No, I’m not recommending that you make your own independent film this Winter. Stay with me here and it will all come to light!

Do you literally find yourself getting “sick and tired” at this time of year, and maybe a little depressed as well? You’re not alone! 78% of the North American population experiences increased fatigue, stress, illness, weight change and depression during the “blues” months of November to April.

Don’t despair! There are simple, easy ways to sail through the season with more JOY, CHEER and EASE!

Lights:

It’s no accident that the Winter holidays involve lights…,,,the Jewish Menorah, Christmas Lights and candles, etc. When the days are shorter with less light, seratonin levels go down and depression levels and weight tend to go up. Studies have shown that the “winter blues” or SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) is caused by less sunlight rather than temperature changes. So what’s the solution? Here are a few.

1.Get as much real daylight as you can. If you work inside and especially under fluorescent lights, take your breaks outside. Take a quick walk outside at lunch. Park a distance from your destination. Even a few minutes of being out in the daylight can make a significant difference.

2.Use full-spectrum lighting in your home and your office. I often recommend that clients replace the fluorescent lights at work with full-spectrum bulbs whenever possible. I used to get migraines almost every year starting in early November. No more! I put daylight halogen lamps in my office, living room and bedroom and….VOILA! No more migraines. The minor cost of keeping the lights a little brighter at night and in the early morning is well worth it. Whatever you do, avoid sitting in a darkened room watching TV or at the computer. Keep the lights on.

Camera (not really):

Think of your mind as a camera, as your own on-going video or movie. Our subconscious and nervous systems do not distinguish between physical reality and our imaginations. So visualize, visualize, VISUALIZE!

1.Take a few minutes each day or throughout the day to close your eyes and see the entire inside of your body full of light, every cell lighting up. Any internal or external images of light will work. See yourself at your favorite beach with sunlight drenching every inch of your body. See yourself playing tennis or any other warm weather activity on a sunny, summer day. You’re the director here. You get to be anywhere you want, doing anything you love. In your mind, fill yourself and your surroundings with light. This is POWERFUL!

2. This part is so important that it gets it’s own number. When you visualize, FEEL! Feel all the physical sensations and emotions that you would if you were really in the place or situation you are imagining….the warmth, the movement, the freedom, the contentment, the deLIGHT! Using all our physical senses and emotions creates a much more powerful physiological and psychological response to mental images.

Action (really):

Even without the “blues”, our bodies and metabolisms tend to slow down in the winter months. It’s only natural. And, of course, there’s all that Holiday eating! You know that you’re going to over-indulge at this time of year. You always do (and you’re in good company – the rest of us!)

1.Be pre-emptive. Start increasing your activity now, before the major eating begins.

Add 5 minutes to your treadmill time or any workout time. If you’re not exercising, start!

Do some side and back leg lifts while you’re standing at the stove or waiting for the microwave. (I do this compulsively now, and my thighs and behind are very grateful.)

When you come home, go up and then down and then up the stairs again…with the groceries or shopping bags.

When Holiday shopping, park at the far end of the parking lot (like you have a choice!) You’ll get more exercise and daylight.

Take a walk with the family or friends after that big holiday meal or party.

“When you get the chance to sit it out or dance, I hope you DANCE.”

2.Whatever you do, don’t compound the over-indulging with beating yourself up

about it. If you’re like the rest of us, you are likely to gain a few pounds over the winter. Big deal! EnJOY yourself, and just do what you can, when you can.

A quick note about that upcoming New Year’s resolution to lose the holiday weight:

Winter is by far the worst time of year to try to lose weight. It goes counter to your body’s natural rhythms and tendencies. (Think hibernation!) Rather than setting yourself up for failure, do what you can to avoid the weight gain to begin with. Staying active before and during the Winter will set up your mind and metabolism to lose the weight more easily when Spring rolls around.

Keep your mind and thoughts LIGHT! EnJOY! Be of good CHEER, and when you want to bust the winter blues, remember…………

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!

