Simplify Christmas And Start Getting Back Some Peace And Joy

For several years, I found myself dreading Christmas. The dread started well before Thanksgiving, and got progressively worse. I started feeling like a real Grinch. I didn't look forward to Christmas at all, and started telling people to "wake me up when it's December 26th".

Though I enjoy giving in general, I did not like fighting my way through packed malls, trying to find the "perfect" gift for everybody, on a deadline, and sometimes within a very tight budget. We all have everything we need, and buying something for the sake of having a pile of gifts under the tree didn't make much sense to me.

Then there was the stress of trying to make sure that each side of the family had "equal time" with us. This meant my young daughter didn't get much time to enjoy her gifts on Christmas morning, because we were always rushing around, trying to get to one side of the family or other in time for everyone to sit down together for the meal and then opening of gifts. Then we'd feel bad, because we'd end up having to leave early in order to get to the host's house on the other side of the family, not wanting to shortchange one side or the other. It usually meant eating two Christmas dinners too, and not wanting to offend the people at the second meal when we were still full from the first meal.

There was the stress of too much to do, trying to cram too many activities into too little time. I used to write and send out a large number of cards, sending a card to everyone we knew, even if we saw them every day.

I tried to bake tons of special cookies, and make candy.

We'd put up a large Christmas tree, decorate the house, and wrap a big pile of presents.

To top it all off (and I realize now that it was most likely due to stress), my daughter and/or I would come down with the flu right before Christmas Day.

Photo by me

One day while out Christmas shopping, I ran across a book called Simplify Your Christmas by Elaine St. James. I bought it, and went home and read it in one sitting, then I started to simplify Christmas.

One of the main ideas in the book is to think about all the things you do, or have done, for Christmas, and decide which things you really WANT to do, and start discarding the ones you don't.

This book was an eye-opener, and a Christmas changer for me.

Photo by me

...I simplified Christmas, and started getting back some peace and joy. I no longer dreaded Christmas, and started enjoying the holiday again.

Some of the ways I simplified Christmas:

-Reduced the number of Christmas cards I sent out
-Cut down on the baking
-Stopped putting up a large tree, just hang a wreath and put a poinsettia on the table instead

As it turned out, others in the family wanted to eliminate the gift exchange too, so now we get together to enjoy a meal, no gifts involved.

Snowy trees photo by me

As I look back on Christmas 2011, I think it might have been our simplest Christmas yet.

We mailed ONE Christmas card, to my mother, because we've always sent Christmas cards to our parents. Mom is alone now, and I wasn't about to stop the card sending tradition the year she became a widow.

Some years my husband and I exchange gifts. Some years we don't. This Christmas we didn't.

On both sides of the family, we all agreed to get together for a Christmas meal, and to skip giving presents. The only gifts we gave were to our grandchildren, and my young nephew. I wrapped cash with Christmas chocolate, and all of the kids enjoyed it because they know they can stretch their dollars by shopping at after-Christmas sales for something they'd like.

We hosted my husband's family for a simple Christmas Eve meal, then joined my side of the family for dinner on Christmas Day.

The few Christmas decorations I had put out were easily picked up and put away the day after Christmas. (I'm one of those who likes everything put away a day or two after Christmas, for a "clean slate" feeling for New Year's.)

It was a very enjoyable holiday season.