SOOTHING Christmas Bedtime Story

Today we have another heart-warming little story for the inner child in you, as well as a reminder to be kind to yourself at Christmas.

Here's another podcast you will love: 10 Ways to Overcome Anxiety

Citations
'The Elves and The Shoemaker' by The Brothers Grimm - Read by Shelley Treacher.

Transcript

  Hi, this is Shelley Treacher from Underground Confidence. 

Today, as promised, I'm bringing you the second of your Christmas bedtime stories.  Today, I'm going to be reading you a very short Christmas story.  But before I do that, I want to remind you to be kind to yourself at Christmas.  So much can be triggered at Christmas. And we are still in recovery from the pandemic.

I know that Christmas has been cancelled for a lot of people this year because of illness. Physical illness can really bring us down, mentally and emotionally. It can also trigger us back to any trauma triggering or difficulty that we've had early in our lives, as can the pressures of Christmas and any relational or family dynamics.

We've been in recovery in many ways this year, and one of those ways is socially. You might be feeling pressure around having the best time, thinking that everybody else is having a great time at Christmas. I know that's not entirely true. When you're in recovery, you need to be gentle with yourself, just like with comfort eating recovery.

If it all seems like too much and a lot of effort, that's probably because it is. So I ask you to look after yourselves and ask what you want from the holiday this year. If you want more than this, I have talked about all of these subjects before. There's the last year's Christmas podcast, the year before that Christmas podcast,  the podcasts on grief, and the podcast on illness.

Not to mention all the podcasts on relationship dynamics. But now it's time to get on with our story. Just as in the last podcast, I'm going to finish all my blurb about who I am and where I come from and how you can get hold of me.  I'm going to say all that now so that you can relax and listen to the stories.

If you wanna help with relationship dynamics, comfort eating, or just managing your emotions, you can find me@undergroundconfidence.com.  This is Shelly Recher from Underground Confidence. You can find me on all the social medias, and I would love to hear from you in any of those capacities. But for now, I just wanna wish you a very merry Christmas, a very restful holiday, and a happy New Year.

Thank you so much for listening. 

The story I'm reading today is The Elves and the Shoemaker by the Brothers Grimm.  A shoemaker, by no fault of his own, became so poor that at last he had nothing left but enough leather for one pair of shoes.  So in the evening he cut the leather into the shape of the shoes and he left his work on the table to finish in the morning.

He lay down quietly in his bed  and before he fell asleep he asked God to help him.  In the morning just as he was about to sit down to work he saw the two shoes standing quite finished on his table.  He was astounded and did not know what to make of it.  He took the shoes in his hands to look at them more closely, and he saw that they were so neatly made, that there was not one bad stitch in them.

It was just as if they were intended as a masterpiece.  Soon after, A customer came into the shop and as the shoes pleased him so well, he paid more than the usual price. Now, the shoemaker had enough money to buy leather for two pairs of shoes. That night, he cut out the leather, and the next morning he was about to set to work with Fresh Hope for the future.

When he saw that the shoes were already made. There was no shortage of customers who wanted the shoes, and the shoemaker soon had enough to buy leather for four pairs of shoes.  The following morning, he found the four pairs were made, and so it went on.  Any leather that he cut out in the evening was finished by the morning. 

Soon he was no longer poor, and he even became quite rich.  Now one evening, not long before Christmas, the man finished cutting out the leather as usual. This time he said to his wife, let's stay up tonight to see who it is that lends us this helping hand. The woman liked the idea and lighted a candle.

Then they hid themselves in a corner of the room behind some clothes which were hanging up there and watched. When it was midnight, two little elves came into the room. Both without any clothes on,  and sat down by the shoemaker's table.  They took all the work which was cut out before them, and began to stitch, sew, and hammer, so skillfully and so quickly with their little fingers, that the shoemaker could not turn away his eyes for astonishment. 

They did not stop until all was done, and stood finished on the table. And then they ran quickly away. The next morning, the woman said, The little men have made us rich, and we really must show that we are grateful for it. They run about so, but have nothing on, and must be cold. I'll tell you what we'll do. 

I will make them little shirts, coats, vests and trousers, and knit both of them a pair of stockings.  You can help too. Make them two little pairs of shoes. The man said,  I shall be very glad to do it.  One night, when everything was ready, they laid their presents together on the table instead of out to work. 

Then they hid themselves to see what the little men would do.  At midnight, they came bounding in, wanting to get to work at once.  But as they did not find any leather cut out, but only the pretty little articles of clothing, they were at first puzzled,  and then delighted. They dressed themselves very quickly, putting the pretty clothes on and singing. 

Now we are boys so fine to see. Why should we longer cobblers be?  They danced and skipped and leapt over chairs and benches.  At last they danced out of the doors.  From that time on, they came no more. But as long as the shoemaker lived, all went well with him, and all his business prospered.