Here it is! Erin’s Holiday Survival Guide
Be patient with yourself first, and others second. Like they tell you in the airplane, along with other important tips for staying organized and keeping chill while plummeting to your actual death. Everyone is feeling it at decibel 100 and not everyone is good at even quiet, small, every day feelz.
Forgive yourself, already. Do it when you wake up. Do it at lunch. Do it before you go to bed. Spread some extra forgiveness on your fifth cookie, stir it into your eggnog. Forgiveness is a choice and requires practice, so practice on you. Coal in your stocking is so 2019! Trust me, you deserve it AND the shiny new toy you’ve been eyeing and yes, even the shoes.
Give a freebie. A kind word. A gesture. A smile. Hug someone because hugs are healing. DM someone a fuzzy kitten or a singing penguin. Not as a moral imperative. Not because you need to start being a “good person”. Because it’s who you already are and you deserve to bask in the giving feeling that gets smothered by all the jobs, demands, and problems belonging to the whole rest of the year, that greedy bastard. It’s glow time.
Try to fit in at least one totally impractical thing that you actually want to do and makes you feel celebratory, even if it doesn’t scratch a single item of your holiday “to do” list, because a scorned and neglected inner child isn’t someone you wanna mess with during the most wonderful time of the year *cue tack on chair, glue in Susie’s hair, ant in someone’s pants. You get the drift.
AND, from me to you, to lighten your load, please enjoy my heart-felt ideas and inspirations to help you feel amazing about giving on any budget.
The Gift Guide
Gifts that you can give for free.
Words, thoughts and ideas go along way and stay with us. They share meaning without requiring oodles of spare time, or ninja skills with a rolling pin and a meat mincer, or an endless supply of cold, hard, cash, though ‘cashier’s cheque’ is also a word, to be fair. Seriously if you are tired of giving caviar and diamonds, just find yourself some stationary, some pretty dollar store cards, or create an e-card and pick one or more of these themes:
- What I love about you or I love you because… because who doesn’t want to hear how and why they are loved.
- Favourite things about you… Your top 5 list of things you dig about your friend, or loved one, or teacher.
- I remember when… A small story or memory of a cherished time you spent with a loved one or all of the stupid things you did in your twenties, unless you are still in your twenties, in which case an album of favourite drunk texts may be “too soon”. Humorous or emotional, memories are the gifts that outlast their containers.
- Permission to… Sometimes the greatest gift is to get out of our comfort zone, limitations, responsibilities. A permission card is a thoughtful expression of caring. And hearing ‘it’s okay’ kinda works some magic on us. I’ll take the “permission to run away to Italy in a borrowed wedding dress” card if anyone’s looking up my registry.
- An invitation to…share in an experience. A dinner in, a trip to a museum, an afternoon doing something meaningful like braiding each other’s hair, or a pay-later experience such as a dinner out, a movie night, a mani or pedi, an escape room, unless your loved one is claustrophobic, then maybe a day trip through the quiet, empty country side.
- You deserve… When we can’t give materially, it helps to give our big wishes and intentions for our loved one. You deserve an apartment in Venice and an endless supply of marshmallows. Or something symbolic; here is some fudge because you are so sweet, like this saccharine message. Only you’ll be more poetic.
Gifts for the inner child.
When you want a more emotionally impactful gesture…
Jello. Silly Putty. Poprocks. A Meaningul Toy. A shovel and bucket. Fingerpaints. A bag of candy faves. A beloved game. Admission to the zoo. A nightlight. Colouring supplies. A tub of cookie dough. Or a hamster (but only a stuffed one, sniffle sniffle,giving real pets as surprises is against the rules according to my inner mom *slams bedroom door and One Direction poster falls to floor*).
Gifts that nurture the soul.
A personal favourite, a Gift Certificate for an intuitive reading,available from me downloadable to your loved one’s inbox —for the friend who needs a little mystery and magic, or the one who could use some serious insight, stat, because the guardian angels are dropping like Shark Tank investors and 2020 NEEDS an intervention before it goes down the same shitter as 2019.
An oracle deck. Soul Food Books or The Divine Mine or The Home of Om all offer an assortment of decks in the twenty dollar price range, that will help your friend or loved one feel uplifted through the holiday season and beyond.
A “me-time” gift, such as a journal, reading socks and hot cocoa. Socks can be found at Chapters, for that festive and furry feel, like a hundred hamsters are giving you a foot massage.
Wine and cheese. Or wine and chocolate. Gifts that say “mommy downtime” or f*@! it, it’s time to give up and drink (I’m not dropping the actual f-bomb today on account of holiday propriety and all).
A copy of your favourite book as a chapter from your heart.
A Lush bath bomb. Fun and festive – for a small price tag you give permission to indulge in some self care.
Fridge poetry. To nurture the creative spirit. Can be enjoyed solo, or with guests at your soiree, or as an opportunity for your teenagers to write frightfully off-side poetry.
Erin Butler Coaching: Give your loved one a gift that keeps on giving with their own personal miracle making starter kit. Available as either 3, 5 or 10 session packages, down loaded as a certificate or sent straight to their inbox.
Gypsy and Jasmine The Goddess embodied in beauty and bath products that are natural and care for the soul and the earth.
Kristen Butler Boudoir Because there are some things too sacred to be captured by a selfie camera, and your booty is one of them!
And wishes from me, dusted with the dust of the wings of fairies, prayed over by a thousand prophets, shazam-ed by a legion of genies, and sung to the heavens by choirs of angels, for your wishes to come true.
Much love,
— Erin
P.S. Do you or someone you love need help with your 20/20 Vision? I’m booking intensives and gift packages for the new year.
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