Wishing All My Viewers A Very Merry Christmas 2021

 

Merry Christmas to all my viewers! I don't know how each of you feel about Christmas this year, but I feel like I usually do. Just pleased I have lived through another year. Christmas is the holiday I have a love hate relationship with. Some years I have just been glad to make it through it. Not so much due to my health, but just the season itself. Last year of course, everybody felt that way. This year it is different. We still have some of the same issues but people have become unreasonable and judgmental toward others. Blaming them for things that cannot be controlled no matter what each of us do. Being directed by politicians and the news media to do so. Yet they cannot see past their own fear and mistaken beliefs. 

It reminds me of my late mother-in-law. She would say things against other religions outside of her own. My husband would say that they think the same way about her and her religion. She would end the conversation by saying, "But they are wrong." Talking to a brick wall is not worth the time because nobody will change their minds no matter what is presented. Especially when the news they watch every day tells them exactly what to believe and to say and who to blame it on. So I do not discuss what I think or do in such situations. 

I have been fighting the propaganda train for many years now. No matter what the masses do, I question everything. Then research. Research. Research. And more research. I find my answers and do not believe every study or so called "professional's" opinion. You cannot even believe what is taught in schools or universities. Now I realize you could not believe that years ago either. At that time in my life I did not know that. Always question why, what or who is pushing whatever it is in your own research. Do not take anyone's word for it. Find the answers yourself. Even if you have to go back very far. You will find that many beliefs were pushed on the people in the past and then years later it comes to light that it was all wrong. Or wrongly presented to the public citing studies and scientific facts that were paid for by profits. Not true facts. The public who believes everything the government or other profit backed industries tells them is the ones who are damaged by it.

My Christmas present to you is to start the new year by taking charge of your own health. Research the immune system. Not by using allopathic sources. I have found in recent years that anything using the term "science based" is not a reliable source. At least for me, it is not. Everyone must make their own choices of what they will accept and what they won't. I just know over the years, I have seen what has happened to others and whether it helped them or not. If you do not accept what others want you to accept, then it is best to distance yourself from them. Some people will not do that if a close family member is making you do what they want you to do. No matter how you feel about it! I will write more about taking charge of your own health and life in a future post. 

In the meantime, try to do the following to get a jump on the coming year: 

1. Avoid stress and don't put yourself in stressful situations if you can. 

2. Cut disease causing foods out of your daily diet.

3. Take some time out of each day to mediate or by reading inspirational books or your Bible.

4. Set aside some time in your day to drink a cup of herbal tea and listen to soothing music. Just relax, but do not fall asleep. Let that time become a routine to de-stress your body every day.

5. If possible take a walk outside. Getting outside every day is essential to your immune system. Even if it is not a sunny day. There is something about that fresh air that is good for your soul, as well as your body. Breathe deep. Concentrate on your breathing while outside.   

I wish all my viewers a Merry Christmas and hope it is a good one for you. If you are alone that day, create your own day by preparing a pleasant meal for yourself. Put on some Christmas music or music of your choice. Don't spend your day by thinking of past Christmases if that causes you to be depressed. It is just a day like any other day. Don't let it create a situation for making yourself miserable. Remember Christmas is now a representative of shopping profits for big industries and credit card companies. Not what it meant when getting a couple of presents made by your parents or grandparents under a simply decorated tree was  more than enough. Those were happier days we just didn't realize it at the time. I think it all started with those Christmas season shopping inserts they put in the newspapers around Thanksgiving right up to Christmas day.

  

Copyright © 2021 Kathleen G. Lupole

All Photographs Copyright © 2021  Kathleen G. Lupole

Holiday Time Is Coming

Streets are decorated for Christmas!

This is the time of the year when people get depressed. Worrying seems to affect most people and the holidays seem to make it more difficult. I have lived through times like that myself. Looking at some of my old journals, I see where I wrote about families everywhere enjoying a Thanksgiving dinner and we did not have enough money to buy anything. Just the canned foods that I had grown in my garden. If you are so far behind on all your credit bills that all the money coming in goes to them, you have none left over for living expenses. Now I do not have those problems. I am by no means rich or even well off, but I am comfortable where and how I live now. The difference is that I am in charge of my money and what I do with it. I didn’t even have a grocery budget! Now I do. I remember when I read about what to do to cut expenses. I would say to myself, "I already did that a long time ago.”

My vintage Christmas decorations are old!

Instead of dreading the holidays, I embrace them. I decorate my apartment for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. I do not have to spend much money as most of my decorations I already had. I can make special foods and share with my neighbors, my son and my boyfriend. Nothing has to be expensive or time consuming. Just little things shared with loved ones can be the most meaningful. For Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Year's Day though, you do not have to spend money. That is the marketing strategy behind the commercialism of the holidays. When I was a child growing up, my parents did not spend a lot on decorations or our presents. Many years later after we had grown up and had our own children, I saw my parents go overboard on buying presents for their grandchildren. It was wasted money as far as I was concerned. Children having so many presents that they don't know which one to play with first is crazy.

Make a nice dinner even if alone!

If you are sad or alone on the holidays, I know it can be a hard time for you. Maybe you can reach out to someone who needs a friend during the holidays too. Have a potluck dinner with several people who are alone on those days. Last year, I did not know what to expect having just moved here. I am so blessed by the other people who also live in my building. For the most part, they are very caring and loving people. Also the city I live in has churches and organizations providing holiday dinners and socialization for the less fortunate. Not just financially, but people who are alone for one reason or another.

Christmas tree from the thrift store!

No matter what you are worried about, it will eventually pass. I know this because I thought my worries were the kind that would be with me for the rest of my life. I did reach that light at the end of the tunnel. I call it the tunnel of worry. Of course, to do so, you most likely have to make changes in whatever is causing you to worry and be depressed. Losing the people you love, even years ago, will haunt you at the holidays. It just does because they are no longer here with you. Instead of becoming depressed about your loss, think about their value to your life. Think about the good memories you shared with them. Think about how much they meant to you without becoming depressed about it. Since I enjoy writing, I like to write in my journal about things we did together. My memories of them. Things they said to me. Places we went together. Our happy times. Not my memories of them in a hospital bed. If that is all you picture in your mind then it is no wonder you are so depressed.

Make your holidays special for YOU!

No matter what you feel for these holidays. It is just a day. I have found in my life that being around negative people affects me. I am basically a happy type of person. Both of my parents were like that. My mother taught me to make a list of pros and cons of each situation and figure out from there how to change it. Which is what I always do. Sometimes you cannot change your situation to your dream of what it should be. But little changes you can do now will help. If no matter what you will be alone on the holiday, make it your day. Play music, make a fantastic dinner with leftovers, drink wine or whatever, prepare or buy a sinful dessert for after dinner with a special coffee drink and watch some I Love Lucy shows. Laugh a lot! 

Copyright © 2019 Kathleen G. Lupole

All Photographs Copyright © 2019  Kathleen G. Lupole