As I planned ahead for the arrival of baby Simon, I thought it might be fun to resurrect some of MY favorite posts from the past 3.5 years of blogging. I’ll be publishing this 10-post series during the 4 weeks after his birth (read all the posts here).
I hope you enjoy reading (or re-reading) these posts as much as I’ll be enjoying the extra snuggles, books, smiles, and naps with Nora and Simon!
I really love the holiday season — so even though it’s March and not even close to Christmas or Thanksgiving, I thought it would be fun to go back and read through some of my favorite holiday posts over the years.
Here are my Top 10 Favorite Holiday posts — in no particular order.
1. Our Yearly Holiday Greetings: {Links Below}
I just love sending out holiday cards each year — even though I know it’s totally not necessary. It’s one somewhat creative thing I enjoy doing, and it’s pretty much the only “snail mail” we send out anymore!
Here’s a look at our past holiday cards!
- 2013 Holiday Card (it was for Thanksgiving)
- 2012 Christmas Card
- 2011 Holiday Card (it was for New Years)
- Previous Year’s Holiday Cards
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2. My Thoughts On Holiday Traditions:
I love holiday traditions as I think they OFTEN help us to celebrate — however, there’s a point when traditions can be come a burden on our time, energy, and finances. At that point, I think it’s really important to evaluate the real reason behind our yearly traditions and consider tweaking them a bit to fit our changing needs, or just dropping them and starting something new.
Related Post = How the Dekker’s Do Christmas
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3. More Clutter-Free Gifts:
I absolutely LOVE coming up with creative AND clutter-free gifts to give for almost any occasion — and this post pretty much covers any type of clutter-free gift you could ever give!
Related Post
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4. We’re Officially Home for the Holidays:
Since we moved into our farmhouse just days before Christmas of 2010, this post was SO fun to write — our first Christmas in our new house, definitely one of my top 10 favorites!
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5. 10 Tips to Simplify Holiday Entertaining:
I do enjoy entertaining over the holidays — but I often find that I can easily make it out to be MORE work than it has to be. So I try really hard to keep things simple whenever I’m entertaining — both during the holiday season and all year long. This post has 10 tips that help me to simplify entertaining and enjoy my guests more.
Related Post = Why I’m Not Cleaning for Company Anymore
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6. It’s OK If Your Holidays Aren’t Totally Stress-Free and Simple:
Obviously, my goal is to keep my life as stress-free and simple as possible — but sometimes (especially over the holiday season) life is just busy with really really good things, people, and activities. In these situations, I TRY (not always successfully!) to go with the flow and just embrace the busyness.
This post is a good reminder (especially for me) that the holidays are a special time that might require me to move out of my “super simple” mindset and just enjoy the food, family, and friends.
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7. Dear Well-Meaning Relatives…:
This was another really fun post to write — especially since I get SOOO many questions about what to do when well-meaning relatives insist on giving our kids lots and LOTS of gifts!
If you’ve struggled with this, my post (and the comments) might offer some helpful suggestions.
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8. Holiday Opportunities to Give Back:
The holiday season is a fabulous time to give back to those in need — however, many of the ideas listed in this post would work for giving back ALL year long!
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9. Making Your Own Christmas Wish List:
One way we’re able to simplify our own holiday season is by keep a Christmas Wish Lists going throughout the year. We used to just use a paper list but now we often use the “wish list” feature of Amazon.com. It’s a great way to remember things you want (but maybe don’t need) throughout the year and then easily be able to pass them along to anyone who asks for gift ideas or suggestions.
And yes, this works well for birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, new babies, or any other gift-giving opportunity as well.
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10. Give Thanks – Clutter or Abundance:
This was a fun post I wrote a few years ago about giving thanks — it might make you take a different view of the “clutter” around your home.
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So that’s my list…
Which holiday posts are your favorites?
Jen says
I have an Amazon wishlist, as well as lists for each of our kids, and they have been such a great tool. I am good about updating them through the year (culling and adding), and especially about a month before birthdays and Christmas, so our relatives always know where to find great, current ideas for our kids. And when people ask me for ideas, I can just tell them that the kids each have Amazon wishlists or send them links. Our family has loved it, too. And even if they buy a gift off the list somewhere other than Amazon, they can still remove it from the list so that we (mostly) avoid doubles.