Step into Christmas by Elton John

Photo by Eugene Zhyvchik on Unsplash

Welcome to my Christmas song, I’d like to thank you for the year.

It’s that time again! I’d like to start by saying a big thank you for reading the Retune blog over the year. So, with it being a Christmas special (OK, the line above, I admit it’s not really MY Christmas song, but the thanks are genuine), how do we maintain our wellbeing over the Christmas period? Well, this week we’ll turn to Elton John and Step into Christmas to help.

According to the lyrics there certainly seems to be a party atmosphere in an Elton Christmas:

So, hop aboard the turntable … Eat, drink and be merry …The admission’s free.

Lovely, but it’s not really free is it Elton? Christmas, and all the partying, can come at a great expense, both financial and emotional. Christmas in 2019 can become a bit of a spend-fest. Money for our expected attendance at office parties, or participation in secret Santa’s, or for presents for one and all. Yet it’s not what we spend that counts but the relationship with the people we are spending the money on or to be with:

Let’s join together … There’s no place I’d rather be, than asking you if you’d oblige Stepping into Christmas with me.

Christmas is really about relationship. Relationships prioritised and relationships restored. This concept created the first Christmas, inspired the Dickensian Christmas Carol, and still underpins, and is exploited, by the commoditised Christmas of 2019. So, it’s not really the spending that counts:

We can watch the snow fall forever and ever … If we can help to entertain you, oh, we will find the ways.

Prioritising people and building community is what will help you to step into the true Christmas spirit and that’s not about spending money but time. And, you know what, it comes with a fantastic gift for you in return, a sense of wellbeing. Just as when Scrooge in Dickens’ Christmas Carol built relationships with others, he received the gift of life back in return, the same goes for us. So, perhaps Elton was right after all. This Christmas, rather than trying to spend your way into a Christmas mood, why not recognise the admission is free.

All that’s left to say is:

Take care in all you do next year and keep smiling through the days. So merry Christmas one and all.

Need to refocus your life? Why not consider booking an appointment with the author, Dr Dave Wood.

Taken from the album: