holidays Archives * Qryptonyght

Saturday December 18th, 2021Sunday December 19th, 2021

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

Christmas is days away! Some are busy preparing for the holidays and crossing items off their shopping list. Others are gaily skipping off to sunny Caribbean destinations. Some are checking into luxury resorts or already relaxing around cozy fireplaces! While some are desperately trying to ignore holiday music. Why would anyone do that? If you recently lost someone you always looked forward to sharing your happiest moments with, the holidays can be a fresh kind of hell!

Just recently someone told me they were planning to ‘skip Christmas’ this year. Don’t do it! skipping Christmas would be akin to condemning yourself to a slow and painful death. Let me tell you about the year I tried to skip Christmas. Earlier that year, my police detective brother was shot a stones away from the precinct where he worked. Fortunately, he survived 2 shots fired to his head at close range. but we weren’t sure he could ever fully recover. He had lost his sight and suffered a series of complications. After multiple reconstructive surgeries he was still a shadow of his former self.

Sunday October 31st, 2021Sunday October 31st, 2021

It’s 55 days until Christmas, what are your plans ?

It’s 55 days until Christmas, what are your plans for the holidays? If you don’t have a plan for the holidays as yet, get on it as soon as possible! In my last post It’s 69 days until Christmas, I mentioned that the two important lessons I learned this year were to practice self-care and to prioritize the people who are important. What’s the best way to check those two boxes? Make holiday plans ahead of time AND spend time with loved ones of course! It is 55 days until Christmas so lets make that holiday plan today!

Are you traveling to visit with family or friends? If so then you do not have much time to finalize your plans! You need to decide on travel dates, buy your tickets and make other arrangements for while you are away. If you have pets you may want to give your pet-sitter an early heads-up about your plans. Checking Covid-19 requirements and scheduling your Covid-19 test is something you want to do as soon as possible. Things like notifying your bank of your travel is especially important if you plan to travel overseas. Imagine how difficult it would be if your bank froze your accounts because of suspicious activity while you are abroad!

Plan with holiday travel specials

Once you have your other arrangements squared away you will need to get airline tickets as soon as possible. One of the best things you can do is to scour the internet for travel specials and discount codes. Holiday promotions are intended to get customers to commit early and avoid the pitfalls that accompany late holiday travel. If you book now for travel prior to Christmas you can save yourself some of the hassle. This is the one time you want to ensure you pay the extra for trip insurance. If something happens, you want to be able to cancel your trip without losing your hard-earned money.

Sunday October 17th, 2021Sunday October 17th, 2021

Its 69 days until Christmas

I woke up this morning and carefully took stock of my current situation. The following 2 things struck me:

The year 2021 is coming to a close and I haven’t accomplished all my goals.
Its 69 days until Christmas and I don’t have a holiday plan!

I found myself going into panic mode and took a few deliberate calming breaths. Yes I had three major things on my To Do list at the beginning of the year and I have only managed to accomplish one of those things. That was no reason to give myself a stroke! At this point it would take a lot more resources than I have at my disposal (and a miracle) to check the other two boxes. That being said, I had accomplished one goal and I feel pretty good about myself! I will redouble my efforts to accomplish at least one more goal before the end of the year.

Important lessons learned in 2021

One of the important lessons I think we learned this year is the importance of practicing self-care. Some of us who were previously of the opinion that the practice of self-care was for the mentally unstable, are touting its benefits to anyone who would listen. If you are in the habit of practicing self-care you would know that you should always focus on the positives in life. You would also know that you should be kind to yourself and avoid being too critical of your own shortcomings. Don’t focus on what you don’t have or what you haven’t accomplished, focus instead on what you have managed to accomplish and celebrate small wins.