My holiday focus: food or people?

When we think of the holidays, one of the things that make it so fun is food. 

Food

Lots of food.

Yummy food.

Special food.

Food that we don’t often get to have.

Traditional family recipes.

Comfort foods.

Exotic foods.

Favorite foods.

…

But obviously, it's more than food.

The other highlight of the holidays... 

People.

People we love.

People we are connected with.

People we belong to.

People we don’t see often.

People.

Relationships.

Not always so comfortable.

Maybe that’s why the comfort foods are so appealing.

I am excited about the people I get to see. I wish I could spend more time with them - and this is it.

So how about if I focus on the people at least as much as on the food? 

Maybe I can take an extra minute to ask someone about something that is important to them. And then to really listen.

I can speak peace.

I can spread good will.

…

I love to eat and I love to talk.

I guess you could say that my mouth is pretty important to me. 

I like to put yummy morsels in it and I like to speak words out of it.

Unfortunately I often tend to do both without really thinking.

Oops!

This would be a good time to be a bit more mindful about both.

To think about my lips… 

To choose which morsels I allow to enter my lips as well as which words I allow to escape my lips.

Ooh, yah, I can also use my lips to kiss the sweet faces of my grand babies and to smooch the lips of my honey. That’s fun, too.

...

Here's the cool thing. I can use my mouth for eating and I can use my mouth for speaking, but preferably not at the same time. So I guess what I'm trying to say is why not talk more and eat less. Even though, yes, I know that can get me in trouble, too.

…

Moral of the story:

I choose to celebrate the people as much as I do the food.
And you better believe I will celebrate the food!

Oops; put down that cell phone! Hee-hee!