Experience a simpler, more meaningful holiday season with these 5 tips — just in time for those who want to slow down and savor the season.
There are few things I enjoy more than simplifying something that is commonly thought to be stressful, complicated, overwhelming, expensive, elaborate, or excessive.
In many ways, the holiday season is often described by all of the adjectives I listed above.
Personally, I’ve been on a mission to simplify the holidays for the last 15 years — even more so after adding 4 young children to the mix.
There’s so much potential for connection, community, joy, and fun during the holiday season — as long as we don’t smother it with too many needless to-dos, unwanted obligations, or excessive over-indulgences.
Speaking from years of experience, a simpler holiday season IS possible (even with young children), as long as you’re willing to plan ahead and set very clear boundaries for yourself, your family, your time, and your money.
I could share hundreds of tips and tricks to help you simplify your holidays … but in an effort to keep things SIMPLE, I’ve whittled my list down to the top 5 I feel will make the biggest impact.
If you want to experience a simpler, more meaningful holiday season this year, start here!
1. Simplify gifts.
The benefits of simplifying gifts during the holiday season are almost too numerous to count.
- less shopping (which takes time and can lead to impulse purchases)
- less expense
- less time spent wrapping gifts
- less wasted paper, bags, tissue, tape, ribbons, etc.
- less to ship or haul to various parties
- less anxiety over getting the “perfect gift” for everyone on your list
- less for the recipient to return if they don’t like/want/need the gift
- less clutter a few months after the holidays when something better comes along
Does any of that sound appealing to you?
Don’t get me wrong, I truly LOVE gift-giving (it’s actually one of my top love languages) but I don’t believe gift-giving needs to be excess, expensive, or reserved strickly for the holiday season.
Related Reading: The ultimate list of clutter-free gift ideas.
Honetsly, there is no need for more than a few gifts per child — especially when they are little.
And there is certainly no need to spend massive amounts of money on gifts just because the calendar says Dec. 25.
If you need a few simple gift ideas for young children, here’s a look at what we gave our children for Christmas last year. (Yes, we’re OK with giving used gifts!)
Another way we simplify this time of year is by choosing NOT to give gifts to every single person in our lives.
We give gifts to:
- Our own immediate family
- Grandparents (our parents)
- Cousins
- Teachers (school, piano, Sunday School, etc)
We do NOT give gifts to:
- Friends
- Neighbors
- Aunts/Uncles
- Coworkers
- Extended relatives
- People from church
Instead, we often make a big batch of treats and divide it up into small bags for various special people in our lives.
We do also send out some type of holiday card (or email) each year.
Yummy Holiday Treat Ideas:
- Store-bought pretzel gifts (these are so cute)
- 4-Layer Fudge
- Sweet and Spicy Snack Mix
- Candy Corn Mix
2. Simplify decorations.
For the most part, I enjoy creating a festive atmosphere within our home during the holiday season, but that doesn’t necessarily mean spending countless hours setting up intricate decorations, spending lots of money, or looking through a dozen storage tubs to find the decore I want to use.
Instead of focusing my decorating efforts only on visual elements, I keep things simple by incorporating scents and sounds as well.
Yes, we put up a few Christmas trees (I love these simple alpine trees) and we display our 2 nativity scenes… but we also play holiday music, light holiday candles, and enjoy special holiday goodies all season long.
The twinkling tree lights, cinnamon-scented candles, yummy treats, and Christmas piano music playing throughout the day make our home feel extremely festive and cheery with very few physical decorations.
I also try to use pine branches, pinecones, candy canes, and other “natural” decore items that will eventually be eaten or composted after the season is over (bonus = less stuff to store!)
3. Simplify traditions.
Traditions are a huge part of the holiday season but they can also be a huge source of stress and needless busyness if we’re not careful.
Over the past several years, I’ve made a conscious effort to evaluate (and re-evaluate) various traditions each year — picking and choosing only the ones that work for our family in our current season of life.
Things we currently don’t do:
- cut down a tree and document the entire event on social media
- always put our tree up on the same day
- bake certain things on certain days
- Elf on a Shelf
- White Elephant gift exchange
- stockings (we don’t have a fireplace!)
