Christmas mornings are different now.

My teenage & young adult sons sleep in. There’s a fresh pot of coffee on and I sit with a mug (it might have a splash of Bailey’s in it…) reading beside the lit Christmas tree, with carols playing quietly in the background while I wait for the world to wake up. We’ll have breakfast, open gifts, play cards… before heading out to spend the rest of the day with my Dad and my sisters and their families.

It’s a very different experience from when I was a child, when Christmas was (mostly) magical and mayhem! Christmas Eve Mass was followed by a steady stream of friends and family stopping by our house on Dwyer Hill Road (the house that my father sold this past spring). There were lots of traditions, good tidings and best wishes for a day, season and year-to-come of happiness.

Whether your holiday is religious or secular or a mash-up of both, there’s the expectation of joy and happiness at this time of year.

Which we know for so many is just not the case.

My own Christmas memories were not all happy. I’d get caught up in the promise of magic and intense anticipation for a beautiful day of peace and harmony at home with my four younger siblings and my parents. Of course I expected non-stop fun and frivolity – it was Christmas!! But the magic would quickly dissolve into discontent, disrupted by pettiness. I would inevitably be disappointed, again, by high expectations that reality could not reach.

And, yes, it was kind of about the money…

The underlying story is that I started working when I was quite young. I would babysit on evenings and weekends for families in the community; I picked strawberries and was paid by the basket; eventually I spent seven years in various food & beverage roles at a local golf course. But I didn’t have my own bank account until I turned 17. So those first three summers I would sign my paycheque over to my mother and she would cash it.

So where did the money go? I reasoned that a good chunk of it ended up under the Christmas tree. Which added to my Christmas Day dismay.

Several of my fall posts and podcasts were about money and happiness – a recurring theme!

(You can revisit them here: Breaking News: Money CAN buy Happiness; How to be unapologetically wealthy; Your wallet is full, but is it happy?; Why you must say Merci to your money.)

What I’m still learning is that Money can buy Happiness… and at the same time Money can’t buy Happiness.  (Wow. Now I’m talking out of both sides of my mouth like a true economist…. JK)

For years I harboured a sense of lack … in terms of both finances and contentment. Letting myself feel enough, have enough, be enough… it’s still a work in progress. It takes a while to drop the ideas, habits and beliefs we internalize from our youth. What childhood stories are holding you back? What preferences are getting in your way? 

At the end of the day, it’s never really about the money or the gifts under the tree… happiness is largely a choice that we make. Think about it. Where we focus, our results will flow. Beliefs drive our actions which create our results.

You can embrace your gifts and talents. You can measure your business (or career) success by how happy you are. Or you can second-guess everything, look to others, let them influence you and take you off your path. You can begrudge the detour or shift your focus back and re-route towards your own happiness.

So again, I ask you …  DO YOU WANT TO BE HAPPY – no matter what happens? In the face of change and uncertainty – it may come down to making that choice over and over again. If there’s one thing I know, it’s that entrepreneurs and business owners who embrace uncertainty have both passion and vision… they drive forward rather than dwell in adversity.

The one choice in life that makes all other decisions simple… choose happiness.

As this year wraps up like gifts under a Christmas tree – think about what you want to unwrap for yourself next year. My Christmas gift to you (aside from the donation I made to the Ottawa Snowsuit Fund to keep area children warm) is the permission to go after happiness, whatever that looks like to you!

If you’re at the stage of wondering what happiness looks like AFTER selling a business, I’ve got a special opportunity for you. Find out how to plan a cash-rich exit so you can travel the world, spend more time with your family & friends, or launch a new, exciting endeavour.

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This is advance notice to find out more and take advantage of a Super Early Bird Offer. The workshop is for business owners who want a cash-rich exit in 10 years or less. Interested? Apply for more info here.

Wishing you a very happy holiday!