Summary: This book is exactly what we need to read during the holidays. Giving us a Real-Life perspective on How To Do the holidays when our family, our life , our job, our feelings... are not exactly "Christmas-ey." Alex- mom to 4 girls!, podcaster, mentor, blogger, who recently lost a loved one- knows what it means to Love Your Actual Christmas! Alex Kuykendall is on The Mommy Project this week and we are discussing her book Loving My Actual Christmas , which is an experiment on being present in her actual Christmas schedule. No eliminating previous traditions, or paring down the to-do list- Alex embarks on Loving it all, maintaining the Christmas Spirit by diving into God's own Christmas Story. We discuss the paradox of grief and joy, how does sadness play a role in many people's Christmas season, and how we must embrace the grief with the joy. With Alex's still recent loss of her step-father, a man whose presence was felt tremendously in the family- she talks about how she navigates her way through the Christmas parties, gift-wrapping and celebrating while walking through very fresh and intense grief. We all know someone who is experiencing grief. During the holiday season, it is especially hard to be joyful or happy while simultaneously walking through difficult times.Maybe it is because the commercialism, or the well-meaning friends and family who urge us to put aside our sadness for the holidays, or maybe it is simply our culture- which rejects and mishandles anything complicated... like grief. Alex gives us an inside view of her process, why she chose Advent as her framwork for her experiment, and what she learned. To find Alex Instagram: Website: Loving my Actual Life Podcast: The Open Door Sisterhood Books: Loving my ActualLife, and Loving my Actual Christmas
