Prioritize practicing PCEs during the holiday season
Families and holidays can create a special time for connection, joy, and tradition as well as challenges like coordination and stress. The holiday season provides many opportunities for us to strengthen relationships and build lasting memories.
1. Traditions:
Many families celebrate the holidays with unique customs. Whether it’s decorating, cooking favorite dishes, watching movies together. Involve everyone in the activities with age-appropriate tasks.
2. Togetherness:
Set aside time to be together; go for a hike, build a snow creature, go ice-skating etc. or if you are staying indoors do a yoga class, dance to your favorite holiday songs or create a playful workout circuit, play board games, or simply watch a movie together.
3. Gift Giving:
For many holidays, exchanging gifts becomes a highlight, fostering generosity and thoughtfulness between family and friends. Consider doing a random act of kindness. Surprise a neighbor, the mail person, or a teacher with a letter of gratitude and homemade bread, cookies, or a gift certificate.
4. Reflection and Gratitude:
Holidays like Thanksgiving or New Year’s are great opportunities to pause and reflect on the blessings and achievements of the past year and opportunities to look forward to in the future. Consider creating a family scrapbook poster. Write the year on the top of the board, and invite each member to select three pictures, written reflections, or artworks to represent highlights from that year. After the board is complete each family member shares their highlight.
5. Unplug:
We are all attached to our screens, try taking a holiday away from them. Set aside a day in which all phones, tablets, and laptops are shut down and put away. Be creative and enjoy the freedom.
6. Take a pause:
The holiday season can be stressful. From organizing travel, cooking holiday meals, shopping for gifts, and attending end-of-season sports tournaments. Set aside time, even just 10 minutes each day, to light a candle and have family members share their intention for the day or share something positive from their day, close this time with either a hug or a unique handshake.
7. Self-care:
The holidays can be both joyful and stressful, making self-care hard to balance with all other priorities. Self-care is for everyone and looks different for everyone, tune into what you need. Take a nap, read a book, or go to bed early.
8. Emotions
Managing grief and other challenging emotions during the holidays can be particularly tough, as the season often emphasizes joy, togetherness, and tradition. Here are some compassionate suggestions to help navigate these feelings: Reaching out for connection with friends, or reminding yourself that these feelings are part of the human experience and can be healing to feel. Let yourself move through the season at your own pace, honoring your emotions and prioritizing what feels right for you.
Created by HOPE Facilitator Michelene Verlautz, Pastor and Family Mediator at St. Timothy’s Lutheran Church
