A delightful guide to a holiday season filled with mindfulness, self-care, and joy. At the end of a difficult year, what if this December were soothing instead of stressful? Celebrate a new kind of holiday season this winter—one where you radiate calm and cultivate delight. A calm Christmas is filled meaningful interactions, special gifts, and thoughtful observations of annual traditions. This enchanting guide embraces festive preparations and authentic celebrations, and then ushers in the New Year in a holistic, nurturing way. Author Beth Kempton gently encourages readers to prioritize holiday hopes and take a slower, more mindful approach. Kempton also provides helpful suggestions for making the most of the hush of winter and recommends using this quiet period to retreat, reflect, set goals, and aspire toward a better year ahead. Filled with personal stories, tips, and advice for staying serene, Calm Christmas and a Happy New Year offers a cozy retreat from the pressure of striving for perfection. Instead of starting the New Year exhausted, in debt, and filled with regret, you will rejoice in the memories of the season and feel rested, rejuvenated, and inspired. “Calm Christmas and a Happy New Year by Beth Kempton offers warm, low key ideas for honoring the end of the year and 'to celebrate, acknowledge those we love and those we miss; to mark the passing of another year and to make peace and pies, marmalade and memories.' It might inspire you to usher in a quiet, slow, winter-time, safe, socially-distanced 2021." — Chippewa Valley Post "Winter is the perfect time to discover the author Beth Kempton... 'Calm Christmas and a Happy New Year: A little Book of Festive Joy,' may help readers find clarity and perspective during this holiday season." — Fergus Falls Journal “In soothing prose, Kempton helps readers locate the elements they love most about the before, during and after of the season, with an emphasis on appreciation of the winter months... She doesn’t urge us to celebrate Christmas any one way but encourages us to ‘savor the hush’ of the very end of the year." — BookPage Beth Kempton is the bestselling author of Freedom Seeker and Wabi Sabi. Her books have been translated into twenty-four languages. Beth has a Master’s degree in Japanese, and teaches and writes about doing what you love and living well. She lives with her husband and two daughters in Devon, England. The author of Calm Christmas and a Happy New Year , she has been obsessed with Christmas since she was a little girl. Chapter 1: The Five Stories of Christmas CHAPTER 1 The Five Stories of Christmas GETTING TO THE HEART OF CHRISTMAS What image makes you pause a moment and realize that Christmas is on its way? The first robin appearing in the hedgerow? The blurred reflection of Christmas lights in puddles on the road? The scent of cinnamon and cloves? Woodsmoke in the air? A good mood, riding on the shoulders of passersby? We all have our markers, and when we catch a glimpse of one, inhale the aroma of another, and sense the arrival of a third, our brain stitches all of the pieces together and whispers, “Christmas is coming.” When I hear the word “Christmas,” I see a personal movie reel in my mind’s eye. And your own reel probably starts running, too. But that doesn’t mean we are watching the same show. Therein lies the challenge we face when sharing Christmas with other people. We all expect different things, often without even realizing it. If you find yourself insisting that Christmas has “lost all meaning,” it may be that you feel caught up in a story that you consider unimportant or trivial, rather than one you value. Or perhaps you are inadvertently judging other people’s notions of Christmas through your own lens. This mismatch of expectation and reality can be a real source of stress and resentment at this time of year, and it is the main obstacle we have to overcome in order to experience a calmer, more joyful Christmas. I became curious about which symbols of Christmas are universal, as I thought they may give us something to rally around. As I dug deeper into my research, I was surprised to learn that not one single element of the stereotypical Christmas is invariably applicable. Not everyone puts up a Christmas tree, or sings carols, or hopes for snow, or cooks a turkey, or exchanges gifts, or gathers with others to celebrate. Nevertheless, there is a pool of experiences from which we all seem to draw at least one memory that is closely associated with the season, often related to our senses. The sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and textures of Christmases past linger in our hearts and inform our ideas of what it should be in the future. In the course of my research, I also discovered that the roots of our traditions are deeply buried in legend and lore, and that it is extremely hard to unearth accurate facts about the origins of Christmas. The history of this most famous holiday is littered