My wish for you is that however you celebrate this Holiday season, that you can feel the love and spirit of it – even though our usual ways of preparing for and celebrating it is, and will be, greatly altered from what we are used to.
(This was sent out Dec 20th, but I was only able to post here today, so my apologies if some of it seems outdated now; the sentiments still remain 🙂 Sign up to my newsletter here Link is also below).
Myself, I’m focusing on feeling blessed because I do have loved ones nearby who I would be celebrating Christmas with, and will feel comforted that my son and his family who live far away are safe, doing ok, and have each other.
I also have a few creative ideas to help me feel close to my family, and that will also help keep the spirit of the season alive in me.
Sadly, not everyone does have loved ones to see during the Holiday season. Others do, but they live very far away and cannot ever get together, while some people are estranged from family members and never see them.
Those of us who do have loved ones we usually celebrate with
are truly blessed. Focusing on this, and getting creative in ways that
help us feel close to them, will help get us override any
sadness or loneliness that may arise in us this Holiday season.
This year we are all being called to dig deeper to feel the full spirit of the season. Our usual traditions will be altered, as well as our usual gatherings. Year after year, these bring a magical and mystical feeling to the season, and they reconnect us to loved ones in a special and spirited way no other time can.
However, traditions and gatherings only create a framework for the magical feelings of the season to arise in us. The feelings actually belong to us. We all have the capacity to create wonderful feelings within us, and the warm feelings the Holidays bring with it are no exception.
(My recent posts, I Have Loved, and Loving – Instead of Missing What Was, follow and expand on these themes. See HERE for I Have Loved, and for Loving – Instead of Missing What Was see HERE Links also at end of message).
To create the special and magical feelings our usual traditions and gatherings give us, we can:
- Bring to mind past celebrations/gatherings where we felt the love, connection, and spirit of the season, and focus on the feelings these created in us. Those feelings come from within us, and we can recreate them. So does dreaming of wonderful future gatherings. Both of these uplift us. Missing our loved ones, or focusing on what was or should be, depresses us.
- It is also helpful to let go of “the ideas of how things were – and should be,” Becoming more flexible in our ideas around how the Holidays should play out, helps us to find peace with how it will be.
- Take part in some of the many online religious/spiritual/meditations that will be offered this year – and well into the New Year.. The energy of these types of group celebrations most definitely reach us through the airwaves – and are actually heightened when the numbers exceed the live ones.
All the ceremonies, meditations, or practices that focused on the
21/12/2020 cosmic gateway brought with them much light, love,
and deep sense of peace. This energy will stay with us all throughout
the Holiday season – and beyond – if we nurture the feelings.
- To help us let go of the ideas of how things were/should be, thinking outside of the box and getting creative in ways to feel connected to our loved ones will help keep the spirit of the season alive in us.
Here are some of the ways I’ve come up with this year to help me feel connected to my loved ones and keep the feelings of the season alive in me.
- I Will Set My Table as if My Family Will Be Here for My Usual Christmas Morning Brunch. And I will leave this set-up the whole season. This will also act as a reminder that I will see them all next year, as well as comfort me knowing that because we are not gathering this year, we are not jeopardizing anyone being here next year.
- I Will Be Doing a Christmas Eve Video for My Grandchildren in Vancouver. I plan to sit in front of my tree in my Xmas pj’s and a Christmas hat with a plate of cookies waiting for Santa – just like they will be. I will add this to my Holiday traditions to do again in future years.?
- I Am Still Doing My Usual Cooking, And Will Be Handing It Out – with the presents to my family members who are nearby – probably like many of us are.
- And of Course, We Will Have Online Meetings around the times of our usual gatherings, with family we do not usually gather with, as well as with some dear friends – and possibly even with new friends.
- JUST IN: Doing Holiday Readings Online. Just as I was doing the final edit on this message, one of my sons texted me and mentioned that his girlfriend’s family did a Charlie Brown’s reading on Zoom, where they all had been given the lines before hand. Inspired by this, I will now read “Twas’ the Night Before Christmas” on the video to my grandchildren.
I find it so beautiful how we are all coming up with wonderful new ideas to keep the loving feelings and the spirit of the season alive in us, and for our families. I believe this will not only be enough to sustain us throughout this Holiday season, but as many of these newfound ways will become traditions, they will continue to brighten our future ones.
? New milestone reached! This is my 36th newsletter message. It’s hard to believe that it will be 3 years in January that I sent out my 1st newsletter message. Its such a funny thing though … I stressed so much to come up with appropriate messages/themes at first, and now every month I have a list of ideas that come to me throughout the month to choose from to share with you.
To those of you who have been with me since the beginning, and to those of you who are new here, I thank you so much for your support, and I hope you continue to enjoy my messages.
My Prayers and Wish for You and Your Loved Ones Is that You All Have a Bright and Happy Holiday Season, and that You Find the Love, Joy, Sense of Belonging, and Spirit of the Season in New, and Unexpected Ways. ~ Rosemary ❤️?
©Rosemary McCarthy, December 17, 2020.
All my writing focuses on some aspect of “Our Journey to Peace,” and Book 2 in my new series, due out early 2021, focuses specifically on how to make shifts from anger, frustration, blame, hurt feelings, etc to feeling at peace with ourselves – and with others. More info and links to About books below.
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See here for About Book 1 of my new series, “Why We Are the Way We Are” – and for my website. (As well as online, this is available at Cleo Bookstore, in Pointe Claire Shopping Center)
here for About my 1st book, Your Journey to Peace, Bridging the Gap Between Religion, Spirituality, Psychology, and Science.”(As well as online, this is available at Cleo Bookstore, in Pointe Claire Shopping Center, and through Chapters).
here for About Book 2, Overcoming Our Unconscious Influences, like Anger, Hurt Feelings, Frustrations, Control, Blaming Others for Our Unhappiness.– due out early 2021.
here for About Book 3, Relationships in an Evolving World – due out spring 2021.
here for my blog page (with articles on various subjects related to our personal, collective, and cosmic journeys to peace.
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Copyright ©Rosemary McCarthy, December 17, 2020. All rights Reserved. To copy, share, or distribute this article simply ensure the content is copied in its entirety, is unaltered, and is distributed freely and for no monetary or personal gain, and that this copyright notice and the link for the article and the website www.spiritedfawnpublications.com are included. You can contact me rosemary@spiritedfawnpublications.com Blessings, and thank you kindly. Rosemary 