Let's be honest - the holidays can be magical AND stressful.

Between burnt cookies, mall meltdowns, and the pressure to make everything perfect, it's easy to lose the joy in the season. But what if you could rewrite your holiday experience? Not by controlling every detail, but by controlling the one thing you actually can: how you respond to the chaos. In this solo episode, I'm sharing the simple PEN framework that will help you stay calm, present, and joyful this holiday season - even when your child is lying on the floor of the mall in their Christmas best, refusing to get up.

Because here's the truth: your family feeds off your energy. When you're frazzled and stressed, they become frazzled and stressed. When you're calm and intentional, everything shifts. The PEN framework stands for Pause (regulate before you react), Examine (get curious about the story you're telling yourself), and New Narrative (rewrite the story to support the experience you actually want). It's not about toxic positivity or pretending everything is perfect. It's about being intentional with your thoughts and responses so you can create the magical, memorable holiday season you actually want - not the stressed-out survival mode most of us default to. Because the pen is always in your hand. You're the author. And you get to decide what happens next.

Key Takeaways:

• Your family feeds off your energy - when you're stressed, they become stressed
• You can't control external circumstances, but you can always control your response
• The pause is where the power is - creating space between trigger and response
• Awareness is everything - you can't change what you're not noticing
• Rewriting your story trains your brain to choose calm over chaos
• "Doing less lets me be more present" - perfection isn't the goal, connection is
• Every choice and word is an opportunity to be intentional
• The PEN framework: Pause (regulate), Examine (get curious), New Narrative (rewrite)

Download the FREE Holiday Rewrite Mini Workbook:

This workbook walks you through the PEN framework with helpful prompts to shift your mindset and energy all holiday season long. Get intentional about creating the magical, memorable Christmas you actually want.