With just three days to go until Christmas, family gatherings and last-minute preparations are in full swing. In between the hustle and bustle, take some time to pause and savour the simple pleasures of the season. Today, I’m serving up an extra helping of holiday joy.

Welcome to the 93^rd edition of The Sunday Spark, a series with weekly thoughts and highlights, nuggets of learning, and a decluttering challenge for the week. Along with an extra helping of holiday joy, this week’s edition discusses ways to prioritize our wellbeing during the holidays, and the final tasks in our 52-Week Decluttering Challenge.

On my mind this week: An extra helping of holiday joy

In Tell me about your simple holiday joys, I shared three of my simple holiday joys and invited readers to tell me about theirs. In the two most recent editions of The Sunday Spark, I shared comments I received from my readers. Today I have more reader comments to share, along with a couple more simple holiday joys of my own.

Here we go…

More simple holiday joys

The first reader comment came from Physician In Numbers. It reminded me that we should all be grateful to the essential workers who keep us safe over the holidays. Here’s what she said…

My simple joys around these holidays revolve around rest and quiet. 

When I am not working over the holidays, I enjoy the opportunity to sleep in and enjoy my comfortable bed, possibly while looking out at falling snow I don’t have to travel through. A day without office work, calls, or going shopping is so restful.

(When I do work over the holidays, I get to enjoy a very quiet and quick commute, and the camaraderie and teamwork of those of us working the holiday, which makes for a very pleasant work day.)

Physician in Numbers

And my dear friend Cher from The Chicago Files added:

Here’s a simple holiday pleasure that I started. Instead of waiting for the new year, I began writing in a gratitude journal to list things about previous holidays that I am grateful for, and what I’m looking forward to this season.

Cher, The Chicago Files

And to put a bow on it, here are a couple of simple holiday joys that I added to my list this week:

• Baking with my daughter Colleen. We made shortbread and Breton Brittle on the weekend. With just 4 ingredients, Breton Brittle is my go-to recipe for a sweet treat. (Find my recipe here.)
• A new Christmas-themed workout from one of my favourite YouTube workout channels. Earlier in the week, Rick Bhullar from Get Fit With Rick released a fun Christmas workout video. Take 12 minutes to watch it. I guarantee it will make you smile!

Thanks to everyone who shared their simple holiday joys with me this month. If the busyness of the season is making you feel stressed, my latest post on Wise & Shine will help you Prioritize Your Wellbeing this Holiday Season.

Let’s keep in touch! Join my mailing list and I’ll email you when I add a new post.

Three highlights of the week

It’s important to celebrate big milestones and simple pleasures in life. Keeping the trend going, here are three highlights and simple pleasures of the week gone by:

• On Monday, my husband and I went for lunch at Anna Mae’s in Millbank. While we were there, I picked up some of their baked goodies for Christmas.
• It was a week of Christmas gatherings. On Wednesday, I had lunch with two friends that I used to work with. Then on Thursday, I went out for dinner with the local chapter board members from my professional association. It was wonderful to catch up.
• On Wednesday evening, I went out for a long walk with my husband and daughter to enjoy the Christmas lights in the neighbourhood.

Things I learned this week

It was a busy week, so I took my own advice and gave myself permission to put my learning activities on pause. Learning will resume in the new year!

This week’s decluttering challenges – Toys & Christmas decorations

In 2024, I’ve been revisiting the 52-Week Decluttering Challenge I completed in 2021. Wanting to wrap up the challenge before Christmas, I’ve been doubling down on decluttering for the last couple of weeks. This week, I completed the final two tasks on my checklist!

The first challenge for this week was decluttering toys and games. I followed that up with decluttering Christmas decorations. In total, I decluttered 18 items. Check out my posts on decluttering toys and games, and Christmas decorations for details.

If 2024 wasn’t your year to declutter, set a goal to complete the challenge in 2025. Visit this post to download your free checklists and start planning for next year.

Let’s keep the joy of the season going. Drop me a comment below with your simple holiday joys.