such a magical and wonderful time of the year!
I truly love it!
(although, I do love Halloween the most!!)
I truly love it!
(although, I do love Halloween the most!!)
However, it seems that every year it gets more commercialized...
Christmas is in the stores, sometimes even before Halloween stuff!
Christmas shouldn't be about having
the most perfectly decorated house!
It shouldn't be about having 15+ strands of lights on your tree, perfectly adorned and shimmering with tinsel, ribbons and balls and ornament!
It shouldn't be about having the most amazing centerpiece for your table!
It shouldn't be about how many perfectly wrapped presents you have nestled under your tree!
It shouldn't be about having the most lights on the outside of your house...
and the list goes on and on and ON!!
I know how easy it is to get caught up in the commercialism of Christmas.
Every magazine you read has pages and pages of what you need to "decorate with" and " buy" to have the most magical, wonderful Christmas ever!
Every store you go in has amazing and beautiful rooms jam packed full of trendy Christmas decor.
For many years, I had every square inch of my main house area decorated to the hilt!
Every year, I added a few more strands of the lights to the tree (of which, my hubby, would not be the happiest with me..."Why in the world do we need more lights, dear?")
Every year it seemed like we added a few more gifts under the tree, because it "looked" better and you didn't want your kids to feel "ripped off" if they didn't have LOTS of beautiful packages to open up.
When Ethan was a baby, (11 years ago)
I worked with a lady that talked about their Christmas tradition of the
"4 gift rule".
I loved it so much,
I wanted to add it to our own Christmas traditions.
However, it's really hard to simplify Christmas
down to just four gifts... OR, so, I thought.
This is the 4 gift Rule:
Something to Wear
Something to Read
Something you Want
Something to Read
It's actually a win-win!
The kids get something they WANT
They get some kind of article of clothing to WEAR
They get something that they really NEED
AND, best of all, you are promoting learning by getting them something to READ!
We decided to do this 2 years ago,
because we wanted Christmas to be Simple
and NOT about the gifts at all!
So, we took some white pillow cases that we had got from some friends that own a motel and we made each of us a BAG to hold the 4 gifts in.
You can make them as elaborate as you would like.
Stencil on the wording, or embroidery them on.
Add glitter,
use colorful fabric,
whatever you want, it would work out great.
Ours were just made by Sharpie Markers.
(However, one of these years,
I would like to re-do them and make them a little bit more jazzed up!)
As you can see,
they look awesome under the tree
and they are a BIG hit with the kiddos!
This sweet boy, really got us into
the TRUE Christmas Spirit last year.
He wanted an Old Fashioned Christmas.
He wanted a REAL tree.
He wanted to string popcorn and cranberries for the garland.
He wanted a homemade star on the top of the tree!
He wanted ALL of us to help decorate it and not just mom, making it perfect while everyone was at school and work, with lots of glitzy ornaments.
He did NOT want fancy, or tons of decorations.
What he really wanted was TIME.
Time to decorate...
Time to sip LOTS of hot chocolate while we read Christmas stories.
Time to listen to Christmas music.
Time to make goodies together.
Time to watch holiday movies.
It really is true that the SIMPLE things are the REAL things that kids CRAVE and long for!
After 8 years of working on simplifying the holidays and scaling back, I can officially say that we have finally figured out how to SIMPLIFY Christmas
to be like my favorite word
"Lagom"...
(not too much, not too little, but just the right amount!)
Here is our Christmas Holiday decor from Christmas 2012 complete with REAL Christmas tree, simple ornaments, homemade garland and a few holiday touches on the kitchen table and our buffet.
Home strung garland...
popcorn, cranberries and peppermint candies!
Tracy and I stayed up late
and made a homemade glitter star for the top of the tree
that we hung from our tall ceiling to be right above the tree!
My simple, yet beautiful
dining room table!
The Stockings were Hung...
Favorite Santas...
This years Nativity
I made many batches of Cinnamon Roasted Almonds, Carmel/Chocolate Dipped Pretzels
and other dipped chocolates!
Holiday Treats!
Christmas Eve Dinner...
Christmas morning breakfast...
The DAY after Christmas breakfast
with Tracy's parents
After Christmas was over,
all of my favorite tree ornaments fit in a large boot box!!
THAT is what you call SIMPLE!
(cute little couple in our ward that acted out the Nativity last year at our YW party)
I'm looking forward to enjoying another
SIMPLE Christmas this year
that's easy to put up and easy to take down...
Where we focus on the true meaning of Christmas!
Where we do NOT add unnecessary clutter and junk to our lives
from over spending and over consuming,
and where we create this year's memories as we enjoy
all of the traditions, goodies and FUN
that come with this most
"Wonderful Time of the Year"!
Unfortunately, my holiday Christmas decor, will not be gracing our home until November 30th, (the Sunday after Thanksgiving)
because, unlike many of my wonderful friends that have Christmas decor up right now,
THANKSGIVING
cannot be forgotten about at my house and until we have enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving Feast, there will be fall leaves, pumpkins, turkeys and pilgrim decor at the Smith House!
Christmas is in the stores, sometimes even before Halloween stuff!
