Happy Holidays everyone! With my whole heart, I wish you love, peace, and health as we close out in 2020. I generally share giving ideas on this issue, and this year will be no exception. It is most important this year over any other to SHOP LOCAL, support your small businesses, and thoughtfully give to those who need presents more than you do.

Some suggestions:

Share time with friends and family with an order of bacon pops and some local brews around a fire pit at Middleburg's new Lost Barrel Brewery or another local establishment of your choice. Time can also be shared merely as a long phone call to an old friend to catch up. Time is perhaps the most precious gift to give or receive.

Do something for yourself. Get a massage, walk in the woods even if, and especially if, you can see your breath, make time for that book you've wanted to read or take a hot bath with the fancy bubbles. You need to take care of yourself, too, to keep yourself together for those around you. Are you reading, moms?

With it being a masked world we live in, make sure your eyes are bright and can communicate for your covered face. You can do this by gifting your favorite mascara secret, eye cream from a variety of purveyors who would love to hook you up, or a gift certificate to your favorite med spa for a more involved solution—all excellent choices.

If you have some Covid fluff or holiday LBS to shed, contact me and join me on January 1 on a program that works. Really. And if you are a regular reader, you know about my dog food diet, noshing on vodka-soaked cotton balls, and seeking out a professional to wire my jaw shut as weight loss methods over my 45 years in the chub club. I quickly and easily shed a ton this year and have maintained through the season of candy canes and cookies. Get a group together and gift yourselves health. Don't buy more oversized pants. Put that money into something that works. I promise you won't fail. esgreenwell@me.com

Recycle, repurpose, up-cycle. Buy used toys and clear out your toy box for others to make way. Make wreaths or decorations to share with braided bailing twine (a trick I learned from my mother). Or repurpose old tee shirts into memory blankets for a free, thoughtful, creative gift that can be made without sewing. Think outside the box, use resources you have on hand, and give from the heart.

And lastly and most importantly, give thanks. It is a soul-warming sentiment to give raw emotions of gratitude and thanks to those that make a difference in your life. Thank your spouse, thank the bank teller, thank the guy that held the door for you, thank a veteran, thank a healthcare worker. Giving simple and genuine thanks will make a day brighter every time. This year, I want to publicly give thanks to my Mom, who always keeps the magic of Christmas alive for our family and brightens every single day. Priceless.

Merry Christmas, Friends.