Have you thought about simplifying Christmas? What I mean is to have a holiday season without the stress, without going all out on decorations, events, and gifts. Consider celebrating a much simpler Christmas this year. By scaling back and focusing on the more spiritual side of this holiday, you just might find more joy this season. As an added bonus, when you keep thing simple, you have a lot more time to enjoy everything this special time of the year has to offer.
Think back on Christmases past. Chances are that the ones that stand out the most were years when your family didn’t have the money for the fanciest decorations, lots of events leading up to Christmas Eve and mountains of presents. Instead, if your family is anything like mine, the ones we remember are the years when we had little. I remember making garlands out of construction paper and stringing up popcorn to decorate the house. And eating sneaking a bite or two of popcorn in between stringing it.
We spent the month of December looking at lights, playing board games, baking cookies, and singing Christmas Carols. The gifts were less expensive but more meaningful and often homemade. It’s those simple Christmases that stand out in my mind. They are some of my most treasured memories and the same holds true for the rest of my family. My fondest Christmas memory is when my mom and dad would bundle us and we get in the back of Nellie, our 1967 Station Wagon and riding around looking at Christmas lights that neighbors had used to decorate their houses.
This year we’re making an effort to keep it simple, and I’d like to invite you to join along. We’re not buying more decorations. Instead, we’re sorting through what we have, picking the things we love and giving away the rest. The house is less cluttered and the decorations that are up stand out. As an added bonus it’s easier to clean and it will be much quicker to put away everything come January.
