“Mum! Did you know it is 2 weeks plus 1 or 2 days plus only a month till Christmas?!? That’s not very far away!” These were almost the first words out of my son’s mouth this morning, courtesy of a household Alexa, I’m quite sure. And while Christmas is surely coming, I wasn’t quite that aware that the countdown should be starting yet.
This short (somewhat scary) interaction got me thinking about all the things that need to be done before Christmas. Not just the housework, yardwork and decorating, but the intention that needs to be woven into each day as we frame and think about Christmas in the lead-up to it.
I don’t know about your house, but by now my kids have a list of ‘wants’ for Christmas. It’s natural, right? Christmas is a time when gift giving is often a huge focus amongst other things like time with family and friends, yummy food, holidays and more. But this list of ‘wants’ can often leave a sense of discontent and even comparison with others when family standards or budgets and priorities aren’t the same as others. Comparing, generally, doesn’t make anyone feel good. And it takes intention to teach children to learn the joys of giving, not just the joy that naturally comes from receiving.
Having been born and raised in the USA, we have a lovely holiday called Thanksgiving tucked between Halloween and Christmas. While it is steeped in American history and tradition, I think it offers some useful (and universal) principles of gratitude.
Gratitude is a wonderful tool that can be used daily to help combat a sense of discontent with the ‘wants’ we don’t have (and mightn’t get) and help to fortify the foundation of a positive outlook when we appreciate the good things we have. I wonder if practising gratitude could transform the lead-up to Christmas.
What if, in the middle of the ever-increasing, crazy end-of-year schedule, we took a few moments each day to consider something we are grateful for? What if it didn’t matter if the gratitude was for the smallest thing on a hard day or something exceptional? What if, in the process, we could teach our children through consistent repetition to find the good things - a glass of water on a hot day, good friends, a kind word from someone? What if finding the things to be grateful for transformed the common stress people face in the lead-up to Christmas or even other parts of life? And what if noticing what we are grateful for aids us in blessing others because we recognise how good something felt?
I encourage you, with your children, to weave gratitude into your days and weeks in the coming weeks leading up to the end of the school year, Christmas and holidays. Use it as a benchmark for your days and a goal for your children. What can we find to be grateful for? What peace does it bring to consider it? How can it transform your outlook and your day? And what might you be able to pass on to help transform someone else’s day?
If this idea resonates with you, there are loads of resources on the internet for raising focus to gratitude. You could make a family craft, such as a gratitude jar, or set aside a specific time, such as before dinner or bed or while you are driving from one place to the next. Most of all, have fun thinking of what you are grateful for.
