A Simple Season: More Than Meets the Eye {Series}

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A Simple Season: Tips for Keeping the Heart of the Holidays

Part Two: More Than Meets the Eye

SSeason2As I get older, the most wonderful time of the year has lost some of its wonder.  A season that used to be my favorite has become laden with too many events, too much to buy, and too much to do, and suddenly I find myself dreading a time that used to be anticipated.

It all started when I got married – not because of my husband or in-laws, but because I had a house, and the responsibilities of the season doubled.  Suddenly there were twice as many people to buy for, twice as many dishes to prepare, twice as much space to decorate, and twice as many celebrations to attend.  And then we had kids! Oy.

Tree on the Ledge
OUR SECOND CHRISTMAS TREE

When I dreamed about what my home would look like at the holidays I imagined nothing short of the typical Lifetime movie Christmas scene: banisters wrapped in greenery, a custom-decorated mantle with twinkle lights, and multiple Christmas trees.  The one pictured on the left took two adults, a large ladder, a keen understanding of physics and a lot of prayer to place on that 10 foot ledge in our foyer.

Those dreams became reality.  For a couple years I hauled nine large bins plus two trees up from the basement, spent the better part of a week covering every horizontal surface with Christmas and the better part of a month putting it all away again.  Don’t get me wrong – I really enjoyed it, but I found myself frustrated at the amount of time it took and the amount of stuff we were storing to enjoy for only six weeks a year. The year our son was born the thought of even getting it all out became so overwhelming that I skipped the tree altogether.  That’s right folks – no Christmas tree.

These days, life has changed, and so have my expectations.

The addition of little lives that matter more than anything has meant the subtraction of stuff that matters less than almost everything.

Skipping the tree was a little far, but things couldn’t continue the way they had been.  It was too much stress, too much pressure, too much time, and something had to give – and something did.

Here are changes I have made to simplify decorating for the holiday I love so much:

Don’t add, embellish.  Rather than swapping out the wreath you use the rest of the year, simply embellish it for the holidays.  Change out the pictures in your existing frames for family holiday pics or squares of holiday fabric or scrapbook paper.  Wrap existing art with wrapping paper.

Wreath_Before
BEFORE

Rotate ornaments.  If you have a lot of ornaments, don’t feel pressure to use every single one every single year.  I have two boxes that I rotate on odd and even years, plus a few really sentimental ones that I use annually.

Limit the space you decorate.  I used to decorate the whole house, but now I keep to the room we’re in the most.  I decorate the mantle and the entertainment center, plus put up the Christmas Tree – all in the living room.

Ribbon.  Ribbon.  Ribbon.  Ribbon is a simple way to embellish a banister, the curtains, the door knobs, etc.  It’s inexpensive, easy to use, and simple to store.  If you like to be fancy, add a glittery stem for fun!

Stretch the season with senses.  Don’t forget the power of a scented candle, Christmas music, and extra warm blankets when it comes to creating the feel of Christmas in your home.

Wreath_After
AFTER

Cheap stuff is still stuff.  Please don’t do what I did!  Disregard the temptation to buy more stuff just because it’s 90% off after Christmas.  Unless it’s literally calling to you like the decorations in the Pier 1 commercials, leave it on the shelf.

Replace, don’t add. For me, I am committed only to replacement, not addition at this time of year (and always really – just ask my husband!). This applies to toys, to events, to decorations, to most everything for me.  If toys are broken (or no longer played with) we can remove the old and replace with new.  If the lights are broken, I can toss the old ones and replace them, but I am not adding any more.  I can replace one cookie exchange with another living nativity display, but I am not adding any more.  Our lives are plenty full, and if there is anything missing, I can guarantee that it’s not stuff.

The last tip I’ll share with you has been the game-changer for me: you don’t have to keep everything.  Decorate with less, in fact, LIVE WITH LESS by eliminating the extras.  So how do you decide what goes?  Fill your tree and your home with stuff that matters to you, from people who matter to you.  Keep the stuff that has a story.  For me this looked like handing down or giving away a lot of my store-bought decorations in lieu of family heirlooms and handmade goods.

Fill your tree and your home with stuff that matters to you, from people who matter to you.  Keep the stuff that has a story.

And speaking of stories, I involve my kids by decorating in the context of what the holiday means to me – celebrating Jesus’ birthday.  When we decorate, we’re decorating for his birthday party.  We connect the dots between the star on the tree and the star the shepherds saw announcing Jesus’ birth.  When we wrap presents we read about the gifts the wisemen brought to baby Jesus and what they meant.   We read about the manger scene as we set it out, and we move the pieces from different places in the room toward the manger over a number of days building up to Christmas Eve, because that story is the heart of our Christmas.  It’s the heart of our faith, it’s the heart of our family, and keeping things simple helps keep us centered around the stuff that matters.

Whatever you are celebrating this season, make it simple. Tell the stories that make your family unique, with decorations and with words.

To read more in Casey’s series on creating a “simple season”, click here.

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