- read special books every night
- an Advent calendar
- Christmas pajamas
- specific holiday meals on certain days
- drive around and look at the lights
- go out for fancy hot chocolate and coffee
- decorate sugar cookies with all our friends on the same day every year
- always send Christmas cards (sometimes we do New Years, sometimes Thanksgiving, sometimes just an email)
I can’t even think of one single Christmas tradition we “always do every year”.
To be clear, NONE of the things I mentioned above are bad or wrong — but they do add stress, pressure, and commitment to an already full time of year.
If we happen to see pretty Christmas lights or enjoy an afternoon of baking special treats, that’s great. If not, that’s OK too!
Maybe that sounds awful and sad to some — but it feels extremely liberating for me!
Traditions have the potential to be super fun — but the point I want to make is that they are not necessary in order to celebrate the holidays.
If a tradition is causing you (or someone in your family) stress, it’s time to re-evaluate.
4. Simplify extra events and activities.
Dave and I are at the stage of life where we not only have our own children to spend time with during the holidays, but also both of our immediate families, all 4 of our extended families, and even a group of college friends.
Because of all these people and parties, we sometimes have to pick and choose… and just say ‘no’ when something doesn’t work for us.
Of course, we always attend each of our immediate family parties, but we don’t always make it to our extended family parties.
We also rarely attend Dave’s staff party or many of the holiday events at church.
That’s OK.
I realize the holiday season is a great time to reconnect with family and friends — but since Dave and I both have strong introverted tendencies and our children go to bed really early, our whole family is happier and healthier if we aren’t over-committed with events and activities all season long (even if they are fun).
Knowing, accepting, and acknowledging this helps us simplify our holiday season and reduces the guilt when others pressure us to do more than what we feel we can handle this time of year (we apply this strategy all year long too!)
5. Simplify expectations.
Expectations are an important component of simple living all year long, but especially throughout the holiday season.
If we go into the holidays expecting a perfectly decorated home, Pinterest worthy baked goods, thoughtful gifts purchased months in advance and wrapped in coordinating paper, complete agreement among all extended family members, and angelic smiles from our children when they wake up in their matching Christmas pajamas, we will be sorely disappointed.
However, we have the power to change our entire outlook if we simply acknowledge that even with the best of intentions, this time of year is often busier, more mentally and physically exhausting, more expensive, and more chaotic than other times of the year.
Things will go wrong.
Food will get burnt.
Packages will arrive late (or get lost in the mail)
Children won’t always smile for pictures.
You will get more toys and gifts than you wanted.
You will spend more money than you budgeted.
The weather might not cooperate.
Christmas Day will feel rushed as you scurry from church to one party to the next.
Such is life during the holidays!
I’m always an advocate of planning ahead and simplifying as much as possible… but I know better than to think things will always go according to plans (especially during the holidays!)
We can’t control all the outside variables, but…
By changing nothing but our expectations, we can have a completely different perspective on the holiday season.
Simplify YOUR expectations now and keep your stress levels down throughout the holiday season.
Speaking for myself, I love the Christmas season and I love simple living…
With a little planning and intentionality, I think I can have both!
What are your tips to simplify the holidays?
Meghan says
Every year I get my kids’ teachers a Bath and Body Works hand soap and a holiday hand towel (that I buy on clearance after the previous Christmas.) I prep and hand out these gifts the last week of school before Winter Break. Your article gave me the idea of giving the gifts out the first week of school after Thanksgiving when I’m not as busy prepping for holiday parties, etc.
Andrea says
this is a great idea — and then your gift won’t get lost in the shuffle of all the other gifts they are getting!
Cindi says
Thank you for this. I find the holiday season overwhelming most years as large groups of people cause anxiety and at times I need to just back up a bit. I love enjoying time with granddaughters and immediate family and can pause when I need to.
Andrea says
yes, back-up and enjoy time with your immediate family!
Chris says
When I was a teenager, my little brother had a paper route but we lived in the country and it was in a nearby town. So one of my parents had to take him every day. For Christmas one year, I decided to give them Sunday mornings off. As a teenager, I didn’t have much money but was able to give them a meaningful gift.
