“You can’t start worrying about what’s going to happen. You get spastic enough worrying about what’s happening now.”

~ Lauren Bacall

It’s that time of year when everything has been kicked up a notch. Talk about living up to the Joneses. Whether it’s shopping, decorating, cooking, your appearance, your family, your work….the feeling of having to be better than the rest consumes the true spirit of the holiday season.

I realized today that it’s two weeks until Christmas, and I have never been more unprepared. So, the normal thing for me to do is completely panic and lose all control of all reality. But, for once I did not do this! This madness of “getting ready” is for what? This is a time to be grateful for the true blessings that surround and make up your being. Gifts and food will mean nothing if the people receiving them don’t know how much I love and appreciate them.

So I am not going to stress about not having enough money to buy all the gifts that I want to buy, or running out of time to do all the tedious things that really don’t have to be done. You have to stop and see what’s going on around you or there won’t be anything for you to remember once it’s all over.

from 2010