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November 29, 2005
Christmas--the season to be healthy and merry
Christmas is my favorite holiday; I love everything about it. In years past, I usually put the tree up shortly after Thanksgiving and took it down preferably the day after New Year’s. This year, however, since we acquired an exuberant, new puppy and since my daughter won’t be home, I thought I’d skip the tree.
I was feeling guilty about it until I read the Tribune-Review article “I’ll be prone for Christmas.” The article offers advice on how to stay healthy physically and emotionally. It also discusses the issue of holiday stress that in effect most people put on themselves. In an attempt to cram extra activities into an already tight schedule, people are more prone to colds and viruses. Another holiday hazard, depression, can be avoided by lowering expectations. Creating new traditions and experiences, the article suggests, can help those who have suffered the loss of a loved one.
Posted by NancyGregg at November 29, 2005 9:21 PM
Comments
The Christmas season is by far my favorite time of year, too.
Christmas always makes me happy and I love how people actually make an effort to be nice to other people. I wish they would do this all year round, but I am grateful that once a year people are actually concious of how they treat other people.
But, there are lots of things that make people stressed out around the holidays. So, I can completely understand why you would choose to skip the tree. Puppies and Christmas trees really don't mix. I remember the first Christmas my family had a dog. She was extremely hyper and we took every precaution we could, but notheless, she eventually ran right into it one day and knocked over the whoel thing and broke many of the ornaments. And then it took hours to get it back up again. So I completely understand why you decided not to. So don't feel guilty. =0)
Maybe what you could do if you wanted to keep up the Christmas tree tradition is just get one of those small trees that you can put on a tabletop somewhere.
Last year my mom moved right after Christmas to begin setting up the bed and breakfast my family now owns here in the states while the rest of my family stayed in England to finish off the school year. My mom didn't want to mess with the hassle of our usual 8' tree. So we got a smaller one that we were able to set on top of our tea cart. It made me sad at first to have changed our usual tradition, but in the end it made everything a lot easier. Now, it makes me look forward to putting up the big tree again this year even more.
Posted by: Lorin Schumacher at November 30, 2005 7:39 PM