I hope you are enjoying your holidays, and you will make some time to read a Christmas and New year story.

It is the second Christmas holiday we have spent together with our new friend Corona. 
At the beginning of 2020, I have decided to do an experiment. Every Sunday, I was supposed to write on a small piece of paper one good thing that happened the week that just passed and put it in a jar.

In the beginning, I did not know what to write, but slowly, I started to see that by the end of February, I was already good at finding up to five good things that happened that week.
What do you think happened when Corona came and everything shut down on March 12th? Well, I was happy! I was getting the chance to try working from home in a larger sense than I was already doing it. I was about to try something I had wanted to do for a long time. So, now was finally the right time to do it. So, I considered it a gift. I wrote it down and dropped it in the Gift Jar.

Working from home allowed me to sleep at least one more hour every day. I like to sleep and wake up to feel that I have rested. Each morning after a good night’s sleep, I have that feeling of being able to accomplish everything I want, and I have the energy to do stuff that day that I would have otherwise postponed. Therefore, this kind of morning increased their number, and, of course, they ended up in my Jar.

I live in the countryside, and I drive a fair amount of time every day. Well, I didn’t need to drive every single day. And, since I live close to the North Pole, we had snow until June and a fair number of storms. So, guess who was happy not needing to drive through that weather. Therefore, it ended up on several notes: “Grateful for not having to drive through the snowstorm today”…in the Gift Jar.

Since I was working from home, I enjoyed the beautiful weather every time we had it and even went for a walk in the afternoon. It was a gift as well because I know that many people were not allowed to go outside of their houses during the lockdown. So I was lucky, and that the walks went in the Gift Jar as well.

I also had the chance to speak more often to my family, especially my mother. Like many other people, I have a unique and special mother who is fond of cooking, yet she is very sensitive to the smell of food inside the house.

Since I grew up in a country where spring and summer and autumn are a long time with good weather, we had a garden kitchen, and cooking outside was acceptable by my mum’s standards. But when my mum had to cook inside the house, during winter, we would freeze because all the doors and windows would be open. The stove fan was not enough.

As a good and loyal daughter, I copied this habit and behavior when cooking. Opposite to my mother, I am not fond of cooking, and I’m not doing it often, but when I did, all the doors and windows were open, besides the fan. Well, I found out that one of Corona’s symptoms is losing the sense of smell. So guess who started to appreciate the smell of food in the house? “Being able to enjoy the smell of food in my house, without freezing” ended up on note as well and in the Jar.

I even reached a point when I am smiling when I realize I can smell the cinnamon I like adding on my oatmeal in the morning or the smell of fried bacon and eggs or baked potatoes. And I spoke with my mother about it, and we both laughed because, surprisingly enough, she reached the same conclusion as me: the smell of food and backing in the house is good to have. It tells us we are healthy.

When I write about all these things that ended up in my 2020 Gift Jar, I remember another thing I took from my mum and carried with me across borders, to the country I live in now, and which still sticks to me: my mum’s philosophy over harsh times; when you feel like external circumstances have punched you and you feel like everything is out of control – like this pandemic, which has begun hitting more than once since we are now at our second Christmas in its company.
My mum’s philosophy about this kind of moment is:

“My dear when you’re down, there is no other way to go than up. So, therefore, chin up, shoulders down, relax and think how YOU can make it better for yourself. There is no point in thinking of what you could do with what you do not have. Think about what you can do with what you have”.

This phrase worked subconsciously probably all my life, if I take the time to think about it, and it also gave me the stubbornness to keep thinking of good things that happened this year, not despite, but due to the virus.

When the second lockdown came in 2020, another story with a similar philosophy came to my mind. It was coming from another mother to another daughter in an episode I helped create and which I have witnessed.

Some years ago, a friend of mine invited me to spend the Christmas holidays with her and her daughter. She was working late on Christmas Eve, and she asked me to help her with Christmas presents. She made a list for me and told me the exact shops I could buy.
On Christmas morning, when all of us sat around Christmas three and unpacked the presents, I saw how my friend’s daughter, a teenager at the time, was getting more confused with each package she would open. At some point, she became angry, and she shouted at her mum:

“What is this? Why am I getting the same things I got last year?”

I looked at my friend, and I saw that she was perfectly calm, watching her daughter’s reactions. Finally, she took off her glasses, and she said to her daughter:

Well, you didn’t use any of these things you got last year. They lay around until about February, and then you placed them in storage boxes under your bed. You didn’t even give them away to other kids that could have better use for them. Therefore, this year you get the same things, and I would appreciate using them. Or if not, at least you will give them away.

My friend’s daughter’ got even more confused, but she took her presents and went to her room. I didn’t understand what happened, and I asked my friend what her intention was.

Well, my dear, she needs to learn that life does not give you new gifts and new opportunities until you have used what you already have. Or at least see what you have, look at it, and decide if you keep it or give it away. It’s all about awareness and how conscious we are of what we have and how grateful we are for it.

My friend put back her glasses and continued with reading the massive pile of Christmas cards she had received that year and opened her presents.

This story came back to me again this year together with this new lockdown that we have at the end of 2021. And I started to wonder, what is it that I didn’t use. What do I have, and I am still not using, or don’t know how to use yet, and I need to learn how? What do I need to give away so I can make room for new things/events/people in my life?

What is it that we as humans do not see and are not aware that we have and need to learn how to use or give away?

How about you? Do you know what you have accomplished during 2021 despite or due to Corona, and do you know what you would like to do next year?

What is it that you have and you have not used yet? What more can you do with what you already have and what is it you have, and you can give away?

Let me know in comments underneath this article, or in private, by clicking on this link.

Wishing you a Happy New Year!