Tag: holidays

How to have a great Christmas Eve and Christmas Day starting now.

If you are an average American you will experience roughly 80 Christmases. Which doesn’t seem like nearly enough time for all the Burls Ives, candy canes and wassailing you could ever want. But it is the scarcity of this once-a-year event that makes it so special. Plus, there is the whole birth of the son of God who hooks you up with eternal salvation thing. (If you’re into that kinda stuff.)

With your limited number of Christmases to enjoy it is important to make the most of each one. Plus, next week when people ask you how your Christmas was, it’s fun to go Tony The Tiger on them and say that it was Grrreeat!

Let’s Do This Christmas Thang!

So don’t leave your Christmas experience to chance. Make it exactly what you imagined. At least, what you imagined based on what’s possible starting right now. Because if your perfect Christmas involves more snow, beach or family than you can whip up on a moment’s notice, write those opportunities off for another year.

Starting right now, considering the realm of the possible, answer this very simple question:

‘What would I have to do today and tomorrow to make this a really great Christmas?‘

Your answers could be things like:

  • Play Games
  • Watch a Christmas movie
  • Go to church
  • Take a nap
  • Enjoy some free time
  • Look at pictures or videos from Christmases past. (Like Clark Griswold, stranded in his attic, with that funny thing on his head.)
  • Go for a family walk
  • Light some great-smelling candles
  • Enjoy a nice family dinner (#HamNight)
  • Go for a drive to look at Christmas lights
  • Start a fire in the fireplace (But remember to put it out with enough time to cool before Santa drops in the chute.)
  • Listen to Christmas music
  • Perform Christmas music
  • Sing Carrols (at home or through your hood)
  • Steal things from Who-ville (Only for green and furry readers with termites in their smiles)
  • Zoom with distant family or friends.
  • Take a family photo with everyone holidayed up.
  • Watch sports
  • Drink your favorite holiday drinks
  • Exercise
  • Eat oyster stew, roast beast or whatever your favorite traditional meal is.
  • All of the above

After you decide on the building blocks of your Christmas, order the events, bake in some flexibility for the napping and free time, and then started knocking things off your Christmas list.

The Recipe For A Great Day

Through this approach, you literally write your own recipe for a great holiday. Then one by one, stir in each of the ingredients. Which enables you to spend the next 2 days enjoying a few of your favorite things. Like Julie Andrews. Only without a dangerous military regime pursuing you.

The point of this plan is to maximize the very satisfying and enjoyable feeling of recreational productivity. Which is the feeling of making the most of your free time. It should be a priority on all vacations and holidays. The result is that we finish days away from our regular work and obligations feeling both happy and accomplished.

The Greatest Gift

Remember that at Christmas, the time we spend together, making memories, and doing our favorite free things, is the greatest gift of all. Well, that and the birth of tiny little 8-pound baby Jesus, gift-wrapped in swaddling clothes and chilling in a manger. But you put all of those things together and you have one heck of a holiday gift pack.

Key Takeaway

A great holiday doesn’t happen on its own. You have to make it happen. The same holds true of any workday, schoolday, or Saturday. Envision your perfect days, then bring them to life. Do this day after day, and you will live the life you always imagined.

Merry Christmas!

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+If you like this type of message you can find more stuff like this in my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

What Groundhog Day teaches us about making things up.

There are two types of holidays: meaningful and made up. The meaningful days include The 4th of July, Memorial Day, Thanksgiving and religious holidays. Made up holidays include Groundhog Day, Valentine’s Day and February 29th. It seems February needed a little spicing up. Since today is Groundhog Day, let’s take a moment to reflect on its significance.

Hmmm. Like a groundhog on a cloudy day, I see nothing when I reflect. Because there is nothing to reflect on. There is no meteorological reason to focus on groundhogs. Forget the meteors, there are no logical reasons to focus on groundhogs.  Yet we do.

I’m not writing to pooh-pooh Groundhog Day.  Quite the opposite. I think it stands as an amazing symbol of creativity, and possibility, and making something out of nothing. If a nation of over 300 million people can recognize this fabricated rodent day, you can bring your vision to life too.

MLK Jr. Day, Small Business Saturday and Earth Day are all holidays that were born during my lifetime-ish.  These are all great ideas, made real by someone’s vision, imagination and effort. I’m not saying you need to make up a new holiday, but you could.

The important thing to recognize is that if you want something to exist that currently does not, you can make it happen. If you have an idea that is useful or fun or important I strongly encourage you to write it down, sketch it out and give it as much detail as you can. Then work hard to bring it to life. It could be a product, business, charity, service or event. Heck, it could be a home, a support group, a marketing campaign or a better groundhog trap.  All ideas come to life through the same simple process.

This time last year my advertising agency, The Weaponry, only existed in my head. A year later it is as real as it gets. Like IRS-real. In fact, we have already worked with 11 clients in 6 states and 2 countries.  If I can do this, you can do it.

So what is your Groundhog Day? I know you have something in your head that you wish was real. From now on, when you hear or read Groundhog Day I want this invented holiday to make you think of the things you want to create. Let it inspire your ideas that could have a bigger impact on life than a rodent in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania or Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. You can do it. I believe it beyond a seeing-your-own-shadow of a doubt.