Copyright 2006 Ahna Cleveland

Ahna Cleveland
http://www.articlesbase.com/advice-articles/lights-camera-action-3-keys-to-busting-the-winter-blues-80056.html

Christmas is one of the best times for surprises and cheerful, festive decorations can be a great time to make even more surprises. Adults and children alike enjoy making crafts, especially when the creations can be proudly displayed in the home. Many crafts can easily be made by almost anyone to decorate your home or given to friends and family for gifts. The time spent as a family making decorations can be very rewarding. Your family may enjoy it so much that you choose to make this a special tradition each year.

Once easy Christmas craft is to make a small table top tree. Begin with a foam cone which can be purchased at most any craft store or online. Cover the entire cone with double sided tape. You can adorn the tree with colorful beads, candies, pre-cut foam or paper shapes or any other item you can think of to attach to the tree. Make sure to cover the entire tree with your decorations and don’t forget your tree topper. You can cut and angel or star from construction paper.

Another simple Christmas craft is making popcorn garland. Kids love to make this craft and don’t be surprised if they try to sneak a piece of popcorn or two. Simply take a piece of string, about arm’s length, and thread a needle on one end and try a knot on the other end. Begin poking the needle into a piece of popcorn and pull it to the end of the string. Tie another not when the string is full. You can tie the garland together to make longer pieces to decorate your Christmas tree, fireplace mantle, doorways and more.

These two craft ideas can are so simple and inexpensive. You and your children will enjoy making these decorations and will delight in showing their creations off to all of your family and friends.

A.C. West
http://www.articlesbase.com/crafts-articles/easy-simple-christmas-crafts-home-made-christmas-decorations-693096.html

KSN’s Leon Smitherman talks to Katie Grover about the Lights on the Lake Drive Thru. Thanks to tremendous support from Wichita and the surrounding community, Lights on the Lake has become Heartsprings signature special event. Last year, over 25,000 people visited Lights on the Lake as part of their holiday, driving through the Heartspring campus to marvel at dozens of displays, thousands of lights and our 45-foot-tall tree of lights. Visit http://www.lightsonthelake.org for more information.

Duration : 0:1:47

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Technorati Tags: Christmas Lights, heartspring, holiday lights, kansas, lights on the lake, special needs, wichita

Tom and Allisons 2008 Christmas Light Show – “Wizards in Winter.” Tom and I have always put up a lot of Christmas Lights. However, this was our first year to put the lights to music. Our neighbor, Dave, kept nagging me to animate the lights. I finally caved in this year and attended the Texas Christmas Light Show in July to learn how. The show and the people in Houston were awesome! It has been a fantastic experience and the three of us have made a good team. Neighbor Dave did all the programming, Tom did all the electrical and I was the head reindeer. Hope you have enjoyed the show.
 Hours invested: 800 hours
 Number of lights: 25,000
 Number of Light-O-Rama channels: 96
 Amount of wire: 2.2 miles!

Duration : 0:4:19

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We mde this video to inspire the Christmas spirit in everyone! Hope you enjoy and learn to think outside the box!

Duration : 0:5:31

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Technorati Tags: angels, christmas decoration ideas, christmas pictures, daniel designs, decoration ideas, designer chritmas, ga, indoor christmas, lighth show, mangers, outdoor christmas, savannah, sherry parker daniel, southbridge, trees, woosieproductions

BOB SCHMIDT SHOWS YOU A SIMPLE PRODUCT THAT MAY BE USEFUL FOR LOCKING SWITCHES THAT HAVE TIMERS, SENSORS, CHRISTMAS LIGHTING, COMPUTER PLUGS OR ANY OTHER APPLIANCE YOU DON’T WANT TURNED OFF BY A SWITCH.FLOOD LIGHTS

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Christmas Lights synchronized to Bob Seger’s version of The Little Drummer Boy.
Visit www.neverenoughlights.com for more info.

Duration : 0:3:27

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Technorati Tags: Bob, boy, christmas, drummer, Light-O-Rama, lights, Little, lor, music, seger, Synchronized

Christmas is the time for parties, family reunions and get-together with friends and families. The Days are a great time of the year to go all out in your Christmas Decorations. All kinds of beautiful decorations would bring out the spirit of the season in your own home. The decorations that creative can be achieve grand feel.

