Keeping Sane with SIP and the holidays

The holidays are my thing. More specifically Christmas, but I still can get down with Halloween and Thanksgiving. 2020 has and still is a very weird off-putting year, but I do not believe it should be a killjoy on the holiday season. Yes, it may be a little different this year, but sometimes you just have to roll with the punches.

I’m going to share some things that I am doing to make sure that I am still being festive and celebrating the fall holidays to give me a sense of normalcy and keeping myself sane. 

1. Make your space festive.
   
   For Halloween and Thanksgiving – it’s literally the same color scheme and similar decorations for two months! What a steal! Yes, you can get super crazy into both and get faux spider webs, etc. But, I live in the city, so I don’t have much storage space. Therefore, I definitely have decorations that work for both holidays – fall leaf garland (from the dollar store), and small .99 cent pumpkins from Safeway. I also just get cheap picture frames from the dollar store and just print out cute thankful sayings that you can get for free online and BAM there’s a decoration that costs a dollar! Another huge thing in my house are candles – must get apple cinnamon, apple and oats, etc to bring the fall scent into your space. I literally light mine every day.

2. Watch those damn shows and movies.
   
   I am shamelessly rewatching Buffy the Vampire Slayer and True Blood to get into the Halloween spirit. I’ve also Netflix partied or something similar to that effect with friends with movies such as Hocus Pocus – an all time fave! This way you’re still staying connected with loved ones, but now it’s around the festivities. 

3. Connect with loved ones.
   
   Usually the holidays for me are all about being surrounded by family and friends. I’m blessed enough to have a very open and welcoming family that is more than happy to host friends that aren’t able to be with their own family. My family is very special to me and we have some very creative AND organized members that schedule Zoom calls for our family. For Halloween we are doing a virtual parade for the young kids to show off their costumes and then a pumpkin carving contest. For Thanksgiving we are doing our usual family prayer and then going around sharing what we are thankful for.

4. ALL about the FOOD.
   
   I LOVE food, but I am not a cook. I’m definitely the one that does the cleaning in the kitchen. But, it’s important to get all your senses to get into the holiday spirit and it’s fun when you can cook with loved ones. My cheat is getting those Pillsbury sugar cookies that have the printed ghosts and bats on them – you can always use something sweet in your life. Another one is utilizing my slow cooker for some BOMB soups or beef stew for some good old comfort food. I love being able to just throw everything in there and set a timer on it. 

I hope you get festive this fall holiday season! If anything, I know it helps me and my psyche to be in a more happy and positive state of mind. Don’t you worry – I’ll do one of these for the winter holidays as well! Until then and as always very thankful, grateful, and blessed for your readership.