I'm a giver, too, and I think it's easy for a giver to sometimes forget to give to a very important person: herself.

This holiday season, you probably will find yourself making cookies for church, stitching needlework pieces for friends and family, buying gifts for those in need, dropping money in the Salvation Army red buckets, singing outside someone's front door, and generally knocking yourself out to make others' days a little brighter. Why not do the same for yourself?

I'm not saying you need to be greedy or gluttonous. Treat yourself to something you really enjoy that is JUST FOR YOU!

How about your favorite Christmas cookies, the ones that are "weird," that only you really enjoy. Make a whole batch, what the heck? How about a night of peace and quiet in a hot tub with your favorite bath bubbles, your favorite music and a few candles burning. Don't say to yourself: "These socks will do for a little while longer." If you've got hole-ridden socks, go get yourself a few new pairs. Is there a book you've been dying to read, but it's still in hardcover...go buy yourself a nice book (there are much worse things to be spending your money on, I guarantee.) Sleep in on Saturday. Let the laundry go a few extra days. Call a far-away friend and talk a really long time. Buy yourself an expensive piece of chocolate and eat the whole thing.

This works with needlework, too. You know that chart in your stash that you look at every time you are browsing through your stash? Start it! Who cares if it's enormous, and you know you'll NEVER finish it in a million years. Do your scissors spring open every time you set them down (or maybe you're using a leftover pair of Fiskars that your kids used for school?) Get yourself a nice pair of thread snippers, and make yourself a cute fob to hang from them. Feel like spending an entire Sunday afternoon stitching some fun little weekend project? Do it. The dishes will wait.

I think when a person neglects herself, ultimately she neglects the people around her, too. A small act of kindness to yourself invigorates your spirits, rests your weary body, and makes you ready go keep giving to others.

Take care of you this holiday season, and keep those you love close by. Thank you for being a blessing in my life!

© 2007 Theresa Venette. Articles on this site may be reproduced in needlework group newsletters or other handouts with permission of author and proper attribution. Send questions, comments and suggestions to: xspeddler@yahoo.com