Let me start by saying that I host my family for both Thanksgiving and Hanukkah dinners. We usually have about 25 people at each celebration. Fortunately, my kids are at the ages (27 and 22) that they both help prepare the meal. It is a happy time of year for me because I get to entertain in my home and have my closest family members and a few friends near me. If I need help cooking, I ask for help, or ask people to bring along their favorite dish.
But I’ve learned that not everyone feels this way. For some people, the holidays (which encompass that five-week period from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day) are not a time they look forward to.
I suspect that it may have something to do with bad memories. You know, the holiday meal or family gathering where everything did not go perfectly. People argued. They were in bad moods. Something went wrong or not as planned. You didn’t get the gift you expected. Someone didn’t like the gift you got them. Maybe a boyfriend, girlfriend, or spouse acted up or broke up with you. Or your parents did something embarrassing. The list could go on and on.
So, when I read the following quote on my Instagram feed a few days ago, I thought about how to inspire more people to enjoy the holidays, in whichever form they come:
How many of us lose the fun of the moment because we are worried about something that happened in the past? We are literally superstitious that history will repeat itself.
I just can’t live that way. Like each of you, I’ve had a few bad experiences in my life. Some of them around the end-of-the-year holidays.
But not that long ago, I decided I was committed to making new memories. I wasn’t going to filter my current or upcoming experiences with my paradigms of the past.
Would you be willing to try this too? If there is something you are dreading about the upcoming Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, or seasonal time of year, would you be willing to wipe the slate clean and say, “I’m going to have a fantastic, happy, and enjoyable holiday with the people I love and who love me.
Good – I knew you could you do it!
Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving week!
Karen
