Goodbye, Bah-Humbug
This is the last Sunday of Sunshine of 2025. I’ve reflected on the year behind me—celebrating the wins, integrating the lessons, and stepping into 2026 with a renewed belief that I can do the impossible.
One thing I’m celebrating is you. I look forward to writing this newsletter every week. Thank you for being here, for reading, and for all of the amazing and thoughtful notes you send back to me.
I grew up watching A Christmas Carol every December, remembering it for the ache of hoping Tiny Tim would be okay and the fear of the long, terrifying night that forces Ebenezer Scrooge to confront his life.
The grown-up Christina now sees it through a different lens: a reminder of how easily we take our lives for granted—and how powerful it is to finally wake up to them.
The overall message is that our future is ours to decide.
Regardless of our past
Regardless of our present
Regardless of what we’ve been taught about it's “too late.”
The Ghost of Christmas Past shows Ebenezer the innocence he abandoned and the armor he built over a lifetime because of it. Living in scarcity. Living in lack. Living from the past in the present.
The Ghost of Christmas Present reveals that joy is what really matters most. It lives everywhere in the little things if we are present and open to them. The Cratchits had nothing and yet possessed everything money can’t buy: love, connection, and joy.
The Ghost of Christmas Future delivers the hard reality of a life that exists when we don’t take back our agency to change it. Scrooge sees that his future doesn’t have to be shaped by the choices he’s made in the past, how he has treated people, and the love he never gave.
When Scrooge was able to see himself more clearly, he could see, really see what could shape who he would become.
There is a quote that says you can't read the ingredients from inside the jar. I too often need to get out of myself to see what's getting in my way and to see what's truly possible. New awareness.
Scrooge wasn’t transformed by fear alone but by a new awareness.
The moment he let go of his hardened identity, the moment he allowed himself to imagine another way of being, everything changed.
He shifted from survival to generosity, true connection and possibility.
And so can you.
One new thought.
One new intention.
One new commitment.
It can change your life and the lives of others.
I recently saw an Instagram post that posed a simple question:
What if, today, you said one more thing?
Instead of the automatic, expected reply—the reflex we offer without thinking—what if you intentionally responded with a bit more care and kindness.
When someone says hello, go beyond the echo.
“Hi there. It’s such a sunny day—I hope it treats you well.”
When someone says thank you, don’t stop at polite.
“You’re very welcome. I truly appreciate what you do here every day.”
It might seem small. But it just might be the moment that changes someone’s entire day.
Like Scrooge, the end-of-year unwind allows us to reflect and give us time to:
Reconcile your past — not to rewrite it, but to understand how it shaped your strength and what you need to learn from it to grow into who you want to become.
Find joy in our present — because joy is always available to the ones who choose to notice it and give it. In the small and everyday moments. Yesterday, I received a call from a dear old friend who shared the news of her daughter’s promotion-it made her day sharing it and made mine because she cared to share it with me. A moment of joy and gratitude for friendship.
Reimagine our future — because everything seems impossible until you choose the courage to make it real, and the future version of you is waiting to be invited forward.
You do not need a nightmare or a movie to wake you up to what you most desire.
When you open your heart to another, you don’t just change your own story, you change what becomes possible for everyone around you.
My other favorite holiday classic, It’s a Wonderful Life, ends with the line that feels especially true this year:
“Remember: no one is a failure who has friends.”
Here’s my holiday wish for you:
May this be the year you listen to the quiet whisper inside you
the one that knows what you’re capable of,
the one that still believes in possibility,
the one that’s ready for an awakening of your own making.
Goodbye, Bah-humbug.
Hello, the life you’re becoming.
See you in the New Year!
