How Do You Celebrate Christmas? (Diva Christmas 2021)

Happy Fall, Divas! The last post I wrote ended on an uncertain note, so here’s an update on my mental health. (PS I have a few more updates on FB and IG!)

I’m doing better with medication and staying in touch with my support system (LOVE my supportive family and friends!!), but still definitely struggling. My husband came back for a break, but he had to leave again. I hired a nanny, and it helped relieve so much stress, but she quit and now I have to find a new one. It is one step forward and one step back, sometimes.

Overall, I feel stronger and I feel like I stand on firmer ground. But still, there’s just one me, and sometimes I catch myself feeling this crushing feeling of anxiety. Like stones filling up my chest and weighing me down I’m doing my best to just deal with these difficult feelings and push through the last few difficult months before my husband is home on shore duty. I think once I settle into a more normal life, that I will be able to relax more and the pressure will abate.

Until then, I am really enjoying the holiday season. I love holidays which I think I have spoken to at length here on Devotional Diva! I talk more about Christmas, but really just love all holidays. For me, halloween and fall kind of kick off a big season of celebration so I am trying to do a lot of fun things with my kids to celebrate fall. I made them special baskets with fall goodies in them like crafts and books, and we went the pumpkin patch of course to pick out pumpkins. We will be painting our pumpkins this year! I can say that doing these seasonal things with my kids brings a lot of joy to my heart and makes me feel a lot less depressed. Maybe it makes me feel like a kid again myself.

That brings me to our Christmas series this year. I promised myself, God and you readers that we would still have a Christmas series this year. I always ask God to help me find the theme and this year I had a lot of ideas, actually, and that usually isn’t the way it goes! One really stuck out to me:

How do you celebrate Christmas?

It might seem like a simple question at first, but I think that if you were suddenly transported to someone else’s home on Christmas morning, you’d find a vastly different set of traditions. I would love to hear from our readers this year some of the most special traditions that are most important to you.

So there it is, our theme for 2021. Take some time to think on it, and if you feel called to write or share, shoot me an email! Be sure to also check out our Become a Diva Page for full submission instructions (and my email).

The deadline to submit is November 12.