Holiday Delight or Discontent?

The holidays can get hectic and stressful, as we all know. I think what gets us through and helps us enjoy through the pressure and madness is tradition and family (if not family of origin, then family of choice). But does continuing, creating or melding traditions just add more pressure?

It can be daunting if we have elaborate expectations of what holiday traditions we wish to embrace, or vastly different traditions combined in one household, or circumstances that make it difficult to realize your holiday expectations. If our parents decorated every inch of the house and baked mountains of goodies, we may feel pressure to create the same atmosphere in our own homes. With the pace of life today, that can be a daunting personal expectation! Equally, melded households mean a balancing act of combining traditions, choosing which will be continued with the next generation, or deciding to start anew and create fresh traditions.

In our home we have a Northern Hemisphere element and a Southern Hemisphere influence as well. My husband spent his childhood school vacations on a sailboat, so this time of year his feet get itchy to get out and see the world. I on the other hand spent most of my Christmases at home surrounded by friends and family, so I tend to want to turn inward and spend time at home. This year we’ve managed to strike the right balance -- we are traveling to San Francisco to spend the holidays with my sister, her husband and their new baby. My husband gets to feed the travel bug and I will have a wonderful time with my sister and her new family.

Whatever your circumstance or challenge around how you celebrate the season, the important things to remember are: decide what traditions are truly meaningful to you and give yourself permission to skip the rest, find things that are sustainable over time and can be done together, and make the season your own. Delightful!