Living More Fully: Traditions

One of the reasons that I wanted to start this blog was to focus on enjoying life and accentuating the positive aspects of my life. I don’t claim to be any expert in this, and I certainly don’t want to pretend that I am some blissed-out guru who walks around in a state of uphoria every minute of the day. Instead, I’m just someone who wants to cultivate a more positive outlook on life.

I’m very happy to have found fellow bloggers who are trying to do the exact same thing. I was recently tagged by Jean Browman to write about Living More Fully. Thanks for the invitation, Jean.

One practice that’s helping me enjoy life to the fullest is developing traditions with my family. Brooke and I love the holidays and we want to continue to find ways to make them even more special for us and our kids.

This year, we are excited to try out a new idea at Thanksgiving. To take advantage of the fact that we’re not traveling any more, we plan to put up our Christmas tree on Thanksgiving day. While tripped-out on tryptophan, we plan to deck our halls. The new tradition that we’re going to try is a Christmas Camp Out. After decorating the tree, we’re going to pull out some blankets and pillows and try sleeping with the kids in the living room under the lit Christmas tree.

This sounds so cozy and warm. I’m imagining my delighted children all snuggled up in blankets, talking about the excitement of the holiday season. We’ll read stories, sing songs, maybe even watch a holiday cartoon or two. I’ll watch their sweet faces illuminated by the twinkling lights as we all drift off to sleep, while visions of sugarplums will dance in our heads.

That’s my fantasy.

Or, the kids might not be into it at all. Maybe they’ll be cranky. Maybe they’ll be too excited to sleep. Maybe we won’t get the decorating done in time. The floor may not be that comfortable. The blinking lights might keep me awake. They’ll probably get up way too early, thinking that there should be presents under the tree.

If I allowed all of the “what ifs” to derail these plans, I wouldn’t be living life to the fullest. How often do we allow the negative soundtrack of our doubts to drown out the beautiful symphony of possibility?

“Live the life you’ve imagined,” Thoreau advises. I am thankful that I’ve accepted that guidance in the past. I’ve had some great experiences as the result of it. When I think about living life to the fullest, I believe it’s one of our greatest strategies.