Christmas, jewelry and gratitude

13 November 2014 | Esther Ligthart

Christmas is around the corner and like every year I ask myself: what is about the holidays that people love so much. Or…hate so much? Because truth be told: there are also a lot of people that either hate or fear the holidays. What is about this sparkly time of the year that triggers so much emotions.

Cosy images that spring to our mind when we think about Christmas. For one it is that fireplace and a cosy home, for others it is (also) all about presents....and maybe a visit to THAT store :-)

Christmas and our expectations

Christmas is, for many at least, a time of year that is all about family. Before Christmas we often have this ideal picture in our heads. We see soft lights, beautiful tables, our kids in lovely clothes, we wear our best jewelry and our husbands and wives have done their very best to look glamorous. We think of warmth and food.

The Cartier advertisment campaign for Christmas...I LOVE this campaign. I think Cartier nailed it completely! This is, by far, my favorite Cartier campaign ever!

All the things that can go wrong at Christmas

We all know that most of the times the actual Christmas days are often slightly depressing, our kids eat too much chocolate and now climb onto the walls…We work hard in the kitchen and at least one recipe fails terribly…Yes, I bet that even happens to you at times! To me it always happens, sigh… I get hot and irritated as no one wants to help me, but if they offer to help I get irritated because they are in my way. I am not very good at cooperating in the kitchen, I guess, haha

MissingPiecesStudio to be found on Etsy, Luulla antler ring, charm by Pandora and bracelet by Visiting Cindarella (Etsy)

The art of giving Christmas presents

And the presents…well, there are parts in the world, like the island I live close to: Great Britain, where people actually put themselves in debt buying Christmas presents. Paying off the rest of the year, only to repeat that whole thing again the next Christmas. I don’t know about your habits and would love to find out, but at my house we celebrate a very modest Christmas. My child gets a few nice things, but not heaps and heaps of presents. One year we made the mistake of celebrating Sinterklaas ( a Dutch festivity for children at the 5^th of December and the main event for gifts for children) adding all the gifts of the grandparents and the uncles and aunts together. We had a bunch of hyper children that just teared away paper in the end and didn’t even LOOK at the gifts anymore. It wasn’t our best Sinterklaas.

Christmas in the Netherlands and Sinterklaas

Happiness and gratitude at Christmas

We are all seeking for happiness. That is one of the main emotions that we expect to experience at Christmas. And to create that feeling we shouldn’t just relax more and avoid stress, but we should also seek to feed our positive feelings. To get engaged in creating beautiful memories. How? Well, it is often the journey and not the arrival or the goal that makes us happy. So enjoy the preparations and make seeking perfect gifts into something special. That doesn’t mean it has to cost a lot, but make an effort and write something beautiful for that person. Gratitude gives us instant happiness. Why not think of that when we search for that gift. You can already begin to feel gratitude for the pure fact that this person is in your life! J

Pearls of wisdom by famous inspirational people on the subject of gratitude

Will I get Cartier for Christmas?

If it is jewelry that you are going to give, then search for something that you can afford ( please do not get in debt) and that has a special meaning. It could be something really corny like a heart, but if you love that and she does too, then that is perfect! ( I adore heart…just so you knowJ) By the way: don't you love the Cartier advertisement campaign as shown above? How delightful!

Christmas to me....family time...! Above a scene from the White House with Michelle Obama (what a beautiful woman)

Think about a person and value them for what they are

Think about what is important in the life of the person that you are seeking the gift for. Search for the meanings of gemstones. Think about a pearl and create a story about the rarity or how a pearl symbolizes absolute perfection or what about * a pearl of wisdom*and tell the person why you choose this. I love jewelry, but it is the meaning that we add to it, the emotion that surrounds it, that makes it truly valuable.

In the next weeks I will give more ideas about gifts.