title: Loving My Actual Christmas: An Experiment in Relishing the Season
author:  Alexandra Kuykendall 
description: <b>&quot;This is the book you need in order to fall in love with the season again.&quot;<BR></b>--<b>Jennifer Dukes Lee</b>, author of <i>The Happiness Dare</i><BR><BR>Do you long for a time when you can actually slow down and enjoy the Christmas season for what you feel it should be--a delightful, meaningful time with friends and family--rather than what it is--a tornado of commitments and bills that leave you overwhelmed and exhausted?<BR><BR>The Christmas season is a particularly difficult time for many of us. It is a holiday that can remind us how life is not going as we'd planned. Our family relationships remain strained, our finances stretched, and our schedules stuffed with too much to do in too little time.<BR><BR>Following the formula of her popular <i>Loving My Actual Life</i>, Alexandra Kuykendall shares her own personal experiment to be completely present in her life <i>as it is</i> during the holiday season. Reflecting on hope, love, joy, peace, and relishing the season, she shares practical advice on common Christmas stressors such as finances, schedules, and extended family. With her signature candor, Kuykendall encourages you to go easy on yourself, remember what truly matters, and find joy in your own imperfect Christmas.<BR><BR><BR>&quot;Alex Kuykendall has crafted a rescue manual that will enable you to save your sanity as you savor the Savior, focusing on the true essence of the season.&quot;--<b>Karen Ehman</b>,&nbsp;Proverbs 31 Ministries&nbsp;speaker;&nbsp;<i>New York Times</i>&nbsp;bestselling author of&nbsp;<i>Keep It Shut</i>&nbsp;and<i>&nbsp;Listen, Love, Repeat</i><BR><BR>&quot;I highly recommend this book. In fact, it's going to be one of the first gifts I'll be buying and sharing this holiday season!&quot;--<b>Tricia Goyer</b>, <i>USA Today</i> bestselling author of over sixty books, including <i>Where Treetops Glisten</i><BR><BR><BR><b>Alexandra Kuykendall</b> is the author of <i>Loving My Actual Life</i> and <i>The Artist's Daughter</i> and is the cohost of <i>The Open Door Sisterhood </i>podcast. A popular writer and speaker, Alexandra has been featured on <i>Good Morning America</i> and <i>Focus on the Family</i>'s daily broadcast. She lives in Denver, Colorado, with her husband, Derek, and their four daughters.
zlib_text: Copyright © 2019 J.D. Light
  Edited by Ann Attwood Editing and Proofreading Services
  
  CHAPTER ONE
  CHAPTER TWO
  CHAPTER THREE
  CHAPTER FOUR
  CHAPTER FIVE
  CHAPTER SIX
  CHAPTER SEVEN
  CHAPTER EIGHT
  CHAPTER NINE
  CHAPTER TEN
  
  Chapter One
  I was a mess. I knew it. My sister knew it… and made fun of me about it. The customers knew it,
  especially Martha, Pastor Kenny's wife, since she was still in the bathroom picking ice cubes out of
  her bra from where I tried to hand her her iced coffee and basically punched her directly in the double
  Fs, because I was trying to see around the long-ass line to the giant window that showed the street.
  It had started as excitement and quickly turned into obsession, checking the damn street every minute
  or so to see if I could see anyone I recognized from the sugar-sweet, made-for-TV Christmas movies I
  basically obsessed over every year from the beginning of November until the middle of January.
  Especially Blake Sunday. I would give up the alcohol and cussing if I cou