I’m part of a family that I sometimes describe as “not only blended<\/em><\/strong> but shaken and stirred, too!” \u00a0Although I grew up with Christmas, I’m always open to exploring ways to celebrate family, friends and love. \u00a0(Good food never hurts, either!)<\/p>\n

Sometimes the longest nights feel special ~ as if we have been given\u00a0extra moments<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0to focus on our loved ones, to begin to look at the year that is coming to an end, to feed our dreams \u00a0and aspirations something luscious. \u00a0Focusing on the present moment makes us more mindful and perhaps more able to fully appreciate \u00a0the\u00a0hope<\/strong>\u00a0that comes along with a bit more light that if gifted to us in each of the coming days.<\/p>\n

I like to use this time to repeat traditions that work for and\u00a0invent replacements<\/strong>\u00a0for the ones that do not serve. To be\u00a0kinder, grateful and more thoughtful.<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0To give others the benefit of the doubt, to reflect on joy and let go of hurt. To hope wildly and live passionately. And to start over when needed.<\/p>\n

Although I do my best to celebrate those things every day I appreciate the reminder that comes with Hanuka, Christmas and the Longest Night.<\/p>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I’m part of a family that I sometimes describe as “not only blended but shaken and stirred, too!” \u00a0Although I grew up with Christmas, I’m always open to exploring ways to celebrate family, friends and love. \u00a0(Good food never hurts, either!) Sometimes the longest nights feel special ~ as if we have been given\u00a0extra moments\u00a0to focus on our loved ones, to begin to look at the year that is coming to an end, to feed our dreams \u00a0and aspirations something luscious. \u00a0Focusing on the present moment makes us more mindful and perhaps more able to fully appreciate \u00a0the\u00a0hope\u00a0that comes along with a bit more light that if gifted to us in each of the coming days. I like to use this time to repeat traditions that work for and\u00a0invent replacements\u00a0for the ones that do not serve. To be\u00a0kinder, grateful and more thoughtful.\u00a0To give others the benefit of the doubt, to reflect on joy and let go of hurt. To hope wildly and live passionately. And to start over when needed. Although I do my best to celebrate those things every day I appreciate the reminder that comes with Hanuka, Christmas and the Longest Night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[151,212,228,419],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-2807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-parenting","tag-family-friends","tag-hanukkah","tag-holiday","tag-present-moment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2807\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2807"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=2807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}