Anticipation of Success—a Christmas Vision

In December we get so many conflicting messages. It is full court press when it comes to the retail world trying to vie for our attention. We have these expectations we put on ourselves when it comes to cleaning and decorating our homes and preparing for Christmas. There are the presents we need to buy and the overspending that happens. All of it seems to collide in this last month of the year. That’s not to mention the fact with the holiday parties we will be so tempted to throw out our health and fitness goals. With that, how is this supposed to be the happiest time of the year?

Do you get overwhelmed by the busyness and the expectations? I’ve been thinking how much we’ve allowed this to dictate our December. But it’s actually optional. What if we chose to own the month of December? We can let the month own us or we can own the month! If we really get honest with ourselves, we get to decide. A lot of the stress we experience is created in our own heads.

My thoughts: What if we create a Christmas Holiday Vision? What if we create the December we really want? We can use our thinking brain to sketch out what our ideal Christmas would look like. All of it, including our attitude and the mood we want to create for our friends and family. We can list out the things that are most important and give ourselves permission to eliminate some of the things that we may have added over the years but aren’t as important anymore. We can choose to leave off those things off. We can pre-decide what we want.

So here, if you choose to take on this mission, is the exercise. I suggest you take out a piece of paper. Think back to your past Christmases that you feel were successful to you. I want you to recall some of your most memorable experiences. I want you to do a brain dump on this. To help trigger your thinking, I’ll give you some personal thoughts that came up for me as I did this exercise.

As a Christian, I feel Jesus is the number one reason for the season! I absolutely love going to a service on Christmas Eve—especially if it is a candlelight service. I feel this establishes the main thing as the main thing.  After the service we love to come home, and we have extended family and friends stop by. Our tradition is that my husband makes his incredible posole. We have posole and sometimes we play board games, or we just catch up with family and friends. Then, I have matching pajamas wrapped under the tree. Our long-time is that we unwrap those and everyone puts them on. We have funny hats for everyone to wear. We all jump in the car in our matching jammies and go see luminaries and Christmas Lights. Ok that was a little sample from my life.

Do this same thing and include your family traditions, the ones that really stand out. I want you to write this out for Christmas Day as well. The benefit of writing this out is that it creates your vision of Christmas. It helps you connect with what’s important and helps you identify why certain things are important to you. From what you wrote out, pull the top three themes that run through your story. Here’s my example. These are the top three for me: 1) Faith, 2) Tradition, 3) Experiences. Your top three to five may be completely different. I want you to take your top three and build your Christmas vision statement. You then work from there to create and build your game plan. This will help you prioritize your to-do lists.

You get to decide from the experiences you want to create—beginning with the end in mind. This exercise will help you clarify what is important and once you get this clear vision you can sketch out your game plan from there. The specifics and the details of all that needs to be done will not just come from head knowledge but heart knowledge. If you accept this challenge and take the time out to do this exercise this will change your experience. I think we get so caught up in the doing that we neglect to think about the why we are doing what we are doing. This exercise is a game changer. It’ll help keep everything in perspective.

As we create our lists of to-do’s and set out to get everything accomplished I want to consider this too:

During the month of December, take time each morning to have a healthy morning routine. I talk about this so often. Having a successful morning routine is important. Especially when we are in a more stressful month like December. I want to encourage you to not neglect this time. I frequently share with you my morning routine. I devote the first 15 minutes each morning, while I’m having my coffee, to a time of listening to the free app Abide, then reading Our Daily Bread, and I have a prayer journal I write in each morning. Getting my mind right and my heart right is crucial. I have a grateful journal I write 3 or 4 things in. I have an I-want journal for things I want to accomplish. Both long term goals and even short-term goals as simple as I want to be kind and loving today.  I go from those journals to a simple notebook that I use where I write hour by hour what my day is going to look like. Making sure all the most important things are written down first. I then create my daily to-do list. This morning routine is part of my life; it is a non-negotiable. If this idea is new to you, I highly encourage you to start it this month. This will give you a sense that you are in the driver’s seat, you are orchestrating your life. It will put you in the habit of getting on top of your thinking each and every day. I highly recommend that you create a successful morning routine.

Remember, creating your Christmas vision is all about intentionality and clarity. Take some time to reflect on what truly matters to you and your loved ones during the holiday season. Write down your cherished traditions and the experiences that bring you joy, allowing this vision to guide your planning. Prioritize your activities, eliminating those that don’t align with your values, and don’t hesitate to delegate tasks to lighten your load.

Finally, establish a healthy morning routine to keep your mind and heart centered throughout this busy month. By applying these takeaways, you can transform your holiday experience into one filled with joy, connection, and meaning. If this year’s plans are already set, pay attention to what works and what doesn’t work. Use that journal now to make notes for next year.

Embrace the season with purpose, and let your vision lead the way!

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Monette hosts a weekly podcast: Mornings with Monette. She has been a lifelong learner and and appreciates the opportunity to share what she has learned–both through her podcast and here at The Best-Life Project (based on the content of her weekly podcast). Her messages are raw, honest and straight from the heart. She lives in Albuquerque, NM with her husband Leland. They have three adult children and are enjoying living their best lives filled with travel and adventure.