There are many kinds of air blown inflatable decors. Santa Claus, six-foot inflatable Santa, Inflatable stars, reindeers and cartoon characters would make your decoration wonderful. Here, I want to introduce some other decorations to you.

1. Inflatable Snow Globes

For many generations, the traditional glass snow globes have always been a cherished gift. It is can be a ballerina, a dancing couple, or a mini-Statue of Liberty or a small replica of the Eiffel tower. You can decorate your house with inflatable snow globes. We can feature a toy, Santa Claus, a Snowman and other wonderful Christmas scenes, which are a joy to look at from the inflatable snow globes.

2. Inflatable Snowman

At Christmas parties and get-togethers, a giant six or eight-foot inflatable Snowman will be always the hot topic. We can usually find that inflatable products come with internal lights so that it will stay lit after dark to give your house wonderful feel.

3. Christmas Airblown Cartoon Characters

Children would certainly enjoy a collection of Mickey Mouse and friends, Winnie the Pooh and other inflatable characters. These characters can line up your lawn or garden.

4. Inflatable Santa and Reindeers

Without a decor of jolly old St. Nicholas, your Holidays will never be complete. You can place a large inflatable Santa Claus outdoors to make a huge statement and add Rudolf and the other reindeers to make it double fun.

These airblown Christmas decors can be used to cheer up your Holiday season. You can make the season even more wonderful by decorating your home and at the same time sharing a lot of the Holiday cheers to your friends and loved ones.

Realstorm

The holiday season is swiftly approaching, bringing with it great fun and family events. As you are preparing for this great season, it is important to plan accordingly. The friends and family you invite into your home bring plenty of warmth and cheer, but can also create quite a mess. For this reason, organizing your home for the Christmas season is very important, to anyone who wishes their home to stay as clean as the freshly fallen snow outside.

Organizing your home entails assembling a good number of storage containers for everything from sugar cookies to Christmas Lights and ornaments. The tree can create a mess as well, and if you choose an artificial tree, it will also need to be stored. When it comes to getting yourself and your home ready for this Christmas season, challenges abound. Getting started early, even before Thanksgiving, is a good way to thwart the coming stress of December.

While one may not want to start decorating until after Thanksgiving, there is no real reason to not prepare for decoration. This is where organization can become an issue. The first thing you need to do is to begin cleaning your entire house. All of your non-seasonal knick-knacks need to go. Throw rugs and blankets may need to be replaced as well.

Boxes of all sizes are invaluable for holiday storage and organization. This starts with storing your non-holiday items in order to make room for the Christmas tree and more. Label the boxes by room, and begin filling them up with the items that you are getting replacing. When a box is full move it into storage. Once your home is thoroughly desolate and devoid of decorative flair you can begin to think of your Christmas Decorations.

Getting your actual decorations out can be a major hassle. This is the year to overhaul your storage system. Get rid of those cardboard boxes and replace them with plastic containers. Plastic is sturdier, stacks more easily, protects your items better and can simplify your storage process. Furthermore, plastic containers have been tweaked to fit any purpose. Many boxes can easily fit up to sixteen ornaments in safe individual compartments. The boxes come in three snap together trays that can, when put together, can safely store twenty-seven or twenty-eight ornaments. You no longer have to worry about losing precious keepsakes when you store your ornaments. Furthermore, you can avoid the waste of time that comes with wrapping ornaments in layer after layer of newspaper. These simple boxes provide perfect protection for all of your tree trimmings. They also can work wonderfully to stow bows, ribbons and other wrapping accessories.

Another frequent organizational nightmare associated with preparing for the Christmas season is dealing with all of the wrapping paper and ribbon. Keeping these items stored without damage can be a significant challenge. It’s a good idea to store all your gift-wrapping supplies in one location. Hang them on a door for storage, so they don’t get crushed. This can help you keep the rest of your house organized for Christmas.

