Day 12: Winners revealed + Using Christmas carols for inspiration

Today we are excited to reveal the winners of all of our 12 Days of Christmas giveaways!

If you took the time to enter, THANK YOU and we hope you find your name below. If you don’t, don’t despair, we still have a few more surprises in store for you before Christmas.

As well as our list of winners, we also have a wonderful post for you today from our CBT for Cancer Therapist Clare Reed on how you just might be able to get some festive season survival inspiration from popular Christmas carols. Yes, indeed!

But first, here is the Winners List!

Day 1: Nía Just Balm Giveaway

Day 3: Green Angel Argan Body Oil Giveaway

Day 5: Grand Prizes – FitBit Versa Smartwatches

Day 7: A Warrior’s Words Book Giveaway

Day 9: €50 Gift Card Giveaway for Hairless Beauty

Day 11: Vegan-ish Book Giveaway

Congratulations to Niamh Uí Chadhla – you have won Vegan-ish by Holly White.

If you are one of our lucky winners, please send us an email with your details so that we can begin to arrange getting your prize to you – holly@happymagazine.ie – thank you!

Thank you so much to everyone who entered our giveaways – there would be no Happy Magazine (and no great giveaways) without YOU being here – we appreciate you all so much. We have a few more surprises in store before Christmas, so if you weren’t lucky this time, stay tuned for more giveaways very soon!

Using Christmas carols for inspiration

CBT for Cancer Therapist Clare Reed joins us today with some advice on how you just might be able to get some festive season survival inspiration from popular Christmas carols.

I love singing Christmas carols. I was once in a choir and this was the season I most looked forward to, and still do. Last Christmas was another story though, as I was going through cancer treatment, and so I do understand that you may not be as excited this year, if you are in the same situation.

But back to those Christmas carols. What messages can we take from them and use on ourselves during the festivities?

We Three Kings

‘O star of wonder, star of night, Star with royal beauty bright’

When we dress for the occasion, our mood lifts. This is no different to when we are sick in bed from chemo, exhausted from radiotherapy or unable to move much after an operation. Light yourself up like a star with a special Christmas-sy outfit, and definitely a Christmas hat, for those feeling the chill on any bare head. Make it blingy and you will feel zingy!

Silent Night

‘Sleep in Heavenly Peace’

If your family normally parties hard over Christmas, this year is definitely one for ear plugs! It is vital that you get as much sleep as possible even when there is partying to be had. I am usually a party animal at Christmas and it took all my resolve to not stay up late and party on to the small hours last year. But for your health and energy, this is vital. Go to bed at a reasonable hour and ignore all requests to stay up dancing into the wee hours. You may even look like the healthiest member of the family the next day if they are nursing hangovers!

Little Donkey

‘Got to keep on plodding onwards with your precious load’

This is the one year where you must try not to be a ‘little donkey’ carrying your own heavy ‘precious’ load. Delegate, delegate, delegate. Manage your family with a delegated duties list, if you are normally responsible for cooking, cleaning, decorating… This is the one year you can put your feet up. But you must manage expectations on those you wish to delegate to, so they know what you expect of them. If you need help wrapping presents, get your friends who are always asking you, ‘let me know if there is anything I can do’ to help. Hopefully, you will get invited to someone else’s home on Christmas Day, so you won’t have to lift a finger!

Hark the Herald Angels Sing

‘Peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled’

Often, at Christmas, family tensions bubble to the surface, no matter if you have cancer. Don’t expect too much of people. But even if your family loves a good fight at Christmas, this is not the time to join in or fret about it. You have bigger things to be concerned with. So, forgive the begrudgers, the poor present selection, the moaning Aunt, the burnt turkey or the spoilt nephew and rise above it.

Good King Wenceslas

‘Mark my footsteps, good my page, Tread thou in them boldly, Thou shall find the winters rage Freeze thy blood less coldly’

It is vital to get out walking, if you can, for your health and energy. Wrap up in lots of layers and go at a sedate pace. Hopefully you can get walking. But there are no excuses. I was surrounded by knee high snow where I was living last Christmas, so I did circuits of the house instead, walking round all the rooms as many times as I could in 30 minutes! Put some Christmas tunes on and enjoy the walk.

Happy Christmas and a Healthy New Year! From Clare