Breaking away from any pack is quite a conundrum for me because I love to be right in the middle of a big “puppy pile” and yet, I have realized that in order to find the right “puppy pile” for me….I have to first realize what pack it is that I’m breaking away from.

For all of my international readers I apologize for thoroughly confusing you by throwing out these references that you may or may not be familiar with.  In this case, “puppy pile” means a group of friends, colleagues and or acquaintances who I enjoy spending time with and “the pack” refers to the people that I find myself surrounded by.

Right now we are smack dab in the middle of November, which means, for many Americans we are heating up for our biggest “holiday” season of the year.  Even though our eyes have been opened up over the last decade or so that there are other holidays going on in addition to the traditional Christian one of Christmas, no matter our religion anyone living in the U.S. has been under the heavy influence of great marketers for all of their lives.  By the time October rolls around, the shopping frenzy and anxiety about not meeting unrealistic expectations (real and perceived) begins.

However, I am grateful to tell you that it is possible to break away from the pack so that you can figure out how you want to celebrate and/or acknowledge your particular holiday. It turns out that I have friends and family members who have taken the leap to break away.  One couple we know has a fabulous Winter Solstice party every year and invites all kinds of interesting friends who are fun to talk with as well as cooking amazing food for everyone. If gifts are exchanged at all, they are usually of the homemade or something-you-can-eat variety.

  For several years there, I was miffed about how I felt about celebrating around this time of year partly because I still celebrated the faith tradition I was brought up in and partly because I had no idea how to celebrate in the new faith tradition I had adopted.  All that and the added bonus of the extreme marketing campaign memes that run through my head about how “one” is supposed to look, feel, act, behave, decorate, celebrate and give.  Whoooowh.  I had a Jewish boss years ago who used to stay at a very nice swanky hotel in Hawaii with his family. They’d leave around mid-December and not return until after the first of the year.   Seemed like a  pretty sane idea to me.

Slowly my husband and I have created our own version of celebration.  We definitely enjoy spending time with friends and family taking the time to gather, talk, play games and have fun.  For many years, because my husband is from another faith tradition then me…I felt sorry for myself and would not decorate in the way that I grew up in a traditional Christian household.  Slowly but surely, I’ve come around to figuring out what kinds of decorations I want to have because I want them….not because of any expectation of what I am supposed to have.  I bought three poinsettias from a friend’s daughter a few weeks ago and am looking forward to having them to add their festive color to our home.  I’m pretty sure that I was clear with the Universe, at least subconsciously, about wanting Christmas decorations for a tree because somehow over the years I actually have accumulated enough to decorate a nice mid-sized tree.

As to the whole gift giving thing, I’m still not the Martha Stewart that I wish I was who would grow and make enough things that I could whip together into fabulous unique gifts.  Truly, I do have this image in my head.  I have to stay away from all those magazines in the doctors’ offices that have great ideas for how to make gifts or even buy gifts for under $$ (enter number here).  I’ve finally gotten honest with myself about this in that a.) obviously my calendar speaks volumes of where I put my interests and b.) having a very limited budget takes care of all kinds of worry cuz you can’t do what you can’t do!??

So what I would encourage you,  my dear readers is if you live in a place (like the U.S., U.K., etc.) where most people kind of go bonkers around this time of the year, to think about how YOU want to celebrate your particular holiday or season.  How do YOU want to let people know that you care about them.  Turns out, it may be just as simple as giving someone a bit of face-time.

May I be able to break away from my pack and you be able to break away from yours so that we can find each other in that free space away from the frenzy!