Five Things to Skip to Keep Christmas Simple This Year (and still enjoy a beautiful holiday season):
1. Sending Christmas cards to everyone you ever knew
I love getting Christmas cards. I love seeing everyone’s coordinating outfits and their professional pictures. I love all those creative and eye-catching card designs. And for years I sent one from us, too. For a few years, I loved sending cards…until one season I just didn’t. I realized I spent over $300 every year on cards and postage. Plus, it started to cause me a lot of stress! What picture should we use? What would we wear in professional pictures? Did anyone’s address change since last year? And who should I send to? Did I forget anyone? Oh no! They sent me a card?! Now I have to send one in return!
It just became too much. And since eliminating the yearly Christmas card, I’ve noticed a small reduction in my holiday stress. Did it change everything? No. But did it help? You bet!!
Plus, with social media at everyone’s fingertips, the family we don’t see much can always keep up with what we have going on. And vice versa. I challenge you to try it. Instead of a Christmas card this year, send a text or give a call or post a ‘Happy Holidays’ on your social media timeline. Each of these options is easy and free.
2. Playing Elf on the Shelf for your kids
Early in motherhood with five young children, I just knew I wouldn’t have the energy for Elf on the Shelf. I wouldn’t remember to move it. I wouldn’t be able to think of new and creative ways to display it. And I couldn’t stand to hear any bickering about who (would most definitely) touch it and steal all its magic!! I said NO to Elf on the Shelf before I even began my minimalist journey…and I’m so thankful I did!!! It’s one less thing to stress over throughout the holiday season.
If you LOVE Elf on the Shelf, I’m happy for you! You should definitely continue this fun traditions! But if you would really like to stop the Elf madness, then this is your invitation. You don’t have to keep doing things you don’t want to do just because you’ve done it before or because everyone else is doing it. It’s okay to tell the kids your Elf is busy working at the workshop this year. I promise, they’re gonna be perfectlyl okay without it!
3. Buying gifts for every single person in your life
Christmas marketing is, well, madness. It starts at Thanksgiving and continues throughout the Christmas season. It’s easy to get caught up!!! But at our house we really try to keep it simple. We buy gifts for our parents, our kids’ teachers, and our kids.
My husband’s parents live out of town, and we won’t see them over the holiday. This year, I sent them a package shortly after Thanksgiving with a snuggly blanket and new red Christmas towels for my mother-in-law, and a warm, green plaid sherpa line jacket for my father-in-law (who is always doing work outdoors). We included a thoughtful card and some sweets they can enjoy throughout the season.
My parents will visit next week, and we bought them a new coffee maker since theirs has been on its last leg for a while. It’s a gift they will use and love every day. I just LOVE giving useful gifts!
I give the kids’ teacher giftcards. Yes, mugs are fun. Or candy. Or a scented candle. Or some baked treat. But I wonder how the teachers feel about receiving 25 of those year after year? I’d much rather give them a giftcard to Starbucks for a treat or Target so they can get something they actually want or need.
And for the kids we stick with the ‘something you want, something you need, and something to read’ mantra (although this year my teens are receiving money/gas cards instead of something to read) plus some candy and gum in their stocking. I’ve noticed that by keeping the gifts to a minimum, my kids seem thrilled by their ‘want.’ Plus, when they were younger, they would play for hours with their one or two toys without ever tossing a gift aside wondering what was in the next box.
Keeping gifts simple makes shopping so much easier for our brains. And ignoring the hype to provide piles of gifts saves us a lot of money, too!
4. Decking ALL your halls
I used to decorate the porch and the front door and the entryway. I used to set up a nativity and Christmas candles with greenery in our front room. I used to change out the photos on the wall with Christmas art. I used to put away our everyday dishes and use Christmas dishes in their place. I used to decorate. A LOT.
But I noticed I was often exhausted by all the décor, the putting it up and moving it around only to have to take it back down and store it for another year. These last few years, I experimented with putting out less and less. And I donated much of our unused Christmas décor.
Now this year, I only put up a tree. The Christmas tree has always been my favorite Christmas decoration because it is covered with ornaments my children created over the years. When the tree comes out, they just LOVE pulling these special gifts from the boxes to hang on the tree.
I also noticed that I’m not a red girl. I don’t buy red. I don’t wear red. I don’t decorate throughout the year with anything red. And by the end of the Christmas season, I can barely tolerate having red in the house. So this year, I removed all the red from our tree—the poinsettia picks and red glass balls or other ornaments (unless they were handmade)—and I replaced it with white and sage green and brown.
Is there anything at your house you can donate instead of decorate with this year?
5. Doing activities galore
Many of our Christmas festivities can’t be skipped—the holiday party at work, the kids’ Christmas program, multiple family gatherings. But many, MANY of the activities that fill our schedules are those that we bring on ourselves, and guess what??? We don’t have to do them!
We don’t have to drive around and look at the lights. We don’t have to go see Santa at the Mall. We don’t have to bake cookies and take them to all the neighbors or participate in the neighborhood cookie exchange. We don’t have to go sledding or caroling or do ANY of the things we see paraded as a necessary part of Christmas through the endless marketing that surrounds us.
WE GET TO CHOOSE!
A few years ago, we asked the kids what they like most about the holiday season. And their answers were simple—movies, cookies, and gifts. So, guess what we do at our house? Movies, cookies, and gifts. That’s it!!!
Ask your family what they love most and give yourself the gift of a beautiful Christmas season by doing just the few things they feel matter most.
