Our Müller family Christmas is my favorite one

If you are a Christmas-lover or hater…if you are celebrating this holiday or not…I’m sending you so much love, candle-light and warm, cozy, joyful feelings. You can create JOY - even a little glimpse of it - when you think about 

• something beautiful
• what you’ve accomplished in this year
• somebody you love…

Or you stroke the fur of your pet… I think we should focus every day on these little tiny moments which can create a spark of joy, whatever situation or circumstance we are in.

Our planet is so incredibly beautiful and we humans are creating systems and concepts, societies and borders including in our heads and hearts which can make enjoying our lifetime feel impossible or difficult.

That’s why I’m on the JOY-mission. Using JOY as our compass. The little tiny joy we create by ourselves because we enjoy the sun rays on our skin, the taste of the tea we’re drinking, the hug of a stranger or loved one… these little moments of joy can sum up, will compound and create a different reality for us. With JOY in our heart (more and more every day) we also invite PEACE because peaceful feelings are very close to joyful feelings. With peace in our heart we can feel joyful and with JOY in our hearts feeling at peace is easy.

Well, I’m on the team “I love Christmas”. In our apartment we have birthday decorations in November and December and no Christmassy things at all but as soon as I enter my parents place it’s Christmas all around. We have a very traditional tree-decoration with red apples (they pull down the tree branches with their weight), real candles (most Swiss people still use real candles), Christmas baubles out of clear glass, ice crystals out of glass, Tirggel (traditional hard, thin Swiss cookies which are made with a wooden mold with old motifs on them). My Mama bought piles of crochet snow stars over the years and they are the most beautiful ornaments on the tree in my opinion.

When I was about 18 years old and we all were so stressed about buying or making presents for everybody in the family, we all together decided: Let’s quit the present-stress and just enjoy our “ceremony” with a story, Christmas carols, and loads of instruments to accompany musically: Grand piano, violin, guitar, flute, recorder and since my brother in law joined the family: trumpet! I love this hour of diving into the Christmas story from the bible or based on another Christmas children's book together with all the songs which match the different scenes. 

The bestest about real candles is that they burn down completely until they extinguish by themselves. The shadows on the ceiling get fewer and stronger with every flame “which says goodbye”. In the end we always bet (Ken, Mika and I) which candle will win… When it’s completely dark, it’s time for dinner!

Are you still processing that we have no presents underneath the tree? Or do you open them in the morning anyway? We always opened our presents on the 24th of December after this “ceremony” and I remember how we hardly could sit still and WAIT to get to know what we’ve got…and the absolute insanity with all the wrapping paper and the piles of things… I am so glad I’m not caught up in the present-mania anymore. And I’m not saying that you have to think about this at all. This is just us.

Christmas to me feels like a long warm hug filled with love and coziness. 

Christmas is weaving a thread through all the years I’m here in this family. I never missed a Christmas. This is my 46th time celebrating. We always commemorate my grandparents, all four of them always celebrated with us on the 24th. Four single aunties were on team Christmas with us too until they left this earth…

My sister and I brought our men and our three kids to the team over the years, which feels so special and beautiful and sometimes a friend of mine who didn’t have a family they wanted to celebrate with, joined us in our harmonious loving vibes. From an outside perspective it could seem suspicious: No fights? No stress? No bitching? Yeah… we’re a grounded group of people who love to spend time together, I tell ya! If there is a fight it’s 30 seconds long and has no impact on the atmosphere.

That’s why I love OUR Müller-Christmas the most. I have no experience with another one anyway…except from cheesy Christmas movies : ).

When you get this email it’s 5pm in Switzerland on the 24th of December. The tree will be decorated and everybody will be in the house.

I wish you a wonderful Christmas eve! I’m sending you peace, love and a deep, strong, glowing JOY like a golden bubble within your heart, which shines and warms you from the inside.

Tomorrow we’ll have brunch with all the people of the house and the neighbors kids I grew up with and soon we’ll go to our mountain cabin, where I’ll be when you get the last email of 2023. How did this year go by so fast? My daddy always comments: This will feel faster and faster the older you get and soon it just doesn’t matter so much which Christmas it was, this one or the other one… well I disagree with that : ). It matters to me. Very much. Very intentionally I’m taking in this Christmas with all my senses. It’s important to me to enjoy our time together truly and deeply. We NEVER know when it is the last time. We just don’t. I hope and pray for many many more to come with our current “team”...and I hope you have the best Christmas team for YOU. Maybe that’s your cat and you? Or thousands of relatives in one place? Anyway, Merry Christmas and THANK YOU for being HERE!

Lot’s of LOVE from Hausen, Switzerland,

PS: If you KNOW that communication will be rough at Christmas, you have to get the free handbook: “Stop reacting and start responding” Click HERE to download!

PPS: If you want to think about 2023 and do some journaling:

• What am I really proud of in 2023 and why?
• All my 2023 highlights 
• What I learned in this last year good and bad about myself
• Something I created in 2023
• Who did I meet in 2023? Who did I spend time with? Who will have the honor to spend time with me also in 2024?
• What do I want to let go of and leave behind?
• What do I want to start in 2024?
• …think of other questions yourself. This journaling is GOOOOLD! Take your time for it …. If you want, obviously : ) 

Big hug!

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This is a story from my weekly Joy-Letter that goes out every Sunday. Do you want to be the first to hear my personal scrapbook stories? Then sign up below.

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