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	<title>Comments on: Peace?  During the Holidays?</title>
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	<description>Helping Moms find the THING that makes their hearts SING!</description>
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		<title>By: Emily-Sarah</title>
		<link>http://www.dreamgardencoaching.com/peace-during-the-holidays/comment-page-1/#comment-140</link>
		<dc:creator>Emily-Sarah</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 10 Dec 2009 02:09:08 +0000</pubDate>
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		<description>Peace takes effort, whether it&#039;s on a global or household scale. You&#039;re too right about how the holidays have the perfect ingredients to create hurt feelings, unrealistic expectations (other people&#039;s as well as our own {for others AND ourselves!})...

I usually have the house decorated the weekend after Thanksgiving. Here it is only three hours shy of Dec. 10 and the windows are still dark and the real tree is sitting in a bucket in the garage. But I have the wreaths up and the three small artificial trees lighted, glowing in the night ... and it&#039;s all good. I&#039;m enjoying the process this year, anticipating the next addition to the decor like lighting another candle each week of advent. 

I&#039;m right there with you with the Christmas cards. (I worked on those tonight. Almost done.) I can&#039;t imagine sending out e-mails in place of a hand-addressed card that included at least a sentence or two to the recipient. I&#039;ve already received two cards from relatives that only had their names PREprinted on the inside. It sort of took a bit of the joy out of receiving it, as though I couldn&#039;t help but think, &quot;What&#039;s the point?&quot; But obviously it meant something to them or they wouldn&#039;t bother, right? (Maybe, maybe not.)

And I&#039;m also applying that same question (What&#039;s the point?) to more things I do/usually do/are asked to do during the holidays. What IS the point? Does it add to the meaning of Christmas? Does it add to our joy? Is it a fun, worthwhile tradition (or a potential new one)? When I think of going/doing whatever, does it make my heart hum or do I frown with a sense of dread and obligation. I realize, now at 40 years old, that I don&#039;t HAVE to do X, Y, and/or Z, even if someone else in my life has put that expectation on me. I&#039;m attempting to take back a little &quot;control,&quot; a lot of joy, and putting the birth of Jesus and adoration and love at the center of my mental, physical, emotional, and social &quot;theme.&quot; 

Thanks as always for such a thoughtful post. Many prayers that you&#039;ll feel, absorb, and exude lots of peace ...</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Peace takes effort, whether it&#8217;s on a global or household scale. You&#8217;re too right about how the holidays have the perfect ingredients to create hurt feelings, unrealistic expectations (other people&#8217;s as well as our own {for others AND ourselves!})&#8230;</p>
<p>I usually have the house decorated the weekend after Thanksgiving. Here it is only three hours shy of Dec. 10 and the windows are still dark and the real tree is sitting in a bucket in the garage. But I have the wreaths up and the three small artificial trees lighted, glowing in the night &#8230; and it&#8217;s all good. I&#8217;m enjoying the process this year, anticipating the next addition to the decor like lighting another candle each week of advent. </p>
<p>I&#8217;m right there with you with the Christmas cards. (I worked on those tonight. Almost done.) I can&#8217;t imagine sending out e-mails in place of a hand-addressed card that included at least a sentence or two to the recipient. I&#8217;ve already received two cards from relatives that only had their names PREprinted on the inside. It sort of took a bit of the joy out of receiving it, as though I couldn&#8217;t help but think, &#8220;What&#8217;s the point?&#8221; But obviously it meant something to them or they wouldn&#8217;t bother, right? (Maybe, maybe not.)</p>
<p>And I&#8217;m also applying that same question (What&#8217;s the point?) to more things I do/usually do/are asked to do during the holidays. What IS the point? Does it add to the meaning of Christmas? Does it add to our joy? Is it a fun, worthwhile tradition (or a potential new one)? When I think of going/doing whatever, does it make my heart hum or do I frown with a sense of dread and obligation. I realize, now at 40 years old, that I don&#8217;t HAVE to do X, Y, and/or Z, even if someone else in my life has put that expectation on me. I&#8217;m attempting to take back a little &#8220;control,&#8221; a lot of joy, and putting the birth of Jesus and adoration and love at the center of my mental, physical, emotional, and social &#8220;theme.&#8221; </p>
<p>Thanks as always for such a thoughtful post. Many prayers that you&#8217;ll feel, absorb, and exude lots of peace &#8230;</p>
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		<title>By: Suzanne @ vAssistant Services</title>
		<link>http://www.dreamgardencoaching.com/peace-during-the-holidays/comment-page-1/#comment-139</link>
		<dc:creator>Suzanne @ vAssistant Services</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 09 Dec 2009 01:08:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://dreamgardencoaching.com/?p=572#comment-139</guid>
		<description>&quot;...bugs the snot out of me.&quot;  Me too, me TOO!  Oy!

I wanted to chime in on that, say thank you for the plug in Friday&#039;s post, and tell you that I have had the crappiest weekend in months, but you and your Kit rescued me - AGAIN.

I&#039;m living proof that peace can be created. I created some last night when I sent everyone in the house to bed at 7:30pm...INCLUDING me. No one, from my 23 y/o step-daughter down to her 4 y/o daughter, nor anyone in between, had the nerve to make a peep. I guess it was rather evident that they either comply or Mom was gonna blow. 

Today...was much better. :)
.-= Suzanne @ vAssistant Services´s last blog ..&lt;a href=&quot;http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/vAssistantServices/~3/kQTBqhcX_H4/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;In Others’ Words:  November 23, 2009&lt;/a&gt; =-.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>&#8220;&#8230;bugs the snot out of me.&#8221;  Me too, me TOO!  Oy!</p>
<p>I wanted to chime in on that, say thank you for the plug in Friday&#8217;s post, and tell you that I have had the crappiest weekend in months, but you and your Kit rescued me &#8211; AGAIN.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m living proof that peace can be created. I created some last night when I sent everyone in the house to bed at 7:30pm&#8230;INCLUDING me. No one, from my 23 y/o step-daughter down to her 4 y/o daughter, nor anyone in between, had the nerve to make a peep. I guess it was rather evident that they either comply or Mom was gonna blow. </p>
<p>Today&#8230;was much better. <img src='http://www.dreamgardencoaching.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /><br />
.-= Suzanne @ vAssistant Services´s last blog ..<a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/vAssistantServices/~3/kQTBqhcX_H4/" rel="nofollow">In Others’ Words:  November 23, 2009</a> =-.</p>
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