My Take on Holiday Planning

2 things Renee: First, I was JUST online looking at photo cards on Shutterfly, etc., bemoaning the expensive obligation to send these things out each year. So, after reading your post, I have decided that my husband's family back east will get a regular card, with a photo included just from our own printer, and family here in Cali. really doesn't need one at all - after all, we see them frequently! Ah, weight lifted off the shoulders.

Secondly, if you put some of those gorgeous photo cards up on the Cafe, I would surely buy some prints to frame or give as gifts because your photos have always been eye/soul candy for me! Just a thought, another way you could monetize! :)

Nicole

You know I'm on the same simple living page as you. In the end, I just want to embrace each season in a simple yet loving fashion. I want to celebrate but celebrations (in my opinion) should leave me feeling jubilant not burnt out. Oh, I'm sure there's room for improvement but I'm going to keep trying.

I love going from season to season and try to enjoy the benefits without complaining (too much) about the cons. My favorite time of year is right when the first leaves start to turn and the air gets a crisp 65 degrees, around mid to late September. This time through the end of the year, is when I feel I'm 'in my prime' as I love to snuggle up with a book when it's 5PM and dark outside, and I love the yearly traditions we've had with our families and friends during this season. Not to mention the weather is wonderful. (After 3 months of over 100 degrees + humidity, summer just looses its fun after mid-July!) A few things we implement is 'neighbor baking' with my mom and kids (little packages of treats for our neighbors that we door-bell ditch for :), a Christmas cookie baking day with my mother in law, and sister in law (strong German heritage means German cookies!), and a daily advent calendar with my own kids. I find these 3 things are the top things I look forward to most each year, and so that's what happens. Everything else is fun and meaningful at the time (this year making :blessings bags" for the homeless people around our town with a friend and her daughter) but may not be a tradition. The only things I craft are knitting two sweaters--one for each of my kids, which is always a part of their Christmas gifts. We've always implemented (and intend on keeping) the 3 rule: Something to wear, something to read, something to play with.

I am so thankful for your simplicity posts! Sarah M

Heh. I'm pretty sure that I come across as anti-holiday to some people, so I totally related to this post. My plan is to try and save energy to enjoy the time I have off to spend with people, vs. buying or making stuff.

I celebrate Hannukah...the candle-lighting, latkes and sufganiyot (jelly donuts), part of the season and for many years have simply wished everyone a 'happy holiday', baked for co-workers and that was it. But then I met my other half. And he's great...doesn't do commercialized holidays. But his extended family does, with a mix of religious/cultural observances. And we are trying to keep them happy. It's an exercise in balance because we are expected to turn up at his in-laws with x-mas gifts in hand.

Silly me, I thought I'd work around the commercial and interfaith aspect by crafting gift boxes/bags. The first year it was a large box of cookies and candies. I made 18 things. For 14 people/families. And burnt out. Last year I made DIY toiletry gift bags, customized for everyone. And burnt out some more. No matter how organized I was it was just too much and ultimately irritated me because I was crafting for the wrong reason.

This year I've vowed to just make soap. Maybe 5-6 small batches in total, and give family the bars they've tested for me and liked. And I made a special batch of preserves for friends back in September. That's it. This weekend I was asked if I wanted to go in on a family gift of a deep fryer for someone. I explained that I felt it was unhealthy, and wasteful (as in use a pot and thermometer vs. getting another appliance), but knew it would keep the peace. So I said yes. One day at a time....

Wow, love this post. For the past few years, I've tried to get a head start on holiday planning by doing a lot in November, but to be honest, I think this may have made the holidays more stressful for me since it was stretched out even longer. This year, I'm taking a new approach of starting to make a list of potential gifts now but that's about it. I'm pretty good at scaling back on gifts for my immediate family (husband and two boys) but still struggle with extended family since the gift-giving is always so lopsided. I get one gift for each of them (parents, in-laws) and they buy all of us a ton of stuff. It is all thoughtful but I get completely overwhelmed with the influx of stuff into my home at the end of December (it doesn't help that my birthday is also Dec. 30th). I've always enjoyed sending out and receiving holiday cards so I will keep this tradition going (although I've really scaled back how many I send out) and my boys really enjoy our advent calendar. But, in general, my feelings this year are a mixture of joy and gratitude and also foreboding and dread and guilt. I will be taking many deep breaths, drinking tea, and trying to do the best I can in the weeks ahead!

