What does Christmas mean to you?
It is clear that to a certain extent, it depends on your up-bringing.
For me, as a kid in Christchurch, Christmas was a busy day.
· At home with family first,
· Presents
· Bundle the extended family gifts into the washing backet
· Off to one side of the family for lunch
· Large amounts of food with uncles, aunts, cousins, grandparents.
· Oldies waddle off to the couch for afternoon snoozes while the kids screamed around with the latest toys
· Then back in the car and off to the other side of the family for evening dinner.
· More food
· More waddling
· Home and collapse into bed.
Sometimes there might be a church service – Christmas Eve midnight service was one I remember.
And there was always an element of tension I was aware of.
Roll forward to adulthood, with my own kids, at the opposite end of the country to my family – and things are very different now. I swear at one point when my kids were young it felt like it took them less time to unwrap everything than it took us to do the wrapping!! After that year, we paced the gifts out more – teaching (hopefully) the kids to honour the giving as well as the receiving, and watching while others took their turn.
In New Zealand Christmas is in summer. It is more about beaches and barbeques, heading into summer holidays, still with presents and food. December ends up being a crazy cram everything in month (the silly season) before switching off until the end of January.
These are our Kiwi traditions. As NZ becomes more of a melting pot of cultures, there are people for whom it is just public holidays, days with no personal cultural significance.
And I know Christmas isn’t always light and festive for everyone. There are people who have lost loved ones and are navigating the days with everything looking different. There are those of us with split families – so you might not even have your kids with you on Christmas day. I remember my first one of those – it wasn’t good.
For some of us Christmas is about gritting teeth and just getting through. I have spent many Christmases in a ‘bah humbug’ space.
What if none of these experiences were wrong?
Given all the things going on in life and in the world towards the end of this year what if we came back to our basic wish – which is to have a place to call our own. Leaning in to that and remembering the common threads that run through us all.
So what YOU like Christmas to be for you?
What would you like less of?
I’d like less commercialisation, and a perceived force that we have to keep up with the people around us with buying more and more presents. To be able to eat how we choose and what suits our bodies. To let go of the stress and drama.
What would you like more of? And what traditions can you create that are special to you?
Some I can think of – taking pressure off the day and enjoy spreading the festivities out.
Down time, reflective time.
Spending time with the people we care about.
Having a generosity of spirit.
Peace in your world
And if part of that peace is to remove the unknown stresses of your mortgage – call me. I can help you reset your mortgage up to work for you.
How to find me –
Email – helen@duxfinancial.co.nz
Phone – 021 499 824
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/helen-m-grant-a4161824/
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Whatever the Christmas season looks like for you, I wish you peace in your heart and spirit.