Happy Holidays!
While several of you may not celebrate any of the major holidays this season, I still hope you have a wonderful December. This time of year always affects me differently than others. Perhaps it’s the ridiculously cold season, the fact that the year is over, the holidays, or a whole different reason all together. Honestly I cannot pinpoint one reason why this season seems so different and inspiring. However I’ll do my best to share my thoughts with you.
The Blessing and Curse of the Holiday Season
This season is one of those times of year that brings people together. It’s both a blessing and a curse that Thanksgiving and Christmas follow so closely together. On one side you have excuses to hang out with those you love, such as:
Friendsgiving
Thanksgiving
Holiday Parties
Christmas Eve
Christmas Day
New Years
Not to mention that some people get vacation that they can use to catch up with friends and loved ones too.
However on the flip side, depending on your relationships, the curse is that you are stuck wearing a mask. You know the one. The one the you wear in front of judgemental family members, friends, co-workers, and acquaintances to ‘look good’. We can’t help it, it’s just what we do either because of pride or self defense from critique.
I’ve become more aware of my masks after I took the Landmark Forum and am being my more authentic self... at least more often than I would have in the past.
The “Magic” of the Holiday Season
Miracles don’t happen to me during this time of year. However, as the title suggests, I tend to become more inspired during this time of year. This could be because I’m focused on creating for the sake of others or because the year is coming to an end so my mind is attempting to end it with a bang. Regardless of the reason, the holiday season to me is also the season of Creation.
Holiday Cards
One thing I have begun for the past few years are creating handmade holiday cards. Due to the Advanced Course that I took earlier in the year, I have practically tripled the amount of cards I’ve created for this Holiday Season.
I allow myself to be experimental when it comes to the cards. The majority of the time people toss their cards away or view them as cute nicknacks so the stress of making them ‘perfect’ is significantly less than other gifts I create.
Last year my experiment was incorporating watercolor to my cards. This meant that I used watercolor as my primary medium for either creating backgrounds or for illustrating. I learned a lot, such as how the paper soaked up all the water and dried up rather awfully. Which means next time I’ll need to tape the edges to prevent that.
This year I am playing with the idea of creating collages and practicing my calligraphy. It’s been fun and educational. There are several cards that I think came out awesome while others could definitely look better in hindsight.
Presents for the Holiday Season
Gifts to me, are a big part of the holiday season. Not to sound materialistic, but I do enjoy receiving and giving gifts. Now that I’m living a more minimalistic lifestyle, I’m starting to be more conscious as to what I bring into my life, but I still am fond of material goods.
Secret Santa gifts
Every year my group of college friends and I participate in a Secret Santa and we’ll do all sorts of things to get into the holiday cheer. We’ll inspire each other to create hints on our FaceBook group to try and make it interesting as to who was assigned to what person since there are several in our group of friends who love puzzles. We’ll also create nicknacks for each other such as bookmarks, cards, gift bags, and desserts which we otherwise would not make the time to do. However the holiday season is all about creating for others and I love that.
Christmas shananigans
I celebrate Christmas with my friends and family. On Christmas Eve I’ll spend time with my family and wait until midnight to do gift exchanges. Last year while waiting for midnight I created a quick video by overlaying my family member’s heads on the three chirpy members of the Chipmunks singing their infamous Christmas tune.
I also created books with Blurb to give to my father and his wife showcasing our trip to Spain and created a copy for my grandmother who while did not go, I knew she’d love and appreciate the photo album. It took a while to lay it out, but the books came out on time and were beautiful.
My Anniversary
The last occasion that I become inspired to create is my anniversary. It falls on the day after Christmas and we’re both artsy types. Last year I made a scrap book full of memories, journal entries, drawings, and photographs to celebrate our time together. It’s always interesting to see what ideas I could come up with to execute in order to express my happiness and love towards my significant other.
Does the Holiday Season Inspire You?
I’d love to know. There are people who suddenly feel the rush of inspiration hit them towards the end of the year. It’d be wonderful if we could all share our stories and perhaps find the hidden magic within the holiday to tap into for the upcoming year.