It also made me think about all the things that happened this holiday season that weren’t so easy for me to manage – lots of -3′s on the Yippee-Yuck Scale. Indeed, it was my response to what happened that sent the situation up or down the scale. Some of what happened seemed objectively awful, but I had a positive response, and it wasn’t so hard to live with it. Once in a while, something happens that’s objectively pretty great, but I have a “slip” and my response isn’t so great. Those take some work to recover my equilibrium.

The most important thing about this holiday season, different from all others, is that I finally, after 5+ decades of living, got a really strong sense of how I am trying to make happy memories for everyone else without even knowing if they want any part of that. Having a small family, without lots of relatives in the mix, has its advantages and its disadvantages, but at least it narrows down the audience for the discussion of what everyone wants for Christmas!

I’m thinking this year that I want to try living each day as a quiet celebration of life, and maybe ratchet way back on the “holidays” as special days. Why not give gifts when the spirit moves me, instead of the calendar? I’ve long wanted to get out my Christmas Dishes and use them for everyday. Maybe this is the year I will!

Thanks for sharing this! Can’t wait to read Part 2!