What usually defines our holiday season? There is the hustle and bustle of preparing special meals, getting houses ready for celebrating, and washing sheets for out of town guests. There is the patter of little feet running in excitement (generally making more messes and getting in the way), greetings and hugs from loved ones, and smells of food radiating from the kitchen.
Or perhaps, some of us have very different holidays spent without extended family around. Perhaps you invite a few close friends to join around your little table, or bring a pie when invited to celebrate with a friend’s family. Small, but cozy, you make your own holiday cheer.
Others may remember family members gone each holiday season in bittersweet memories, or be missing family members not able to come home for this special day.
Regardless of what your holiday season looks like, we can get distracted from experiencing the joy of what we are celebrating. Stress, perhaps, defines some of our preparations. Or, for those who don’t have a place to land or without many people to share joy with, perhaps the holidays jab pointed questions that hurt and depress.
All of us should take five minutes to push other things aside, sit down with a hot cup of tea and count our many blessings. There will always be more things to be done, relationships to be fixed, people to miss, and things we wish were better. Life can always be “better”, but we can waste so much time wishing for what we don’t have.
And we have so much to be thankful for!
So instead of allowing food prep, stress, or wishing that things were different to define our Thanksgiving, let’s take five minutes to count all the things we do have to be thankful for. In the amount of time it takes to drink a cup of tea, we can find ample reasons to be thankful. When faced with the incredible ways we are blessed, pressures lift and spirits rise. Then, with a heart full of gratitude we are ready to give thanksgiving with others.
Here are a few teas that help relax a stressed cook.
- Peppermint
- Chamomile
- Rooibos
- Organic India Tulsi Tea
Drizzle a little raw honey in, or stir in some sweet coconut sugar, and pour in a bit of cream or coconut milk and you already have one thing to be thankful for! A good cup of tea.
Have a wonderful, happy and thankful Thanksgiving!
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Aaww, I love that…so true! Tu.
What a sweet post. God Bless you and yours and have a very Thankful time with your family and the Lord!
Total agreement about good tea. Right now, my favorites are Matcha and Chai. I love the cup and saucer in the picture. What a beautiful set. Anyway, have a blessed and peaceful day of Thanks.
Kimi,
Thanks for this great reminder. I think I will do this tomorrow with my daughter while my baby naps….she loves tea and I was thinking we would make a nice big poster anyway of all that we’re thankful for.
I hope you all have a low-stress, high-thankfulness day!
Funny–I have been drinking a lot of ginger tea lately and thinking back on it, I usually start to brew it when I am feeling stressed. I think subconciously I have chosen ginger because I am aiming at my digestion which feels the most of my stress.
Peppermint would be great for that, too!
Tea is the best! And I have a couple of special tea cups that I use only for my tea. Love the ritual of it all.