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In a couple of weeks the Christmas season officially begins.
Does that statement make you smile or squirm? Are you flushed with warm fuzzies or feeling a rise in your blood pressure?
Well if along with the trimmings and bows, the Christmas season and all the preparation that goes along with it all, brings you a bit (or a lot) of stress, than I have a great tip for you: SOXS – Save Our Christmas Sanity – a downloadable e-book that provides resources, tips, to-do lists and more to help you prepare for your sanest Christmas season yet!
Co-author Karen Wallace emailed us and asked us to review the material and let you all know what we thought. So we happily agreed – bringing you the best of what is out there is what we do!
But the truth is – I am not good at organizing. In fact the thought of arranging a binder makes me want to turn and run. So I did feel hesitant to get started with SOXS. But I quickly found that SOXS is so simple to use, even I can handle it. It is quick to read and includes handy to-do lists and budgets – wow – me budgeting and writing lists! That might be a little Christmas miracle right there!
But what surprised me most about the material is the focus on sorting through and dealing with our negative emotions and feelings about the Christmas season and past Christmases. We all know that Christmas should be about more than parties, gifts and family functions, but somehow those events can envelope us if we let them. Relationship tensions, different family and parenting styles and old family hurts can all fester and burn during extended family gatherings, making the holiday less than jolly. The stress of cooking, cleaning and shopping can make the season of Christ all about us and our obligations.
Co-authors Chris Owen and Karen Walker walk you through your issues and help you address them and deal with them so that this Christmas you can be free to enjoy your family and focus on what Christmas means to you.
SOXS goes beyond a collection of tips and lists to bring you some personal healing so you can prepare and enjoy Christmas.
Does that sound good to you? If you need some help to get this season started right, than check out their website http://www.saveourxmassanity.com. The e-book is affordable (at about $15 US) and a quick read, with simple steps that you can easily do to get yourself organized and prepared.
And may you have a blessed Christmas season with Christ at the center. (Wow – can’t believe I am sending Christmas wishes in the beginning of November!)
Chris Owen says
Hi everyone,
I read all your very positive comments about your joy at Christmas and I envy you.
You see when you don’t get a kick out of Christmas because it just seems like a torture to you, then you can feel guilt-ridden, embarassed and ashamed.
In the face of a whole pile of people saying “we love Christmas”, the person whose experiences have been wretched just wants to go crawl into a hole and hide their unacceptable feelings.
That’s why we wrote SOXS. Because not only are there plenty of people who are in that shame-filled space, there are also plenty of those who enjoy the Christmas experience but for whom it has grown bigger than BenHur and they feel ambivalent about stopping/slowing that runaway train that’s rumbling towards Christmas.
Don’t get me wrong, the whole point of SOXS is to get people en”joy”ing Christmas just like you do, but please don’t forget that your jubilant enthusiasm may leave another person feeling inadequate and ashamed.
Be gentle with them, they’ve not had the kinds of experiences that you’ve had. They need an empathic and warm hand to help them out from behind their veil of shame and into that special and glorious space you inhabit at Christmas.
Warm regards, and may Karen and I wish you all early wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving.
Erna says
Christmas is pretty easy-going and stress-free around here. We keep it simple.
The Foo says
i think it is too early for xmas. i mean thanksgiving seems to be totally bypassed — everything at the store is xmas stuff and even the Santa Claus 3 movie came out on Friday and it is not even December yet!
Rona says
No I don’t get stressed about the holidays. It’s just a fantastic time for my family to do things together.
Lindsey says
I’ve just started a Christmas blog…aimed at keeping Christmas simple and glorifying CHRIST! 🙂 We are going to be exploring ways to weave faith, family & fun in the CHRISTmas season.
I’m honestly not trying to plug it but I thought I would leave a commment in case anyone is interested.
http://www.advent4evangelicals.blogspot.com
Stop on by and say hello.
Kailani says
I love the Christmas season. I’ve already started my shopping and only have a few more to go. I have to start early since Baby Bug’s 1st birthday party is right after the holidays.
Jessica says
I LOVE Christmas…I just posted a bit about Christmas on my blog before I came over here. The holidays are what you make of ’em. I think that if a person goes in expecting a lot…a good time, stress free (with some planning of course), it can happen! 🙂
Angee says
Christmas already????
I need to start making lists and buying gifts that need to be mailed. And planning my youngest b-day. He will be five Jan 7 and I am just learning that his birthday needs to be all planned out along with Christmas. It is too hard to wait till Christmas is over and then plan it last minute.
Adventures in Babywearing says
I Love Christmas!!! I am ready for it now- I wish I could decorate already without people thinking I am crazy… I am ready to start Christmas shopping, too, but have held off so far. As much as I love the Christmas season, it is true that it can be quite stressful!