13: How to keep doing your Ordinary Work without Feeling Discouraged during the Holiday Season
This is the story of how to keep doing your ordinary work without feeling discouraged during the Christmas season.
The wonder of the holidays can be diluted when we have to balance it with the work we do that makes gifts and celebrations possible. This week Lisa-Jo and Christie unpack the reality that everything doesn't stop just because it's December. Instead there are still deadlines and work commitments and maybe that's actually OK too. Maybe we don't need to believe the Hallmark premise that everything stops around the holidays in time for hot chocolate and mistletoe. Maybe for so many of us the courage to keep providing for our families in the midst of the meaningful season is itself a good and generous gift.
This week we celebrate the holiday season that has to find a way to fit hand in hand with our ordinary, daily work. And we recognize that different lives have different rhythms of work and rest and there is no one perfect pattern. And we discuss how the work we're doing here on earth will likely bear fruit in the kingdom to come.
So, lean into your own timetable this season and let Christmas unfold slowly, and let your family and friends off the hook and give them permission to be themselves in the way they work and the way they rest too.
Books mentioned this week:
Poetry by Gwendolyn Brooks
Leaf by Niggle by JRR Tolkien
Quotidian Mysteries, The: Laundry, Liturgy and "Women's Work" by Kathleen Norris
See more of Maplehurst and meet Christie here.
See more of Lisa-Jo's daily, ordinary chaos over here.
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Special Free Gift for You: Thanksgiving through Christmas only
An Illustrated Guide to the Four Seasons at Maplehurst.
Like Book Pages Pulled from a Vintage Treasure.
Printed in full color on quality paper, these prints are like illustrations pulled from an old almanac or diary. The separate black and white prints are ideal for adding your own artistic touch in watercolor or pencil.
This illustrated guide, with inspiration for the kitchen, the garden, and the bookshelf, would make a meaningful gift, perhaps with a clipboard for display, bundled with art supplies, or included in a notebook of seasonal inspiration. If you package or display these creatively, I would love to see! Use the hashtag #weareplacemakers and tag me @christiepurifoy on Instagram.
This is a special gift celebrating the upcoming release of Christie's new book: Placemaker. Only available during this gift-giving season. Pre-order your book before December 25 and we'll pop these lovely prints into your email inbox right away!
Click here to get your free gift now.
