Loving My Actual Christmas: An Experiment in Relishing the Season by Alexandra Kuykendall

Loving My Actual Christmas: An Experiment in Relishing the Season

by Alexandra Kuykendall 

About:

The Christmas season is a particularly difficult time for women to slow down and relish what's right in front of them. An annual marker for many, it is a holiday that can often remind us how life is not going as we'd planned. Our family relationships remain strained, our finances stretched, and our schedules stuffed with too much to do in too little time. 
Following the formula of her successful Loving My Actual Life, Alexandra Kuykendall shares with readers her own personal experiment to be completely present in her life as it is during the holiday season. Addressing the themes of Advent and Christmas, she reflects on hope, love, joy, peace, and relishing the season, with practical pullouts on common Christmas stressors, such as finances, schedules, and extended family. Kuykendall's signature candor helps women go easy on themselves, remember what truly matters, and find joy in their imperfect Christmases.

My Thoughts:

Christmas is my favorite time of the year.  I love how much the Christmas spirit brings out the best of people, however, it can also bring out the worst and the stress, which has happened to me. Recently, I have struggled with Christmas as have I allowed the expectations of others get the best of me. The Christmas season has become stressful to me. 

When I saw "Loving My Actual Christmas" I was very excited to get my hands on this book. I am self-aware to know that I need to de-stress things from my life and also decrease the expectations and not worry about what others think of me. I need to learn to love my Christmas and celebrate with my family. 

What is great about this book, is we read first hand the account of Alexandra's Christmas and how she learned to enjoy Christmas despite the chaos. I love how the chapters are focused on different themes such a joy, peace, hope, etc. I found her story to be extremely helpful and allowed me to think about how I will apply it to my own Christmas. I love how she discussed the elements of faith in this book, which I won't go into because I want you to read the book. I give this book 5/5 stars. Thank you to publisher for providing a complimentary copy for review.