COVID-19 has changed the way we do so many things, but not all of the changes have been bad. *Online searches show a greater number of shoppers seeking ways to cultivate a simpler, more meaningful festive season this year, with experiences, personalised items, and homemade gifts. If you’ve chosen to make this festive season a more meaningful one, here are 3 simple steps to help you get started.
1. Learn about your family’s culture
Where you come from will influence how you celebrate this time of year. So take the time to learn about your family’s culture. Celebrating your heritage by incorporating your traditions into your family is especially important if you come from another part of the world and you’re away from home, as it can help you feel closer to home at this time of year.
Start by getting grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles and other family members to share where they grew up, the types of food they ate, the traditions they practiced at this time of year, and the holidays they celebrated. Then incorporate some of these traditions into your own celebrations.
2. Start a family tradition
Drawing on your own family’s culture, start a new family tradition to add more meaning to the festive season.
Traditions are repeated rituals that provide a sense of identity and help tell the story of your family. By recreating the same experience around a specific event – like the festive season – you build shared memories, so that each time you do it you’re reminded of previous happy times doing the same thing.
There are so many simple traditions you could include. Here are just a few to help you get started.
- Bake cookies and share them with neighbours, friends and family.
- Create a decoration each year to hang on the tree.
- Decorate a Christmas tree together.
- Make a family gingerbread house.
- Drive around your town at night to see the Christmas lights.
- Read a special story together.
- Choose a community project to support.
- Watch a Christmas movie together.
Involve your family by talking about what makes the holiday season special to them, recalling past holidays and picking out important memories that made that time so memorable.
3. Choose gifts with purpose
It’s easy to get sucked into the commercialism that surrounds the festive season. We’re constantly bombarded with information about the latest gadgets, toys and other must-have items. It’s not surprising Christmas can start to feel like one big shopping trip!
This year why not support a small business or your local café instead – particularly those that may have lost business over lockdown. Or consider giving either your time or money to a community project or your local homeless shelter. Or buy gifts from non-profit organisations that empower local artisans and offer hope to third world countries.
Another idea is to give a creative gift from the heart – something homemade. Choose something simple that the whole family can get involved in creating. Find ways to show kindness without having to buy expensive gifts.
A fresh new start
Some of the positive changes we’ve seen this year include our use of technology and the ability to work and learn from home, a bigger focus on family and friends, and a growing desire to add more meaning to the everyday things we do.
Before you get caught up in the frenzy of the festive season, take time to think about what this time of year means to you. How are you bringing more meaning to this festive season? Leave a comment on our Facebook page to share your tips.
We hope 2021 brings you everything you wish for, from all of us at Mortgage Express.
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