How do you want to spend the holidays this year?

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UPDATE Nov. 25th: Creating Intentional Holidays will be available to new subscribers until the end of December. This means that if you didn't sign up for my mailing list last week, it's not too late to get it!

All you have to do is sign up between now and December 31st and you'll receive it in your inbox, in addition to the regularly available Tried, Tested & True Monthly Planning Kit.

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I'm finishing up revisions to a booklet going out to my mailing list subscribers this Friday, on a subject that's dear to my heart: approaching the holidays with intention.

The booklet is called Creating Intentional Holidays: Exploring a Deliberate Approach to Celebrating the Holidays.

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I witness a lot of joy during this time of year, I also witness a lot of stress and anxiety. Most of us sit somewhere in between.

I am a great believer that we can choose to celebrate our holidays deliberately, with intention, rather than let ourselves be swept away by the current.

We can choose to be out there and social because it suits us perfectly, or we can choose to tweak things a little because frankly, we feel tired and would rather cocoon this year.

We can choose to get that new TV for the rec room because finances are a little more flexible right now, or we can tone down the store-bought gifts because finances are tight, and focus on fun & frugal family activities instead.

We can choose. Yes.

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If you are receiving this post via email because you're already on my mailing list, thank you, and stay tuned... Creating Intentional Holidays will be coming to your inbox soon.

If you are not on my mailing list and this resonates with you, I invite you to sign up so you'll receive the booklet. You'll also get the Monthly Planning Kit as a welcome gift, plus other occasional news & inspiration delivered to your inbox.

How do you want to spend your holidays this year?

However you may choose, I wish you a peaceful, joyful, kickoff to the season.

Creating Intentional Holidays Part II: What Do You Want?

This is the second part of a two-part post in which I invite you to give some thought to how you want to spend your holidays this year, and what deliberate choices you could consider now, to make it happen.

In Part I of Creating Intentional Holidays I talked about approaching the holidays with choice, from an intentional space rather than a solely reactive one.

In this second part, I offer a series of prompts to help you bring your preferences for this year's holidays to light.

The prompts are offered not to highlight what's lacking, but in the spirit of leading you to what's possible. You never know, you might even discover holiday wishes you never even knew you had!

There are no right or wrong answers, and nobody needs to see them. Just you.

They are yours to explore...

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If you could choose to spend the holidays anywhere in the world this year, where would that be? Why?

Who would you like to spend your holidays with? Why?

Which holiday traditions are important to you? Which ones aren't? Why?

Without giving it too much thought, list the first five words that come to mind when you envision your ideal holidays this year. GO!

Describe your ideal holidays in vivid images. Where are you? What does it look like? Who's there? What are you doing? How do you feel?

What practices could you put in place to increase your chance of feeling the way you just described above? Daily quiet time? Home-cooked meals? Take-out? Hire a cleaning service?

If the ideal holidays in their entirety aren't in the cards for you this year, what bits or aspects could you make happen? It doesn't have to be all or nothing.

What conversations could you have now, to move closer to your ideal holidays this year? With whom?

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"The holiday season, like anything else, is what we make it.

It can be friend or foe..."

~ Janet Luhrs, The Simple Living Guide