A Fruitful Halloween
Another area we can lose our fruitfulness is by going it alone. Being fruitful is sharing abundance. Holidays aren’t meant to be celebrated alone. Sure, parts of them can be solo, like everyone’s different levels of horror tolerance may lead one person to watch their horror alone, or their cheese alone, or read their favorite books alone; but we can’t allow that aspect of the celebration to turn into total disconnection, isolation, only engaging online, or going places where no one knows you so you don’t have to connect. To be fruitful is to engage with your immediate community – family, neighbors, church, etc. – accepting both the joy of this and the accountability.
Home for Christmas
We’re the tenders, the warmers, the magic makers, taking our husband’s hard-earned income and turning it into scrumptious pies, painted cookies, hot punch, roast beast, garlands of greenery, strings of bright lights, stuffed stockings, and trees inside. (I love having a tree inside!) This is everyday, ordinary, deep, hobbit magic. And we are the practitioners of this art.
Thanksgiving
If we want to keep our attitudes in the right place and not lose the spirit of the season, we need to keep our eyes on the big picture, not on all the tasks. We need to focus on the delight and joy and purpose of the feast. Yes, it’s a ton of work, but work is rewarding.
Holidays & HearthKeeping
Holidays break routines. This is a good thing. Broken routines don’t become ruts. Holidays help you see the routine. Holidays give you a break from the routine which helps you appreciate it more. Don’t we all just love January when things get back to normal? Holidays help us appreciate the normal by charging into the middle of it and making a mess. As HearthKeepers, if we see this we can appreciate it, embrace it, and use it.