Christmas shouldn't be about having
the most perfectly decorated house!
It shouldn't be about having 15+ strands of lights on your tree, perfectly adorned and shimmering with tinsel, ribbons and balls and ornament!
It shouldn't be about having the most amazing centerpiece for your table!
It shouldn't be about how many perfectly wrapped presents you have nestled under your tree!
It shouldn't be about having the most lights on the outside of your house...
and the list goes on and on and ON!!
I know how easy it is to get caught up in the commercialism of Christmas.
Every magazine you read has pages and pages of what you need to "decorate with" and " buy" to have the most magical, wonderful Christmas ever!
Every store you go in has amazing and beautiful rooms jam packed full of trendy Christmas decor.
OH and don't even get me started with Pinterest... Christmas overload!
For many years, I had every square inch of my main house area decorated to the hilt!
Every year, I added a few more strands of the lights to the tree (of which, my hubby, would not be the happiest with me..."Why in the world do we need more lights, dear?")
Every year it seemed like we added a few more gifts under the tree, because it "looked" better and you didn't want your kids to feel "ripped off" if they didn't have LOTS of beautiful packages to open up.
When Ethan was a baby, (11 years ago)
I worked with a lady that talked about their Christmas tradition of the
"4 gift rule".
I loved it so much,
I wanted to add it to our own Christmas traditions.
However, it's really hard to simplify Christmas
down to just four gifts... OR, so, I thought.
This is the 4 gift Rule:
Something to Wear
Something to Read
Something you Want
Something to Read
The kids get something they WANT
They get some kind of article of clothing to WEAR
They get something that they really NEED
AND, best of all, you are promoting learning by getting them something to READ!
We decided to do this 2 years ago,
because we wanted Christmas to be Simple
and NOT about the gifts at all!
You can make them as elaborate as you would like.
Stencil on the wording, or embroidery them on.
Add glitter,
use colorful fabric,
whatever you want, it would work out great.
Ours were just made by Sharpie Markers.
(However, one of these years,
I would like to re-do them and make them a little bit more jazzed up!)
As you can see,
they look awesome under the tree
and they are a BIG hit with the kiddos!
the TRUE Christmas Spirit last year.
He wanted an Old Fashioned Christmas.
He wanted a REAL tree.
He wanted to string popcorn and cranberries for the garland.
He wanted a homemade star on the top of the tree!
He wanted ALL of us to help decorate it and not just mom, making it perfect while everyone was at school and work, with lots of glitzy ornaments.
He did NOT want fancy, or tons of decorations.
What he really wanted was TIME.
Time to sip LOTS of hot chocolate while we read Christmas stories.
Time to listen to Christmas music.
Time to make goodies together.
Time to watch holiday movies.
It really is true that the SIMPLE things are the REAL things that kids CRAVE and long for!
After 8 years of working on simplifying the holidays and scaling back, I can officially say that we have finally figured out how to SIMPLIFY Christmas
to be like my favorite word
"Lagom"...
(not too much, not too little, but just the right amount!)
Here is our Christmas Holiday decor from Christmas 2012 complete with REAL Christmas tree, simple ornaments, homemade garland and a few holiday touches on the kitchen table and our buffet.
popcorn, cranberries and peppermint candies!
Homemade
Old Fashioned Tree Skirt
It's amazing how a .97 package of Tinsel Strings
can really add some
SHIMMER and SPARKLE to the holidays!
and made a homemade glitter star for the top of the tree
that we hung from our tall ceiling to be right above the tree!
dining room table!
and other dipped chocolates!
with Tracy's parents
Complete with Orange Rolls...
all of my favorite tree ornaments fit in a large boot box!!
THAT is what you call SIMPLE!
I'm looking forward to enjoying another
SIMPLE Christmas this year
that's easy to put up and easy to take down...
Where we focus on the true meaning of Christmas!
Where we do NOT add unnecessary clutter and junk to our lives
from over spending and over consuming,
and where we create this year's memories as we enjoy
all of the traditions, goodies and FUN
that come with this most
"Wonderful Time of the Year"!
Unfortunately, my holiday Christmas decor, will not be gracing our home until November 30th, (the Sunday after Thanksgiving)
because, unlike many of my wonderful friends that have Christmas decor up right now,
THANKSGIVING
cannot be forgotten about at my house and until we have enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving Feast, there will be fall leaves, pumpkins, turkeys and pilgrim decor at the Smith House!
2 comments:
Thank you for posting this.
I remember enjoying reading through this last year and thinking it was brilliant.
I look forward to seeing how you do your Christmas this year. Your boys are truly blessed to have parents that are so well grounded.
It really did upset me to see recently the display for Thanksgiving supplies already discounted and shoved in a small corner of a big name chain store. As they made way for all the Christmas decorations to be displayed. My thought was, we haven't even had time to be Thankful for Thanksgiving. Here you are shoving Christmas down our throats. I have done something similar over the years like you. Something to read, need, want and wear. I also still make traditional Christmas Eve pj's. Simplifying is my goal this year. Thanks for this wonderful post.
Post a Comment