Transitioning from much-i-ness to enough-ness

Stacy arrived at my house on December 20th for a read-aloud of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. We were wearing “old-timey-luxurious-Christmas attire” which translated into ball gowns found at local thrift stores in shades of red and green. As I showed Stacy how I could turn on my lights with a remote control, she said, “okay, so Christmas is your thing.” 

Indeed, Christmas is my thing. I inherited this passion from my Mom, who inherited it from her mom. I am like Lenny in Of Mice and Men, I hug Christmas as tight as I can, until I wring all the cheer right out of it. If you’ve ever seen the Hallmark movie, “I Believe in Santa,” a movie from 2022 in which a woman falls for the seemingly perfect man, only to discover he genuinely believes in Santa Clause, I am basically that guy. (If you haven’t seen this movie, I have to say it does make me laugh.)

So here we are on December 30th. It’s been 10 days of MAX CHRISTMAS MAGIC. Sledding, ice ornaments, milking the cows in Christmas attire at the farm, loads of Christmas cookies and treats. This year a theme has been emerging for me. 

It’s the MUCH-I-NESS of Christmas. 

We fill our homes with knick-knacks and tchotchkes for the season. Garland, trees, ornaments, and bric-a-brac fill every shelf. For most of the year, we try to avoid overstuffing our homes. But at Christmas, we overstuff. We are maximalists. 

We also loosen our grip on routines. We stop worrying so much about getting to work and school at such-and-such time. We don’t worry so much about our exercise regime, work stresses, and diets. We nap. We chill. We read books in our pajamas. We eat to our heart’s content. 

Our homes are heavy with the stuff of Christmas. Outdoors grows heavy with snow and ice. Our bodies grow heavy with rest, warmth, and contentment. 

Another component of this much-i-ness is emotional. At almost no other point in the year are we more aware of those that are not here in body. We remember all the ways we used to celebrate. We miss family members who are still alive but distant. At the same time, we revel in the joy of gathering with the people we love. 

We experience all the emotions, over and over, in quick succession. Disappointment! Frustration! Joy! Laughter! Grief! Everything is in caps locks! 

It is the one time of the year we step out of time and enter a liminal state.

We oscillate between frantic preparation and collapsing in exhaustion. 

By December 30th, I am now ready to toss my tree outdoors and vacuum up every last needle. I am ready to swear off Christmas gifts altogether (which I will promptly forget about in a few months). January is the month I typically go a little berserk, rage cleaning and organizing our house. Getting rid of the old to make space for whatever comes next.

And I’ve been thinking that as the old year comes to a close, all that weight and heaviness and MUCH-I-NESS, is exactly what prepares us for the new year. Without it, we may not be ready to clean every closet and consider the possibilities available to us in the new year. 

Just like we cannot fully appreciate the glory of summer without first enduring blizzards, the holidays prepare us to bid farewell to the past year and usher in the new.

My sankalpa for the past several years has been to “seek the merry.” I didn’t feel complete with that sankalpa for a long time. I do now feel like I’ve fully integrated seeking the merry into every fiber of my being, at least for now. 

A new sankalpa is calling me this year. (If you want to read more about sankalpas, click here.)

Contentment. 

Santosha, one of the niyamas, is a Sanskrit word meaning complete contentment and acceptance of all that is. This principle encourages finding peace in the present moment and one’s circumstances, rather than constantly striving for more or better or that elusive state we call “Happiness.” 

There will be hard things in the coming year. There will be beautiful things. My wish is to meet them all from a grounded place of contentment.

I am shifting from MUCH-I-NESS to ENOUGHNESS.

We have an annual tradition of reflecting on the past year and hoping and dreaming for the year ahead on New Year’s Day. We combine movement and writing into this annual workshop on New Year’s Day. I attribute so many positive shifts in my life to honoring this tradition of shedding what’s not working and acknowledging and honoring what I am seeking more of. If this calls to you, more info to join us can be found here:

Wishing you momentum, clarity, strength, and wisdom as you shed 2025 and step into 2026.