One of my readers sent over her book, A Mindful Christmas: How to Create a Meaningful, Peaceful Holiday by Barbara Kilikevich.

I don’t like holidays that are rushed, frantic and devoid of meaning. We often think we have to do it all and do it perfectly to have a good holiday. But, I think our families would appreciate if we were more present with them and easier to be around at this time of year.

I love this quote in her book, "Christmas waves a magic wand over the world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful." – Norman Vincent Peale

In the book, Barbara gives a series of questions to help you come up with what you most want out of your holiday season. (Probably not debt, headaches and exhaustion.) She even gives a script to help tell others of the changes you are making this year.

She talks about celebrating advent to prolong the Christmas season, so it’s not all packed into that one day. She includes suggestions for creating a meaningful, peaceful advent experience.

She also write about:

• giving meaningfully
• Christmas for children
• simple decorating
• creating a peaceful Christmas day
• using the 12 Days of Christmas/12 Holy nights to renew your spirit
• ideas to awaken the Epiphany

She includes lists for November, December and January to keep the season organized. Plus, Christmas planning worksheets.

If you want more meaning and less stress in your Christmas, you can check out her book.