A Case For A Simple Christmas

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. Things come up that are out of our control and that can be really tough on families, kids most of all.

Take some time to 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.

Think about last year (2020) when we couldn’t go anywhere, and having family over, was just at times something that just couldn’t happen. Instead, if your family is anything like mine, the ones we remember are the years when we had little. I remember, as a child, making garlands out of construction paper and stringing up popcorn to decorate the tree.

When I got first married, we had this tiny fake pine tree we dressed up, and it sat on the counter. I may even still have that tiny tree somewhere packed away. Fake trees you can use year after year are great. But why not make it, so you buy a tiny live tree instead?
( I found this very interesting post about live trees vs fake trees – which is better?)
I couldn’t do that when my children were young, we didn’t even live in the United States for 3 of their first Christmases.
Any military reading this post, 😉 You know how it is, and I wouldn’t change it for anything else in the world!

When I was young 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.

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. In fact, I think I am going to go hunt and see if I can find the real wood ones I got while living in Germany. Find that fake tiny tree and dress it up and remember when my sons were young.

Our calendar is a lot lighter this year as well. We’ve chosen a handful of activities and events that I know we’ll enjoy. The rest of the time will be spent as a family, baking cookies, crafting, and watching our favorite holiday movies.
When it comes to presents, we’ve decided to implement the four gift rule.

• Each one of us will receive a total of four presents.
• One will gift will be something each of us really wants.
• The second one will be something we need, the third something to wear, and the fourth something to read.
• If you prefer, you can combine two of the gifts (something they need and something to wear), and make it a three gift rule to represent the three gifts the wise men brought to Jesus.

I hope you give a simpler Christmas a try this year and see if you can’t enjoy a calmer and more meaningful holiday season.

PS: Tell me, what is the most favorite thing you have done for the holidays, with your family or by yourself?