Not that I am obsessive about living to a plan. But there are things I want (good health, slim body, happy attitude, clear skin, to celebrate a rich full holiday season) and to get them I’ve got to plan my steps – and then I’ve got to actually do what I’ve planned. I love the holiday season and want to honor it by fully enjoying it. I like to go to the choral concerts. I like to attend the Christmas Pageants. I like to go to parties and have parties and decorate my house, to buy presents, to wrap presents, to make and send cards … I love the whole thing, actually.

Now, it’s not as if my days are wide open with lots of unclaimed hours into which I can place each holiday activity jewel. Each new thing fitted into my day means there are routine activities that get dropped from it. In the past the first to go has been exercise – then cooked-at-home dinners – sometimes upstairs housecleaning.

Well. I guess the upstairs house cleaning can always get a lick and a promise, but this year, exercise and nutrition are standing on equal footing with revelries. So what’s the plan? It’s a three pronged effort to pay attention to diet, exercise and spiritual needs.

Diet:

Continue following SP eating plan and calorie limits - with special attention to each weekly step in Phase 2. This week? Make each bite nutritious.

Add dark green leafy vegetables to my diet every day – think green smoothies?

Follow this rule to the letter: at every holiday event NO eating till I’ve spoken with everyone there. Once I’ve paid honor to the people, then I can turn my attention to the food. Who knows? By then, all the fattening stuff might have been eaten!

Exercise:

Schedule daily exercise in my Day-timer (Yes. My life is still scheduled with pen and paper) Mix up the routines so that some days are strenuous, some are merely elevating and one is gentle.

Spirit:

Make two of each week’s workouts walking at home, outdoors. I can think and pray and plan and find spiritual solace when I’m walking outdoors in a way I can’t do it at the gym. Beneath the heavenly dome of the sky, rimmed by the deep green and dark grey of the forest that surrounds my farm, I can find that deep connection with the greater universe.

To fit more time into an already full day I’m going to have to cut something somewhere and I think it will be morning computer time.I usually play on-line from about 5:30 to 8, catching up with friends, writing blog posts, posts to forums like Facebook and Ravelry, plus playing with all the other time sucks that a computer and Internet access present you with. At 8 o'clock I fix breakfast and get ready for work.

Well, I can wrestle an hour out of that computer time, so from now, through January I will get off the computer at 7 o’clock and do something that honors the season, my loved ones or myself. Maybe take a walk. Maybe address Christmas Cards. Maybe even clean the upstairs!!

Let’s see if I can transform those 7 extra hours a week into a healthier, fitter, happier me for the New Year.