CRAZY  CHRISTMAS?

            For many Christians, December brings dread. One of the most potentially spiritual times of the year is clouded with chaos, bad memories of Christmases gone wrong, dread of the same old family arguments, or of being alone. Let’s take a look at cleaning up this holiday, and returning Christmas to its Silent Night reality.

            The following is a worksheet excerpt from Megan Johntz’s seminar on Handling the Holidays for churches wanting to turn off the stress, and turn up the Spirit of the season.  For more information on the full seminar, contact Megan Johntz at 314.378.3384, or Megan@PsychToolBox.com. The worksheet that follows is one straight from the seminar, and if you’ve taken the seminar, feel free to print off as many worksheets as you’d like.

Ask yourself these questions slowly. I say slowly because that’s the start of taking control of this next holiday season - giving time and attention to the things you call most important.

• What did the holidays mean in the family you grew up in? What part of that vision do you want now?

• What is your main goal for the holidays?

• What would you like to have as your main goal during holidays? (Yes, that’s a different question than the previous one.)

• How have you achieved that in the past? Even momentarily.

• What got in the way of you achieving it?

• How did your family celebrate holidays?

• What were the hardest times of the holidays in your family?

• What were the best times of the holidays in your family?

• Was Christmas commercial or spiritual in your family? How so?

• What would God want for me this holiday season?

• What's God yelling at me, that I may not be hearing?

• What's the point of all this?

THE  HOLIDAYS  MEAN:

______ Family             

______ Solitude

______ Big family        

______ Small family

______ Friends          

______ Family of birth

______ Family of choice  

______ Volunteering

______ Thankfulness            

______ Travel               

______ Celebration                   

______ Loneliness

______ Humor     

______ Time with God   

______ Sadness     

______ Worry

______ Time slows down    

______ Time speeds up            

______ Money             

______ Feeling overwhelmed

______ Vacation     

______ Music    

______ Stress    

______ Anger

______ Food                       

______ Relaxation                   

______ Confusion                     

______ Work

______ Happiness                

______ Peace              

______ Fear                         

______ Anticipation

______ Spiritual renewal            

______ Jealousy      

______ Excitement                    

______ _____________________

This holiday season, I'd like to decrease:

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This holiday season, I'd like to increase:

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TOOLS I LEARNED TODAY TO  GET  CLOSER  TO  MY  GOALS:

Decreasing:           

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Increasing:

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Contact Johntz Presentations today and

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