I’ll be taking the time to unplug for the holidays 

and fully enjoy the time with my friends and loved ones… 

(okay fine I’ll probably still be on instagram) 

I wish all the best to you and yours in this season of celebration! 

I’ll be back at the end of the month, just in time for New Years!

Spill it Sunday: Holiday Selfies

Hey Guys! I’m taking a quick moment from my Christmas with the BF to check in with you all and share in some Holiday cheer. This weeks Spill it Sunday had a holiday theme, which made it impossible for me to resist. 

I also had a hard time resisting the urge to deck the logo… sorry Arman!

 What is a traditional/cultural event you and your family/friends celebrate? 

Well if my logo decorating didn’t make it completely obvious, my family and I celebrate Christmas. We used to go to church and embrace the religious aspect, but nowadays our focus is family (though if you’ve never been to a midnight mass I recommend it for the sheer beauty, regardless of your faith). 

 Do you have any traditions which you partake in on a consistent basis?

The most recent traditions I’ve adopted have actually been with the BF. For the past few years in lieu of presents we’ve booked a hotel and gone down into the city to enjoy the windows, the skating, and the Christkindlemarket. 

Last year we also started a new tradition of baking cookies to share with our friends and families. This was actually our holiday baking weekend, so expect a recap in tomorrow’s WIR. 

We cookie-fied ourselves last year. 

What is something special you and your family/friends do?

In my house my dad has always made breakfast Christmas morning. Always. Growing up it was usually french toast with strawberries, bacon, and hot chocolate.  As we’ve grown (and the need for GF breakfast has developed) we’ve switched to potatoes and eggs. Regardless we always use our Christmas plates and sit down together after opening presents. 

Speaking of presents my brother and I have recently started spoiling our parents a little more and stuffing them stockings along with getting them presents. It’s always little things, but it feels nice to show them that little bit of extra appreciation. 

What does a typical day during this period involve?

We’ve always split the holiday between families so we do a lot of running around. Christmas eve belongs to my dad’s family and all his siblings take turns hosting. These holiday’s usually involve grab-bags, alcohol, charades, and visits from our family in Kentucky. It’s our turn to host this year (gotta show off that new house) and I think we’re bringing some of the games from Christmas day to liven things up!

(oldie but goodie of me and my favorite cousin on that side)

Christmas day my family takes the time in the morning to open and enjoy our gifts to each other and our holiday breakfast. Then we clean everything back up (trust me, that’s NOT my tradition) and relax before heading to my grandparents for the afternoon. Here we do a grab-bag with the cousins, enjoy the big traditional Christmas dinner, and play any crazy assortment of games that usually result in extra presents for the winner 🙂 

 It’s the one time a year we’re guaranteed to see my littlest cousins from Seattle, so we all try to have a big sleepover that night. Then it’s Paul-kizzles (which are really just pancakes) for breakfast the next morning before we all split back to our day-to-day lives. 

Oh and just in case you were wondering… only 3 more days ’till Christmas!

Elf4Health expertise and a blog swap

Hey guys! Today I have a very special post courtesy of the #elf4health community. Jane from Live every week like it’s shark week is here to share her expertise on happiness 🙂 Coincidentally I happened to write the same kind of post (since you all know I DON’T have a specialty) and you can find it on Jane’s page and the link up Brianna  was kind enough to put together!

Hi! I’m Jane and I mostly blog about my random adventures in Boston, where we are currently covered in ice and snow. When I saw that Wednesday’s #Elf4Health challenge was “Share Your Expertise”, I wasn’t really sure WHAT to do with that. I saw the blog swap idea and I was in to swap posts, but I wasn’t sure what I am an expert on. I came up with some ideas, including television shows, sharks, saying the alphabet backward, dinosaurs, procrastination, and parallel parking. While parallel parking is still a good idea (I swear, sometimes I should get a medal) I wasn’t sure how to share that talent on the Internet. Then I realized that I actually know a fair amount about how to make your life happier.

That’s right – I have a Ph.D. in Psychology and teach a class called Positive Psychology, so you could say, I guess, that I’m a bit of an expert on how to think more positively. I base a lot of my class on Gretchen Rubin (http://gretchenrubin.com/) and her books, and also the happiness center at the University of Pennsylvania(http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/Default.aspx), but the idea that strikes me the most is: you can be happier if you choose to view whatever situation you are in currently in the most positive way.

The best introductory video I’ve seen comes from Shawn Achor, who teaches the same class at Harvard (here’s part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8DngXKtvEQ) If you don’t have time or headphones to watch, he starts by discussing his sister falling off the top bunk when they were kids, and before she could scream, he told her that “no human could fall like that… you must be a baby unicorn?” Not too surprisingly, that distracted her. He was right even then – if you choose to think differently about something, it will change your reaction to it.

My favorite thing to remind my students of is that you can’t change what other people do at all, but you can change how you react to it (another Gretchen Rubin idea), and that’s the best way to be happier. I try to do this all the time, but it’s hard to do! If you are sitting in traffic, which I do frequently, you can choose to be annoyed by it, or you can try to think about it in a more constructive way. The best decision I’ve made in my commuting life is to listen to audiobooks, because they make traffic better. You can only listen to the radio for so long.

So before this turns into a book, here’s what I’ve learned about how to make your life more positive (so many of these tips can be found in the #Elf4Health challenges, it’s fantastic!):

•  Fake it (science shows, if you force a smile you will feel happier. If you can’t, hold a pen between your teeth sideways – it works because it mimics a smile!).
• Make your bed every morning.
• Move each day (walk, run, stretch, whatever).
• Declutter.
•   Be thankful
•   Be nice to others. (The best story from my class last year was one of the guys on the baseball team getting a giant Valentine’s Day card and candy for their bus driver. She cried and said that no one had gotten her a Valentine since she was a child!)
•  Be silly – run around the library blowing bubbles during exams (again, my students), go on the swings, watch cartoons.
• Choose to react positively to whatever situation you are in

Hope that helps a little, and let me know if you are interested – I have tons more where that came from!

Happy #Elf4Health season, folks J