By Julieta Hernandez Photo by Rachel Benavides
With the small window of inevitable time off for the holidays whether it’s a five-week break, a three-day vacation, or a single day off from your everyday duties, we think it’s important to spend as much of that time as possible building precious moments with whoever you choose.
Spending the short-lived holidays with someone is a way to say you care and that you’re thankful for them; and thankfully, the holidays are also a time you don’t have to care about anything else beyond that.
Whoever your support system may be, relish in this holiday by giving the gift of your time completely to the person, persons, or group of people (like our huge families coming to visit) who you don’t really get to think about during the bustle of the work week. It’s nice to stop and be grateful for our support systems, especially if we get the pleasure to spend time with them.
For all your non-holiday affairs, we definitely recommend letting voicemail do the talking. No one’s going to be that offended that you decided to take some time to hide away from the holidays! Just set a perky voicemail box up (“Ho-ho-holding down the fort here at home, leave a message!”,”Away for the holidays, it’s chilly in the north pole, y’all!”) and commence the season.
Last minute calls to the office, picking up an extra shift at work, or dealing with your social sphere: set a cut-off for it. If December 23rd is when Santa Tracker starts (https://santatracker.google.com/) then sitting with an excited six year old in your life can triumph all other responsibilities, guilt free.
If you feel like you just can’t escape quite so easily, a cut-off is also a helpful incentive for getting as much work done as you can: catching up to those deadlines, picking up that extra morning shift, or listening to some social hour gossip before you’re able to go cold-turkey.
Then, you can remain guilt free after indulging in holiday turkey, including the making and preparing of. You can better focus on the game of holiday trivia at hand, or finally beating your cousins in dice, or helping your mom hide presents, or that one Christmas movie your significant other suggested. The do-not-disturb setting on your phone make a lot more sense now.
So, bask in the importance of whatever holiday traditions you share with whoever you get to come home to, and appreciate the small amount of times we actually do get to stop and take a breather from life. On occasion, it’s allowed to let the world keep spinning without you.