The holiday count down is on! I would like to wish you all the best this holiday season and share with you my Christmas joy. 

I opened up a Christmas card the other day from my cousin and was thrilled to receive two pigs (she assured me there was no pun intended). Will my pigs be arriving in a one horse open sleigh on Christmas day? Hmm good question, if they are arriving via one horse open sleigh I won't be seeing them; they're going direct to Rwanda. I'm guessing this was in response to the goats I gave her last year.

In this festive season we often get caught up in consumerism. We're decking the malls and buying incredible amounts of stuff for people that "have everything". We're so busy purchasing, partying and stressing all of the holiday festivities that we forget to adopt an attitude of gratitude.

This year, we've all experienced some kind of financial repercussions from the economic downturn. That being said, we're still well over half way up Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs while a good chunk of the globe is in need of food, shelter and clothing. And don't even get me started on our political freedom. As a post boomer female, I haven't experienced workplace prejudice; I've shared equal rights with my male counterparts and had the ability to be all that I can be. It may seem like a small thing but on the world stage where many girls are struggling to get an education its paramount. It's easy to get caught up in the day to day hassles, focus on the things that aren't going right and believe that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. Wake up, we are in Shangri-La and the grass doesn't get any greener. We have the right to choose; an attitude of gratitude and the good life is a choice.

I learned this little trick many years ago that may help if you're down, feeling sorry for yourself or otherwise irritated. Write down 5 things that you are grateful for. Do it every day and eventually that feeling will disappear. As Aristotle so aptly quoted "We are what we repeatedly do - excellence then is not an act but a habit". Why not start the New Year with new habit - an attitude of gratitude. All the best in 2010.

Enjoy,

Shelley