Today is the first day of my holidays. It’s also the first day I have allowed myself to fully think about Christmas. I bought my grandson a gift a few weeks ago but haven’t thought about anything else. I don’t particularly enjoy the shops when they are full of people. I don’t understand people who live for busy shopping centres.
So this morning I got up early and took myself into town. It’s less than a week away so it’s time to make sure all the special people in our lives get a gift. For so long our second child would attend family events without gifts and tell us his “present was his presence.” I think he is on the right track. Watching all those people downtown it’s become a competition. It’s not really about spending time with your loved ones but rather how many presents did you get? How big are they? What were they worth? Flip that around and it’s how much did you spend on gifts this year? Really what we should be focusing on is the family and friends we get to spend time with. Our boy is right. This year he is in a different state and unable to come home for Christmas. I will miss his presence more than any present!!
The Christmas Season can be stressful time and it’s not only about the gift giving. I was so excited when I weighed myself this morning. Since I wrote about the Extender seat belt prompting a change I have worked really hard and have been able to lose 6.2kgs (13.6 pounds). It’s been a hard slog but I’m proud of myself. I am also 2 weeks and 1 day diet coke free. It’s a huge achievement. My number one anxiety in this Christmas/Birthday season is that I won’t be able to maintain that and that the temptations will be too great. All those delicious foods and the family and friends who gift you chocolates or lollies because they aren’t sure what to give you.
I’ve been doing a lot of reading about Weight Loss and Christmas. It seems I am definitely not alone in my quest and there is some fantastic advice out there. I’m going to work really hard on mplementing some of the tips I’ve found.
- If you eat more you need to move more – I am committing to at least 60 minutes of exercise for each day in the Christmas period. This is an increase on my usual 30 minutes.
- Keep snacks out of the house. Makes perfect sense. if they aren’t there you can’t eat them. Col and I are in charge of desserts for Christmas Lunch. I’m going to do a fruit platter plus a small selection of homemade sweets. This way I know exactly what is in them.
- Portion Control – normally I would eat until I couldn’t move. This year I am going to half what I would normally eat.
- Make smart choices – reach for the fruit and vegetables instead of the chocolates and lollies. If I am gifted any sweets I am going to open them and place them on the table. Share the love!!
- Drink lots of water. This is my go to drink of choice anyway since I gave up Diet Coke
- My biggest downfall is grazing. When they bring out the grazing platter my hand subconsciously reaches for more and more. This year I am going to avoud the grazing platters.
Christmas is supposed to be a time of joy. But for so many people it’s a time of severe stress. For some they are alone and have no one to share the season with. For others they attend family events with loved ones who are disconnected and walk away feeling sad. This is me. My other big stress of this holiday season is managing my expectations and enjoying myself when I feel used.
The important thing to remember is to be kind to others. Not everyone will have a hallmark card Christmas and even a strangers smile can change their day.
I have one more special event to come before we get to Christmas. My Birthday is this week. Something to look forward to or something to get anxious about. We will see.
On a positive note it’s going to be a beautiful 33 degrees day for Christmas.
Rachel's Midlife Reset 