Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: Good Morning.
Speaker 1: This is Laura, Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to make little moments festive. Getting in the
Speaker 1: holiday spirit doesn't need to involve big, showy decorations, though
Speaker 1: obviously it can. There are lots of little moments through
Speaker 1: the day where tiny changes can make a big difference.
Speaker 1: Every year, I make a holiday fund list and plot
Speaker 1: out when my family will be doing things like visiting
Speaker 1: holiday train displays or seeing the Nutcracker. These events tend
Speaker 1: to involve times and tickets, which isn't a bad thing.
Speaker 1: When something is on the schedule and I pay for tickets,
Speaker 1: I tend to do it. But some items on the
Speaker 1: holiday fun list are more about moments. For instance, I
Speaker 1: decided to set the serious XM radio channel in my
Speaker 1: car to seventy nine, which is holly. I might get
Speaker 1: sick of the holiday music eventually, but it's as fun
Speaker 1: as listening to random pop music for a few weeks,
Speaker 1: and it makes carpool runs feel more festive. I've been
Speaker 1: listening to Box Christmas Oratorio while doing my daily stretches.
Speaker 1: I am practicing for my twenty twenty four project of
Speaker 1: listening to all the works of Bach. So in the meantime,
Speaker 1: why not listen to his famous Christmas masterpiece. A few
Speaker 1: weeks ago I pulled out my stash of Christmas puzzles.
Speaker 1: I like to work on one thousand piece puzzles at
Speaker 1: night because it's relaxing and keeps.
Speaker 2: Me off my phone. When I'm on my phone, I
Speaker 2: tend to look at the news, and that is of
Speaker 2: course far less relaxing. So one thousand piece puzzles it is.
Speaker 2: I could work on any sort of puzzle, so why
Speaker 2: not do ones with rustic Christmas scenes or pictures of
Speaker 2: carollers or of Santa sitting by a fire. I have
Speaker 2: dug into my stash of old holiday magazines. I love
Speaker 2: old magazines in general, especially those from a long time ago,
Speaker 2: as they show what life was like for normal people
Speaker 2: in times past. I have collected some vintage December issues
Speaker 2: of women's magazines, but I have also kept some that
Speaker 2: I have subscribed to years of Martha Stuart, Living, Better
Speaker 2: Homes and Gardens, Good Housekeeping, Oh, the Oprah Magazine, and
Speaker 2: so forth. Some of these titles have stopped publishing, which
Speaker 2: makes me happy that I saved the old ones. I
Speaker 2: don't really remember flipping through the December twenty thirteen Martha
Speaker 2: Stuart Living issue back in twenty thirteen, even though I'm
Speaker 2: sure I did so. It's like reading a new magazine,
Speaker 2: and it turns downtime into something more festive. In any case,
Speaker 2: we have some discretion over how we spend our leisure time,
Speaker 2: and especially the little choices like music and reading material
Speaker 2: that are definitely within our control. We also have some
Speaker 2: discretion over small things in our homes, like using holiday
Speaker 2: soaps or lighting candles. It is as easy to use
Speaker 2: evergreen scented soap as lavender scented soap for a few weeks,
Speaker 2: and one probably feels more festive. If you are reading
Speaker 2: to kids, why not read a holiday story instead of
Speaker 2: stories you read the rest of the year. We can
Speaker 2: go overboard on this, of course, but every year, as
Speaker 2: the weather gets bleak in December, I remember the wisdom
Speaker 2: of ancient humans holding solstice festivals, and then of the
Speaker 2: Christian tradition putting this holiday of light during the darkest
Speaker 2: days of the year. As the song goes, we need
Speaker 2: a little Christmas. Write this very minute, even if you
Speaker 2: don't celebrate Christmas or simply celebrate the secular version of it.
Speaker 2: A little festivity amid bleakness can be welcome. Indeed, in
Speaker 2: the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's
Speaker 2: to making the most of our times. Thanks for listening
Speaker 2: to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,
Speaker 2: you can reach.
Speaker 1: Me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Speaker 2: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts
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