In Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge proclaims, "I will live in the Past, Present and the Future"; wise words from a grouchy old miser who, overnight, transformed into a compassionate philanthropist. As Scrooge discovered, the ghosts of holidays past can affect our holiday present and color future holidays. We have much to learn from him.

For most of us, holidays past loom large in our memories, sending some of us into elation and others into misery. So it’s wise to remember that we have a choice: We can view holidays past either positively or negatively. When we take a little time to reflect on the basics – our thoughts about what we want compared to what we need – we can learn a lot about what, and maybe who, is most important in our lives. Next, we recall good past holiday experiences — we do have them, even if we have to search our mind’s attic for a while before they turn up — and share them when we connect with loved ones. When we do these simple things, we have the opportunity to create more positive experiences for ourselves and others. Let’s start by diving deeper into wants and needs.

At this time of year, many of our wants are things – things that make our lives easier or make us feel better temporarily, but aren’t necessary. We can see how this works by examining what and why we buy things four ourselves, our children, and others. If we make impulse buys or purchase things we don’t really need then we........

© Psychology Today