How To Keep Christmas Simple

The 12 Vows of Christmas

How to simplify Christmas in 12 easy steps.

1. Only use cash at Christmas. Save! If it's too late to open a Christmas account that you put some money into every payday, then withdraw cash and use it to purchase your Christmas items. You will be more aware of what you are spending and come January 1st you will be able to afford some more batteries for the gadgets your Aunt sent you.
   

   

2. Don't kill yourself cooking all day long. Unless you want to. Really, it's okay to buy some pre-made store bought pies. Check out your local supermarket services to see how they can help you. Don't try to do it all unless you really want to. Do you want to?
   

   

3. Shop online. Think of all of the gas you will be saving! Many retailers offer free shipping at this time of year so take advantage of it! You may even get one less cold by avoiding all of those people and their germs. Ewwwwww. And don't forget to use your debit card and not your credit card. Cash!
   

   

4. Send out New Years cards instead of Christmas cards. I've done this a few times and it's a tradition that I will be keeping. There is enough to do before Christmas. Take a photo of your family around the tree and send it out as a New Years Card. Take the time to write a few words (make it meaningful) and it will arrive in the New Year when people may actually remember it. Do you remember everyone who sent you a Christmas card last year? I don't, but I would remember a New Years Card.
   

   

5. Gift wrapping. Here is a great tip. Buy lots of red wrapping paper, it is great to use for birthdays, and other gift giving days. You will always have extra lying around which will make last minute wrapping easier. Ok, go ahead and buy some pretty stuff too, I love gift wrapping, not everyone does but it's one the things I really enjoy doing. However, having lots of plain red paper around is great when the printed stuff runs out. Don't worry about having too much, you can use it in February for Valentines day too!
   

   

6. Gift wrapping part deux. I can never find tags. Can you? I buy them every year and I spend forever hunting them down and it drives me nuts! So, if you don't have a lot of people to wrap for, just wrap everyone's gift in different paper. Johnny can get reindeers, Sally can get snow men, and Grandpa can get the plain red that you have so much of. Easy!
   

   

7. Just say no to Christmas parties. Now you may not be able to do this one, but then again you may. If you are a parent with several children you will be more likely to have this dilemma. Everyone is having a Christams party. The scouts are having one, the dance class is having one, the bug catches group is having another. Just say no! If you are asked if you think the group should have one, just say no! Especially if you are required to buy gifts to bring to them all. One or two are fine, but really, enough is enough!
   

   

8. Forget spring cleaning, how about some Christmas cleaning several weeks before the big day. I don't mean dusting and vacuuming, I mean getting rid of old clothes, toys and generally decluttering to make room for the new stuff. You will be less overwhelmed on Christmas day when you are trying to find a place for everything.
   

   

9. When you shop online, have the gift sent straight to the person. It will save you time and energy. Have you ever had a gift sitting around for a few weeks after Christmas? Do you keep missing the person you want to give it to? Playing phone tag, or forgetting to bring the gift when you next see them. Just get it delivered to their door. Everyone loves mail, just make sure it's not too heavy for them to carry from the post office to the car. That would just be plain mean.
   

   

10. Delegate or drop it. When you find yourself feeling stressed and overwhelmed, ask yourself who you are doing this for. Is it because you feel satisfied when it is done? Or is it just to keep up appearances. Nobody wants to be a killjoy, but if there is no joy in it, have someone else do it, and if they don't want to, how important can it be to them?
    

    

11. Write it down. Ok, this is a no brainer, but do you do it? Write a list and check it twice. If it works for Santa it will work for you.
    

    

12. Look for the meaning. Now that you have cancelled parties, bought a prepared turkey instead of cooking it and stopped running around for hours looking for gift tags, spend some time thinking about adding in more meaning to Christmas. Is your Christmas about family? Religion? Stuffing yourself with food? What would you like more of? The answer isn't pie is it? Decide what means the most to you and you will have added to the day and season without adding to your anxiety levels.