We keep it all simple and relaxed but I do buy my kid's gifts/stocking stuffers early which is part of how I stay relaxed. We take out an advent calendar and some simple decorations on December 1st - and put up a real tree two weeks before. We'll do some simple crafts if the kids want to and pull out our collection of favorite Christimas stories. I don't do Christmas baking exactly but when we want a special treat we'll make one. Our gift giving is super limited which helps and we budget year round for it too. Some years we share Christmas day with friends who don't have family around (like us) other years we enjoy being alone. I enjoy the season - candles, twinkly lights, special treats once in a while, good books and cozy blankets, candlelit Christmas eve church service... and yes, stockings for my kids:)

Around this time of year, I enjoy bringing pumpkins and pinecones inside. As the days get shorter and darker, we light more candles. As we transition into December, I will sing more Christmas carols and pull out the winter-themed books. We will cut down a tree and decorate it, adding ornaments each day from our advent calendar. It has been close to ten years since I asked my parents to stop doing extensive Christmas shopping. They were hurt and we compromised on stockings. In the past years, they have come to love the simplification of the holiday. This year, they suggested we skip the presents all together. My husband's family is slowly coming around too. The emphasis is shifting to illuminate the joy of togetherness.

Renee, your posts resonate with me today. I had planned to make soap, for the first time, with your recipe (holiday spice) to give as gifts. I'm sure that would be lovely, and I have purchased all the supplies but ... after reading this I think I'm letting go of crafting pressure and expectations this year. I'd rather the first time I make soap be a relaxed and fun experience rather than a pressurized Christmas craft that MUST work lest I have no gifts to show are the end.

Sounds like a plan. 

What I realized after publishing and with reading the comments is that how people manage their finances has a lot to do with how you prepare for Christmas. And I don't mean if people do debt or not but simply when their funds are available for the inevitable extra cost of the holidays. I would probably prepare a lot more in advance if we needed to budget for Christmas. Our financial ebb and flow is a bit different and each month there is extra - above the necessities - that goes to all sorts of expenses (adventuring, technology, etc.). For November and December a portion of that goes to Christmas. So I don't need to start purchasing or budgeting in Sept. Also when you spend less you don't need to budget as much. But if you have a lot of kids for example you would need to plan further in advance.  These are obvious points but I don't want to make it sound like a simple holiday doesn't require planning because it very well could, depending on your circumstance. 

I've been following your blog for a few weeks (I read one of your e-books that was part of a bundle). I've dreaded the Christmas season for years, most of which comes from the pressure I feel to give gifts for extended family. This year though, due to various circumstances, we really will not be able to afford such gift giving. I plan to make some homemade treats instead. It should be interesting to see how that goes over!

Thanks for writing- it has encouraged me to think what a simplified life for me and my family might look like.

This is a beautiful post. In every way. Thank you for your honest words, rhythm and the beautiful way you share them with each of us.

Thank you for your thought-provoking post. Christmas is sneaking up on me and I haven't even gotten to a mindset yet... so I'm hoping to apply some of your thoughts before it's set in stone for the year. I especially love your idea about embracing the dark; I have to think on that more in the afternoons and the early setting sun here... in the mornings I have to use my blu-light to keep sane (that's more literal that I would like it to be).

Question: what exactly is the beautiful wire on the wrapped stones? We have a new-to-us rock tumbler going in the garage and a 10-yr-old who's insistent on making Christmas presents with currently-tumbling rocks. Yours are beautiful.

We are very much on the same page with my family! :) We try to just focus on having as much time to spend together as possible instead of 'going' and 'doing' things. I hate to be busy in an unnecessary way. We relax and cook/bake a lot just for ourselves with our kids. Lots of sharing food around the table since normally my husband works second shift and isn't home for dinner with us. We don't do presents at all and don't miss it :) We do however make some family purchases, bigger ones - that are for everyone. Like washer/dryer last year :)

My daughter is twelve and a half this year. She talked to me yesterday about how amazing it is to change so much in one year. She feels she is turning towards the world. This makes her feel that she wants to spend a lot of time thinking of others this Christmas. She has plans. I'm going with it. Soapmaking, chocolate truffles, candies, lip balms, and extra special wrappings, along with special gifts for her little sister, her papa and me.

I don't care for simple living anything. I don't care for planning or ebooks. It looks to me like people spend a whole lot of time on all of these goals and aspirations, and very little on true simplicity. We will follow my daughter. My only wish is to read Approaching Christmas and a Child's Christmas out loud while stirring the pudding.