It’s so easy for us to fill our Christmas time with shopping, parties, rushing here and there, more shopping and trying to make things “just so” that we miss the really important things.
We sacrifice the essential for the additional. Just like I almost did two years ago.
My Live Like it Matters Challenge to you this week is to leave room in your calendar so that you can enjoy the essential things. The blank space in your calendar allows those unexpected moments to happen.
Cuddle with your kids and watch “The Sound of Music”. Put together a 1000 piece puzzle. Gather some fresh greenery and decorate the mantel.
Those things happen when you’re home with your family and you’ve not planned anything else. That’s when your teenagers will come and talk to you too.
I spent two hours talking to my teen aged son Monday night. It was spontaneous, but needed. It wouldn’t have happened if I had scheduled a meeting, shopped for last-minute gifts, or attended the Christmas party I was invited to.
NOT doing the additional left room for an essential.
mariegriffith.me 
You totally got my number. One author called it living a life without margins–we fill up with so much that when some emergency happens, we have very little to deal with it! Your post takes that even further, leaving margins for the beautiful and essential. Great reminder.