How to simplify the holidays is something I have wrestled with in the past couple of years. I grew up in a home where my mom went all out during the Christmas holidays. Our home was always decorated throughout several rooms. My mom and dad played host to BOTH sides of the family for Christmas Eve breakfast (eeek! Can you even imagine?!). We hit multiple houses Christmas Eve night and Christmas Day to be with family.
I have such fond memories when I look back on it all, but man, were we exhausted by the time it was all over with! My husband and I kept up this pace as well, but this year will be different. Our extended family is larger now and we will be holding Christmas with one side of our family before Christmas Day, so our house hopping ways on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day will come to a halt. And honestly, after 44 years of doing it that way, I’m OK with it.
Why? Because I’m older. I’ve had heart surgery. While I feel fine, keeping up an exhausting pace is tougher now. I’ve learned my body needs to rest and I feel better when I don’t over-do things. I’ve suddenly switched holiday gears and have implemented some easy ways to simplify the holidays and it’s actually working for me. I thought I’d share some of these ways here.
How to Simplify the Holidays
Minimal Decorating– I don’t have a ton of Christmas decorations, but I do have a few. I am guilty of having several Rubbermaid tubs full of ornaments and other decorations. This year we put up our Christmas tree and set out the Christmas placemats. I realized after putting up the tree that we had left some of the decor out in the storage room. I told my husband we could get it the next day, but we didn’t. So far, we still haven’t. Maybe next year I’ll remember the rest.
Giving the Gift of Experiences– We have many little kids in our family. These kids also have many toys and don’t really lack for anything. This year we have decided that we will not be giving toys as gifts. Instead, we plan to gift them experiences. As a parent, I know I would certainly appreciate this. If you live in a larger town, tickets to museums, movies, or a zoo would be amazing experiences for a child. Most of the time, the costs for these are very comparable to what you might spend on a toy. We plan to give this a try this year and see how it goes!
Unscheduling– Some people like to jam-pack the days leading up to the holidays with lots of social events and shopping. We won’t be doing this. Our town puts on an amazing display of everything during the holidays….lights, extended shopping hours, open houses, movies are shown downtown (outside), carriage rides, etc. Seriously, there is something scheduled every night. Instead, we will take in the beautiful Christmas lights with a walk around our downtown area, but that may be the extent of our holiday socializing. We will thoughtfully choose holiday activities outside the home.
No More House Shuffling– I mentioned before that one side of our family will be doing our Christmas meal and gift-swapping on another day this year instead of on Christmas Day. This will leave Christmas Day open for us to stay home until supper for the first time ever. While it’s a little sad we had to do it this way to accommodate different work schedules, it will be nice to wake up Christmas morning and not be in such a rush.
Christmas Cards
I’m personally still undecided on Christmas cards. We may shoot for that next year and just send out a few to our out-of-town relatives and friends we won’t see during the holidays. However, there will be no family photo card this year. Maybe next year. And not that social media takes the place of an actual greeting, but I have noticed so many people just posting a family photo on Facebook, wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, and calling it good.
Keeping It Simple
Of course, I realize that these ideas for how to simplify the holidays may not work for everyone, but these are a few things we will be trying this year to see if it eases some of the usual holiday stress. So far, so good!
Photo: Steve Benedict and Jill Smith
[…] this so badly. We all need time to quiet our minds and recharge. A few years ago, I posted how our holidays have scaled down significantly from years past. It certainly helps. How are your holiday preparations going? […]