Slow down and sip, don't gulp, the holiday cheer

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My father is staying with me, so maybe you should stop by and take his training course in slow. It may help you through these pre-holiday weeks. My dad’s morning ablutions take hours. Like a Jewish matador, he observes the honored — and time-consuming — rituals of the prune, the oatmeal and boiling water with lemon. The man cannot be rushed. If I suggest going out for a walk after lunch and he says yes, it could be approaching dinner by the time he rounds up his shoes, polishes his sunglasses, finishes the chapter in his book and makes just a few phone calls.

We can’t help what genes drive our engines, but we can make thoughtful decisions about how to spend our time and energy. We have these days, these two or three weeks, to plan our parties, celebrate the coming New Year and process the events of the past 12 months.

When we’re 93, like my dad, and we look back, we won’t be sorry if we slow down in the midst of all the tumult, to smell the holly wreaths and sip the hot chocolate.

Copyright © 2012 Randi Kreiss. Randi can be reached at randik3@aol.com.

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