A final crucial step for getting your house organized for Christmas is to prepare your kitchen. The Christmas holiday season can easily be referred to as baking season, and if you plan on doing a lot of work in your kitchen, then you better be ready. Forget your spring cleaning routine, now is the time to get that kitchen cleaned out. Get your spice rack organized, move those pots to the most accessible location, and get your appliances reorganized to fit your baking needs. For most of the year your kitchen should be organized to meet your day to day needs. But during the holidays, your day to day necessities are thrown aside. Rather then focusing on the meat and potatoes of mealtime you may find yourself emphasizing the cookies and cakes during this time of year. One of the largest organizational disasters that come along with Christmas is trying to work around a kitchen that is not built for baking. You need to rework this room, or your sanity is going to be tested throughout the entire season.

Getting ready for the Christmas holiday season should start just before Thanksgiving. Even if you are one who refuses to decorate until after Thanksgiving, there is work to be done and the benefits can be very rewarding. Begin your organizational work now, and you can be well on your way to a more relaxed holiday season around the house or apartment. However, if you procrastinate, things can quickly become quite hectic and stressful. Invest in the proper storage materials, deal with the problem of wrapping paper and overhaul your kitchen. These steps should set you well on your way to a happy and peaceful Christmas holiday season.

Nick Kakolowski
http://www.articlesbase.com/parenting-articles/organizing-your-home-for-the-christmas-season-692696.html

Christmas as celebrated today is a culmination of centuries of traditions that are religious and secular and which came from different countries around the world. It is interesting therefore to look at some of the general ways in which Christmas is celebrated in these countries. The traditions examined for each country will be examples of some of the things that are unique to that country and which are done today, or which were once done by people in those countries.

To begin, it is symbolic to look at the town of Bethlehem, which is believed to be the birthplace of Jesus. The Church of the Nativity is located in Bethlehem and at Christmas it is decorated with a lot of flags and other Christmas Decorations. A very large crowd usually gathers at The Church of the Nativity on Christmas Eve to see a dramatic parade procession of horsemen, led by police who are mounted on Arabian horses. Following the police in the procession is a lone horseman who carries a cross, followed by churchmen and government officials. Members of the procession solemnly enter the doors of The Church of the Nativity and place an ancient effigy of Jesus in the church. A silver star located deep in an underground cave-like section of the church marks the site where Jesus was born. A star is also set atop a pole in the town’s square. In Bethlehem, homes of Christians usually have a cross over the door and a manger scene is usually set up inside the house.

In Germany, home of the Christmas tree tradition, the Christmas tree is not seen until Christmas Eve. The tree is usually kept in a special room, or elsewhere, and decorated in secret with lights, ornaments, tinsels, angels,candies, nuts and cookies. It is then lighted, the presents placed underneath and then shown to the delight of Children on Christmas Eve. In Germany, St. Nicholas Day is on the 6th this is when Santa visits houses where children live. Knowing he is going to visit the children leave a shoe or boot outside or by the fireplace for Santa Claus. If they were good, he places gifts and candies inside the shoe. But if they were naughty, children will find twigs or a rod in their shoe. Dinner on Christmas Day includes roast goose, long loaves of bread filled with raisins, nuts and dried fruits. Other sweet delicacies are also enjoyed.

Many traditions in England are similar to those in the United States because such traditions originated in England and were brought to the United States by immigrants. The tradition of sending Christmas greeting cards started in England and is still popular at Christmas, as well as the tradition of neighbourhood carolling on Christmas Eve. Children also hang stockings on Christmas Eve in anticipation of Santa Claus filling them with Christmas gifts or treats. The holly, ivy and mistletoe are also used a lot in Christmas decorations. In England, the traditional Christmas Dinner is roast turkey, goose or chicken with stuffing, vegetables and roast potatoes. Dessert consists of the British or Christmas pudding with brandy sauce. A rich, fruit-filled Christmas cake may also be enjoyed later in the day. A tradition of pulling Christmas crackers also goes with the serving of food on Christmas Day. A cracker is a paper tube that contains a party hat, riddle, toy or trinket, and is brightly coloured and twisted at both ends. It gives out a crack as the contents pop out when it is pulled at each end. Also on Christmas afternoon, the Queen broadcasts a Christmas message to the nation, which is heard on radio and television.

Jayne Waldorf
http://www.articlesbase.com/home-and-family-articles/christmas-around-the-world-633071.html