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<p>To the millions who love Christmas it is always inconceivable that many of us don't. In my case, I don't like winter, the short winter days, in my town get me down. I don't like shopping, I am not crafty or into decorations, I am no longer materialistic. I would rather have experiences than "things". I don't view it as a religious holiday. I make it a point to love my family and spend quality time with them through-out the year. I am not a big fan of Christmas music. I don't have any tragic story regarding Christmas, I simply dislike the holiday.<br>
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<p>I woke up this morning and it is snowing and beautiful outside, the days, although still short are getting longer. Next week we celebrate News Years. Now this is a holiday I can get behind. Dancing, drinking, music, friends, family, fire works, singing, laughter and a simple kiss at midnight. I enjoy considering how life went over the past year, and a chance to set goals for the next year. It always seems like a chance to evaluate what went well this year, and how to make next year even better.</p>
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<p>I am fortunate to be living a dream I had a few years ago. At the time, I was living and working in Corporate America, my life was a cycle of over-seeing a company department, corporate meetings, airplanes, lonely hotels, monthly and quarterly reports. The fridge was usually devoid of everything but condiments, and we survived on dinners out and take out food. I was missing my family, and feeling stressed out. I was no longer enjoying my life. When I did have free time I was usually too tired and behind on my tasks to do them. The kids were grown, and there were two people living in our big house. My husband was also overly busy running his business. We were both tired. Although we had both enjoyed the journey it took to get where we were at, quietly we weren't enjoying these things anymore.</p>
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One News Years Eve, we did not hold or attend a party and we sat on the couch watching a movie and counting the hours until we had to go back to work. I was literally feeling sick most of the time. We ended up in a conversation regarding our life and our priorities and our goals. We decided we wanted something different from our lives. We wanted things a bit simpler. Over the next couple of years, we down-sized, bought a simple piece of property on some acreage in an area where property was much cheaper. We got a couple of dogs, something we couldn't have had with our previous travel schedules. I got a few chickens for eggs, and soon began hobby farming. We have a garden, we cook real food. We reallocated our resources to things we wanted. We sold the big house, and many things that just didn't bring us pleasure anymore. In reality we enjoyed the process of building the life we had, and we enjoyed dismantling it and making a new one. </p>
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<p>For me now, the days after Christmas are a time to evaluate how our life is going, if we need to make changes and what we want to focus on in the New Year. Tonight we have our annual "State of the Union" and it will help us to appreciate all that we have and all of the opportunities that are open to us in 2017. We haven't had the conversation yet, but I know SteemIt will be a big part of my plan for 2017. <br>
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Happy Holidays Everyone! Time changes, people change, life changes, and goals change. I hope you are molding your life to bring you joy and happiness. Cheers to SteemIt and our path into 2017.<br>
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