5 Ways to Feel the Essence of the Holiday Season

A Soulful Guide to Slowing Down, Savoring, and Re-Creating Magic

We’re already a week into December, and somehow the holidays feel like they’re rushing toward us faster than ever. Over the past few years, I’ve noticed something in myself — a pattern I didn’t want to admit at first. I’ve been moving so quickly, thinking so hard, planning so much, that I barely let myself feel the presence of the season approaching.

My mind is overflowing with the to-dos:

the gifts I want to give,

the cookies I want to bake,

the family activities we’re supposed to fit in,

the tree that still needs to go up,

the lights,

the outfits,

the school programs,

the visits with Santa.

So much movement…

and yet, not enough magic.

I want to feel that spark I felt as a child — but in a grown-up way. Not naïve or nostalgic in a painful way, but anchored and alive in the present moment. I want the holiday season to be something I experience, not something I race through.

When I was little, the holidays meant simple joys. Presents in the morning. Then off to my great grandparents’ home — a house full of warm bodies and warmer stories. My great grandmother played the organ, my great grandfather would start the singing, and the whole family filled the den with voices and laughter around the fireplace and the glowing tree. There were too many of us for gifts — so no one brought them. And nobody minded.

We shared stories of Santa and the movies we watched before bed. We held the warmth of each other more than anything material.

I won’t get those exact moments back — time is honest like that. But I can hold that feeling in my heart. And I can create new memories with my own family that honor that essence, that wonder, that breath of magic that still lives beneath all the noise.

So this year, I made a list.

A list of five simple ways to feel the essence of the holiday season —

not the perfection, not the frenzy, not the pressure…

1. Create One Daily “Pause Moment”

Just one moment each day to stop, breathe, and remember you’re here — alive — in a season meant for light returning.

This can be:

• lighting a candle

• stepping outside to feel the air

• sitting under the tree for 2 minutes

• sipping a warm drink in silence

These micro-moments stitch magic back into the day.

2. Bring Back a Piece of Your Childhood Joy

Rewatch a movie you loved.

Bake the cookies you always waited for.

Play a song your family used to sing.

Hang one ornament that tells a story.

You’re not trying to recreate the past — you’re honoring the part of yourself that once felt the season with pure openness.

3. Make One Memory Instead of All the Memories

Holiday pressure says we must do everything.

But the heart only needs one beautiful moment to remember.

Choose one:

• driving to look at lights

• baking together

• reading a holiday story

• a cozy family night with no plans

Let that be enough.

4. Find the Magic in the Ordinary

Magic isn’t always glitter and big events.

It hides in:

• warm laundry on a cold day

• the smell of pine

• a wrapped gift waiting quietly

• steam on windows

• the sound of laughter in another room

Let the small things mean something again.

5. Hold Space for Gratitude and Grief

The holidays can bring up what we miss… and who we miss.

Both gratitude and longing can coexist — neither cancels the other.

Allow yourself to:

• honor old memories

• feel the ache without judgment

• welcome the sweetness in the new

Presence means letting your whole heart participate.

A Closing Thought

You don’t need to chase magic — it’s already here.

It’s in your breath, your home, your memories, your children’s eyes, and your own desire to feel again.

The holidays aren’t asking you to do more; they’re inviting you to come home to yourself and to the quiet glow that never really left.

but the presence.