Welcome dear friend, today I have a particularly delicious tea & treat ready to share with you…

The tea blend is called Turkish delight, a black tea flavored with Rose petals & vanilla.

Our treat is a gf fruit mince shortbread bite. Both unusually morish & the combination of the two work beautifully together.

At this time of the year we hear the following lyrics being played over & over through audio systems in shopping centers & malls;

” T’is the season to be jolly, tra la la la, la la la”…

But feeling jolly isn’t always the reality for many in this season…as a Clinical Counselor, this is always the busiest time of the year.

And sadly the season that has the biggest suicide rate! Why?

Advertising, constantly portrays large happy families gathered together around a feast with a huge Christmas tree in the background laden with decorations & mountains of gifts placed under it.

Where everyone is getting on with each other, happy, smiling, laughing, caring & co operative & seemingly wealthy.

There is love & stability in these portrayals.  

However for many people around the world this is not their reality with family!

No matter how hard they may have tried over the years to make it so.

Families can be complicated entities…

Whatever the culture, size, shape or mix.

Whether large, small, close or distant in locality or relationship, nuclear, combined, separated by choice or by circumstances they are all made up of different personalities with a shared history.

That history may not have always been a positive or happy one!

And it may be very painful for some & overwhelming for others to be with family at this time of the year!

Idealized Christmas celebration scenes can trigger painful memories, hurts or unresolved issues that significant others within the family may not even acknowledge or recognize!

Add a little festive alcohol (although the following can happen without alcohol) & old rivalries, hurts, rejections, judgements, frustrations, jealousies or personality clashes can quickly simmer & bubble to the surface.

This quite often leads to disastrous encounters reinforcing the negative family experience.

What do we do in this season that may be full of heartache & sadness?

Having been a family Therapist for many decades, now retired although professionally current.

I realize that there is no such thing as a perfect family on this earth as portrayed in the media, they simply do not exist!

All families are made up of imperfect people living imperfect lives!

Family groups consist of individual members who have differing lifestyles, beliefs, temperaments & opinions to each other.

Each family group has a momentum uniquely their own & whether negative, positive or a mixture of both, family members share that history, giving each member their unique experience of the family.

We are but visiting members to some family groups & life members of others but the shared experience remains!

My advice…

Glean wisdom from your own unique family experience.

You cannot control how your family has behaved in the past or will in the future but you can control how you act & react to your family!

Whether living with a positive or negative family legacy we can choose what we do with the demands & expectations placed upon us by family members in this season or at anytime.

If we cannot meet those demands or expectations, for whatever reason then we need to be kind to ourselves!

And have wisdom in what we expose our emotional, mental, physical & spiritual selves to.

Wise advice

If it’s too emotionally painful or even dangerous to be in a particular family member/s presence then limit the time you are at the family gathering.

Or make another time to celebrate with the safer members of your family, until resolution & healing can hopefully take place.

Christmas is to celebrate our Creator’s gift of love to us, His Son Jesus.

A gift that totally changed the course of human history for all eternity!

He came to bring peace & light to the hearts of men, women & children of all generations.

He is that peace, we just need to accept His light!

You may enjoy reading my personal journey in accepting His peace & light in My story...

Be kind to yourself dear friend & please have wisdom in this season, for you are very precious & loved by your Heavenly Father.

Until next time,

Jennifer

You’re most welcome to join me in The Reading Nook

Or

in Prayer

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