Thanksgiving is nearly upon us, and the holiday season roars in on its heels like a NASCAR contestant. Whether you love the holidays or want to hide from them, it’s a good bet your holiday sentiments are tied to family memories.
The thing about memories is, you cannot go back and do them over again. Whatever the flavor of your early holiday experiences, they are yours forever to embrace or release as you see fit.
Before you stop reading in dismay… there’s hope.
Holidays will always be “family time.” This is absolutely hopeful, because it is entirely up to you to define what family means to you. Family, holidays, and hope are a perfect trio.
I was reading a children’s story this week, Nooks & Crannies, by Jessica Lawson. An historical mystery romp, sort of a bizarre “Oliver Twist meets Sherlock Holmes,” it delivered up this priceless paragraph:
Family.
Tabitha felt emotion build behind her eyes at the thought of the word she’d held so dear for so long. It had taken the awfulness of being abandoned for her true family to become clear. Family, it seemed, was not always a matter of who one was born to, or even who one’s parents were. A person’s family, Tabitha realized, was the thing that held them up so that life could still be illuminated in the darkest of times. A family member could be a mouse. A family member could be an Inspector that nobody would ever meet outside the pages of a novel. Depending on the circumstance, a family member might even be discovered in a person you just met.
So take a deep breath, look at your holiday plans, and be sure to include your family as defined by Tabitha. Because memories with this family are still in the making!
Coach’s Challenge: Make a list of your family according to Tabitha. Think about where these family members are, whether inside the cover of a book, in the skin of your beloved pet, or people, living near or far. Make a plan to include as many of them as possible in mindful, grateful, celebration between now and the end of the year. You’ll be surprised at the power you hold to infuse the holiday season with new meaning.