea of what if a couple, who might be having some problems, could get
away from all these outside pressures and see if they would blossom the
relationship again.” This became his book idea.
As a result,
Robert has decommercialized Christmas in his family and uses the holiday
time to reconnect and build relationships versus focusing on gifts.
He told me
“Don’t get so caught up in all the trappings of the celebrations that you
forget what (Christmas is) about.”
Finally, if
you’re looking to spend some quality family time and have holiday fun with
young children, here’s a recommended reading list passed onto me from
Elementary Education Professor Claudia McVicker of Ball State University:
If You Take a Mouse to the Movies
by Laura Joffe Numeroff
Prancer
by Stephen Cosgrove
The Night Tree
by Eve Bunting
Polar Express
by Chris Van Allsburg
The Twelve Days of Christmas
by Hilary Knight
Christmas Alphabet
by Robert Sabuda
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
by Dr. Seuss
The Tale of the Gingerbread Boy
(author unknown)
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
by Alan Benjamin
The Bible
containing the story of the birth of Jesus Christ
Dream Snow
by Eric Carle
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Wellington
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Wellington