Happy Boxing Day!

Did you have a lovely Holiday or are you still enjoying it?



Sometimes after a big exciting event ordinary life can seem a little dull. Have you ever experienced the after Christmas blues? Children especially can suffer from "after effects", the feeling that it's all over and now we have to wait a whole year for this to happen again. However, this is a great opportunity for parents to help
children learn the real value of the holidays.

Why do we celebrate Holidays?
We celebrate Holidays to help our children understand what we really value in life: love, family, relationships, and all the beauty and goodness that makes life worthwhile. Whatever your internal belief system is, regardless of denomination or religion, these are the fundamental things that we all value. So the holiday, or Holy Day, is an opportunity to remind ourselves of what is most important and empower ourselves to keep living according to our internal values. The day after the celebration then becomes our first opportunity to put our beliefs into action.

Boxing Day
Today is Boxing Day in many countries, although it sounds strange to American ears. According to my husband who is Australian, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are religious Holy Days celebrated by going to church and spending time with family, and the day after is the day for exchanging gifts. Since we live in the USA, we celebrate the holidays according to my family's traditions, however I think Boxing Day is a nice tradition. Seems like it extends the holiday a little and focuses on what is meant to happen after we experience the spiritual renewal of the internal celebration.

Regardless of how we celebrate our holidays, we want the joy to last. Children want the fun and excitement and good feelings to last. So the day after becomes an opportunity to help our children learn to create their own joy by learning how to share, to give, and to care about others beyond the celebration and presents. Even though they may be tired, they may need a little down time (as I'm sure you do too) or they may be busy playing with new toys, there are always little opportunities to reinforce the values we celebrate during the holidays, bringing the meaning into our day to day reality.

Is your family doing anything special this week to prepare for the start of a new year? Share your joys with others in a comment below.