It’s holiday time. Time for family, time for friendship, time to give thanks, time to reflect, and time to simply sit back and enjoy the moment.

Unless you have a mortgage renewal coming up quickly or bought a house recently, I’m going to make a suggestion and forget about all the financial stresses that come with life, you’ve got all next year to deal with that.

All year long we hear about what we should be doing, what we could be doing and what’s going on. So why not, for once, take this time and shut off all of the noise.

In my world, I watch the news- a lot! It’s so that I can provide my clients with an interpretation of what’s going on in our local, provincial, national and global markets to be able to provide them with the most up to date information I can to determine if buying a home is right for them at this moment.

However, for the past few weeks there’s been a lot more noise than usual coming from our government’s senate scandal and Rob Ford which unfortunately takes up a lot of the networks’ time so then they don’t make time to report the actual news. To top that off there’s the terrible news of floods and typhoons destroying many families across the world.

The inspiring message comes the world’s friend, Nelson Mandela. If only we could all be more like him, selfless, giving and inspiring.

These somber moments make us all ponder what this is all about and it’s time for some of us just to shut up and realize what is truly important.

We all know what that is, so why not just do it and get out there and enjoy the moment with your family and friends…and give a little more than you usually do to help the families across the world in need. Maybe even in your own backyard.

Sure this is a crazy time of year, but why not do the opposite of years past and just slow down, reflect upon the past year, dream of the next, but mostly just enjoy the moment with those that you love.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and all the best in the New Year!

Jean-Guy Turcotte is an Accredited Mortgage Professional with Dominion Lending Centres-Regional Mortgage Group.