This could almost be called the What Not to Do Saturday Session. A couple of things I’ve read and liked lately. Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas season to you and yours.

Hope your 2015 holidays are going well. My children have been off school for a week (love). The grandparents are here (yes!), and there’s no getting outside in the cold, and very rainy/flash-flood weather. I’m wearing a sweater, though, so I’ve not one thing to complain about. Plus, my mom and I made pie. Recipe to come.

The 2015 Holiday Non-Planner

Here’s Your *Don’t Have to Do* To Do List by Lisa Jo Baker or as I call it, the “Holiday Non-Planner.”

Oh, preach it, sister.  Each year, I get it in my head I’m going to do an Advent Calendar with my children, and I don’t. It’s simply not a priority. (It’s possible to celebrate the birth of Christ reverently without an Advent calendar, by the way. I promise.)

Traditions can be grand and helpful and create good family memories and give children a sense of security and expectation. So can lots of other things. We often operate on a non-planning schedule due to the on-call nature and schedule of my husband’s work.

If trying to keep a tradition creates stress or a sense of comparison, it might not be for you and your family.

This cross will be visible in the house this season. We will do lots of non-scheduled talking and praying and praising our Lord and reading about the birth of Christ.

If You’re Trying to Lose Weight and/or Eat Healthier, Ban the Idea of “Moderation”

I appreciate this rant by Beth Skwarecki:

Everything in Moderation is a Terrible Rule to Eat By

I’ve always thought “moderation is key,” and “everything in moderation,” are bad pieces of advice for eating healthy and losing weight. Moderation could be one donut a day, or a cola twice a day. It’s also a subjective term. I lost 20 pounds this year, and had to straighten up my eating habits even more. If I go with moderation during the Christmas eating-and-temptation season, I will gain back weight, get stomachaches, and my body won’t like how it feels. I also risk falling back into bad habits. Of course I’ll have a little extra sugar and a few mugs of hot chocolate. I can celebrate without moderation, and I bet you can, too.

Encouragement: Be the Voice of Reason in a Knee-Jerk Reaction World

Okay, I’ve no article to reference here. Just my own voice-of-reason rant.

Media and social media are immediate these days. Second by second. Information about events, both tragic and joyful, need time for facts to come to light before developing an opinion (and a hashtag). Sadly, news media slants stories and headlines and perpetuates lies as quickly, it seems, just like those who can’t wait to comment on breaking news. So whether it’s a fake uprising about a coffee cup, or a tragedy where people are hurt or killed, use common sense.

Be the one who says, “I don’t think we have all the information yet (and realize that probably, we never will),” and then engage in intelligent discussion and mature debate.