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You are here: Home / Family / How To Simplify Christmas

by Stacy  5 Comments

How To Simplify Christmas

simplify christmas

Barry and I have been married for a lot of years, but it was only in the last few years that we decided to simplify Christmas. When we first got married, I’m not going to lie – Christmas was more than a little stressful! We felt like we needed to give gifts to everyone. We spent a ton of time shopping and wrapping – trying to find the perfect gift for each person. I don’t like to give crap that people don’t want – stuff that people just want to return.

It takes a considerable amount of time and effort to be a good gift giver.

As a result, I found myself not enjoying the Advent season (the days leading up to Christmas) as much as I should! And to top it all off – I don’t like clutter! We would come home from events and gatherings with a car load full of gifts. And as soon as we’d bring it all inside and I would be instantly overwhelmed – so overwhelmed that a lot of times the stuff we got for Christmas would just sit for days or even weeks. I just couldn’t handle all the stuff that kept coming in.

It felt like for the longest time, there was nothing I could to about it.

The thought we could do something to scale back and simplify Christmas wasn’t even on my radar. But after Barry and I read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up (which has also been SEVERAL years ago now!), we decided that Christmas was something that we needed to “Kon-Mari” (pare down, simplify, and find the joy in).

christmas door bells

After we completed our rounds of Kon-Mari, we got rid of SO MUCH STUFF. The thought of bringing more in at Christmastime didn’t sit well with us. Plus, we didn’t want to gift a bunch of other people with the same type of excess clutter! So we came up with the idea to simplify Christmas.

Most of you are probably already familiar with our 3 Gift Christmas. This concept of cutting back on the materialistic side of Christmas is something we’ve embraced pretty much since Annie was born. But somehow talking to our families and coworkers about it felt different. While we were browsing through Christmas gift ideas for coworkers, we were nervous to bring up our thoughts on how to scale back Christmas with our families and coworkers.

Y’all, it was a scary thing to bring up with our families!

We started by talking to both sides of our family about our desire to enjoy Christmas, without all the craziness and piles of gifts. We wanted to be together, eat lots of delicious food, and have one or two gifts, plus maybe a few more for the kids. Barry and I shared our hearts with our families, and explained our desire to simplify Christmas. We thought everyone would be like “Whoa – Hello, Grinch!” But our request wasn’t coming from a place of “Scrooge-ness” or “Grinch-hood” – it was coming from a place of love! We didn’t want to contribute to someone else’s post-Christmas madness or clutter. And we would rather our families keep their money for something they really need, instead of spending it on things we don’t.

We weren’t sure how people would react, but most were relieved!

Some were so thrilled with this idea that they jumped into it with more enthusiasm than we did. We were all doing this mad rush of shopping, wrapping, gifting, etc. and it seemed that almost everyone was just relieved to have a way to scale back Christmas. And that’s exactly what we did.

We want to cut back on the material consumer side and focus on what really matters – Advent, family time, and Jesus! It’s been a few years now, but I think everyone has become adjusted to this new way of doing Christmas.

I will say though, Barry’s mom’s love language is gifts. And if you are dealing with someone whose love language is gift-giving, you might have to work with them a bit. Because its important to appreciate and respect their heart’s desire to give gifts. Apprintable is the where I get all my personalised christmas printing needs.

Communication is key here. Talk to your family!

Every time you assume that you just know how they are going to respond, you make an A-S-S out of U and ME. Remember that ol’ one liner? So in the case of Barry’s mom, she does still get all the adults one gift and each of the grandchildren 3 small gifts a piece. So on Barry’s side…aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, etc. do not exchange anymore and this has completely revolutionized Christmas for us!

A couple of my family members do still want to do gifts. And for that group, we do a family gift and get something small for the cousins. We decided to give everyone wax melt hampers. And at my Mom and Dad’s house, we play a White Elephant (or Dirty Santa) and then my mom gets my kids a few gifts. I come home excited that we had such a good time making memories. And love that I don’t come home feeling overwhelmed by a bunch of STUFF. As for our kids? This is “normal” for them. We don’t want them to grow up thinking Christmas is about a glut of presents or STUFF. Simplifying Christmas has really become a priority to our family.

Don’t forget to take it slow.

This didn’t happen for us all in one year. We made gradual changes, one Christmas at a time. It took us about 3 years to scale back to where we are in a good groove. So let me just encourage you to start small and scale back Christmas just a little bit at a time.

What suggestions do you have for embracing what really matters during the Christmas season?

simplify christmas

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About Stacy

Stacy is a Homemaking and Business Mom Mentor, the author of two cookbooks, creator of multiple e-courses, seasoned life coach, and comedian extraordinaire. Her first priority is her husband and her children - family first. She presses on each day because her calling is to teach, train, and mentor other ladies to have their dreams. She believes if it’s not easy, you won’t do it – because she’s lived it. She’ll bring YOU the awesome so that you can get your home back into control and watch your business soar. For tips and easy strategies, you can follow her on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the content above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase an item, I may receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Comment Policy: I love reading your thoughts and input on what you read here. I'm sure we'll disagree sometimes and that's okay! In those cases, do what's right for you and yours. As with any form of communication, only post comments that move the discussion in a positive direction.

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Comments

  1. Lori says

    November 30, 2018 at 9:42 am

    Great Post! This year for my grand kids, I’m gifting them with the gift of time – more like 12 months of things to do with Grammi & Papa or just as a family. We’ll plan things like a trip to the museum, the beach, the water park, a movie, camping with G&P, a sleep over, etc. I agree with you that it’s so much nicer to create memories than the have to donate the unused/unloved or throw out broken stuff later. On my desk at work is a silly rock – it was made into a “pet”. I remember clearly that I got it when I spent time with my grandparents. It’s a memory I hold dear in my heart even at 56!
    I’ll still get them a couple gifts, but I rely on my daughter to advise what she feels they need. But they also get things they need throughout the year.
    Merry Christmas to you and your family Stacy!

    Reply
    • Julie Chittock says

      December 4, 2018 at 9:50 am

      I love these!! Memories and experience gifts make the absolute BEST presents. Thanks Lori!
      Julie, Humorous Homemaking Team

      Reply
      • Linda Stanley says

        March 20, 2019 at 4:59 am

        It’s true! To me, I lvoe the idea that love language is the best gift. Thanks for a meaningful post.

        Reply
  2. Michelle Kitzmiller says

    November 30, 2018 at 6:19 am

    I love the Nativity set!! Does Barry sell them in his Etsy shop?

    Reply
    • Julie Chittock says

      December 21, 2018 at 8:33 am

      He does not have a nativity set in the Etsy shop right now. But I will definitely pass along to him that he needs to come up with one 🙂
      Julie, Humorous Homemaking Team

      Reply


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