Gift of Connection

by Tori Roalef
December 3, 2024

The festivities of this time of year invites us to connect with family, friends, and others. Sometimes, the holiday season means spending time with people who you usually may not have consistent contact with over the year.

Whether you are connecting with a loved one or reconnecting with an old friend, this week let's discover ways to make this season one of meaningful connection.

The Idea of the Week

The holiday stress may strain relationships as you both fight the overwhelm and busyness of the year. In this 10-minute video, Emma McAdam from Therapy in a Nutshell describes The Relationship Bank Account and ways to build your relationship skills. Relationships involve a give and take, or as the bank analogy implies, a deposit and withdrawal.

Emma describes 6 loving interactions to foster positivity and build a healthy relationship by depositing into your relationship bank:

Express your appreciation
Give them quality time
Create family rituals or routines with your loved ones
Correct them with love
Make repairs quickly and apologize
Learn their love language and share your love language with them

The Practice of the Week

The holidays are often described as a time of connection and experiencing life together. More often, these activities are described with family, so in this 22-minute episode, Alex Alexander from the Friendship IRL podcast outlines 5 Ways to Connect with Friends During the Holiday Season.

What holiday things would you like to add to the season this year? For example, have a cookie exchange or have a movie night.
The third option: It is not a “yes” or “no” yet you are partaking in the activities. For instance, your group invites you to a gift exchange, and you are not able to or do not want to participate in giving gifts. You may still want to partake in the festivity, so you could choose the third option, such as offering to host the exchange at your place.
Traditions: Are your traditions still serving you? What traditions do you already do that you can combine with spending time with your friends and loved ones?
The “Necessary”: You do not have to do all of the necessary work of the holiday season alone. Invite your friends to go gift shopping together. Spend time together while wrapping gifts. Collaborate on hosting a dinner or meal together. Create a text thread to share your holiday recipes with one another.
Invite your friend into your day, or ask to join your friend in their day. It could be the entire holiday, or it could be the beginning, like a breakfast, or at the end, in the evening.

Here are several more ways to connect with your loved ones during the holiday season.

Video chat with long-distance loved ones
Remotely hang out with your long-distance loved ones. For instance, Discord has several activities you can play while on call with someone, including a whiteboard activity where you can collaboratively draw or write together. Streaming services may offer synced watch parties so you can watch a movie together while apart.
Having trouble finding a gift? Maybe the gift is a shared activity together, such as a group activity lesson, going to a game, taking an art class, doing an escape room, visiting the arcade, relaxing at Breathing Space’s Holiday Sound Bath on December 7th, going skiing or ice skating, etc.
Say “Cheese!” There are many photo apps where you could make photoshoots with your loved ones to capture the holiday season, and even more apps where you can scrapbook the photos into a holiday card, poster, wallpaper, etc. For instance, Snapchat offers a wide array of fun filters, BeFunky offers a range of free photo effects after taking your photo, and Canva offers many free features to edit and design your photos.
Create a collaborative playlist on your music app.
You don’t have to decorate alone. Invite your friends and loved ones over to help you decorate. Put on some tunes in the background.
Send your loved ones a holiday care package. It could include their favorite snacks, baked goods, loving reminders, fuzzy socks or mittens, a warm blanket, a candle, a book or magazine, comfort items, stress or stim toys, a QR code to a playlist you curated for them, a handwritten note, holiday decor (to help with the decorating!), holiday recipes, etc.