Christmas traditions

Tonight, for family home evening, I went to a ladies’ cookie exchange. We went around the room talking about some of our Christmas traditions. Growing up in El Salvador is Summer of course so we stayed up very late on Christmas Eve and had the traditional Salvadoran turkey dinner and fireworks! Remember? I felt a little homesick today because it has been over 15 years since December of 2003 that I have spent a Christmas in El Salvador. I loved going to the beach on Christmas day. 

Here in Manila everybody likes to sing and I love Christmas music even when I can’t carry a tune however, I can always sing along to Christmas music Bianca plays each night on Instagram.  Thanks Bianca. I love watching you play the guitar and your voice of course. I have tried to imitate it but it comes out too scratchy. 

Another tradition is watching Elf. No matter how many times Daniel has seen that show, he always laughs so hard every time. We love watching Christmas movies. I love the spirit of Christmas in the air. I love Christmas trees, and decorations, and all the beautiful Christmas lights. I love it ALL!

That being said, it is really easy during the month of December to let yourself get all stressed out with all shopping to be done, all the holiday parties to plan or attend, all the work you need to get done before you can take time off for the holiday, all the baking to do, and gift wrapping, etc. Without question everyone has a ton on their plates to get done in December so if we aren’t careful we might be missing out on the most important things.

It helps me immensely to focus. I say each day because it is a daily effort to keep things in perspective. It takes a daily dose of self-talk in my head where I am reminding myself to take a deep breath and focus on the things that really matter and reminding myself to let the rest go. 

This month has just started but it is going to be over before you know it. Go into this month with a commitment to focus on what truly matters and let go of the things that don’t. Commit that this month you are going to look up and enjoy getting together with family. We are going on our Christmas vacation in less than 48 and I don’t write the Monday letter while I am on vacation so Merry Christmas in advance.

Con amor,

Vero