Andrea says
This is such a lovely and thoughtful gift! Thanks so much for sharing!
Julia Irvin says
I love hearing about your approach to simplifying the holidays.
Things we do:
We have a budget to stick to for both gifts and stockings, which means we don’t actually have very many gifts for our kids under the tree, but they are intentionally chosen. I do try to give them a well-stocked stocking, though, and they all look forward to it. We open gifts Christmas Eve and do stockings Christmas morning, so the fun is extended that way.
We host our annual family Christmas gathering for my husband’s family on Christmas Eve. For food, we do no- or low-prep finger foods, snacks and appetizers that we set out before everyone comes so that we can visit instead of be on kitchen duty the whole time. Everyone enjoys it.
For gifts for others, we do a name exchange with each side of siblings so we only need to buy one gift for one sibling’s family on each side, meaning two gifts total. We usually go in together with the siblings for parent’s gifts.
For decorations, I’ve pared down our Christmas decor to three storage totes and I do enjoy what I’ve kept. Decorating the tree is a family event. When I put out the rest of the Christmas decor, I store the regular decor in the Christmas storage totes; so, im not adding to the decor, im replacing it for the season.
And, I too use candles and music to set the tone. Feels so cozy.
Roxanne says
I’m due with our 3rd baby in early December and am already planning ahead to take care of as much holiday prep as possible- 2 weeks ago I made cutout sugar cookies and put them in the freezer, so I can just pull them out and let the older kids decorate them later when I’m too big and miserable to do anything else! We’re not putting up our exterior lights this year but should still be able to decorate the fireplace and put up the tree. In a silver lining, most of the big holiday gatherings we typically go to have been canceled for covid, so our season will be simpler whether we like it or not! But with a new baby and recovery from a c-section, I’m sure it’s a blessing in disguise!
Andrea says
oh wow — congrats!
good for you for planning ahead — you won’t regret that at all.
And yes, I have a feeling many of our holiday plans will also be canceled due to COVID — I think I’m OK with that!
Ashley says
Hey Andrea, I love all of this!! Especially that the main thing that needs changed is our own expectations. I don’t know what I’ve ever thought to decorate with sounds and smells, but I can just feel the Christmas spirit imagining walking into your house ❤️
Andrea says
Wouldn’t it be great if you lived close enough to walk over to my house 🙂
And yes, I’m a huge fan of “decorating” for all 5 senses! It’s amazing how festive and cozy a home can feel — completely unrelated to the STUFF inside!
Susanne says
We’ve always done some type of Advent calendar and/or readings. One of my favorites (we did for a couple of years when my kids were young) was a series of envelopes I decorated with numbers 1-25 and clipped them on a twine string. I put a slip of paper inside each one with a special activity for the day. It could be super simple (extra bedtime story) or pretty big (make a gingerbread house). The trick was, I put the slip of paper in each morning so I knew what we could make happen that day!
Another favorite is the Jesse tree. We are still doing this one. We read a nightly scripture and hang up an ornament (simple printed image that I cut out and glued on card stock) that goes with the reading. I use a small lit tree as our Jesse Tree. Ann Voskamps’s Unwrapping the Greatest Gift is my favorite book to use.
Andrea says
Thanks for these great tips Sussann! I love Ann’s book too!
Laura says
When my girls were 2 1/2 and newborn we simplified Christmas and have never looked back. They are 7 and 9 now and I’m so thankful for our simple Christmas season.
We do have a couple of traditions -a super silly white elephant gift exchange with extended family – zero cost and those gifts are nothing you have to hang onto unless you are building on the gift the following year. And we have taken to purchasing a $15 outdoor inflatable each year. We are up to 4 and they LOVE them. I’m all for it because they are easy to store.
Otherwise our focus is Jesus and family and I wouldn’t have it any otherway.
Andrea says
sound lovely… except my kids know we won’t ever put anything that inflates in anywhere in our yard (except maybe a kiddie pool!)
Olivia says
I love your emphasis that this is what works for you NOW, and not FOREVER AND EVER AMEN. In both my family and my husband’s family, there have been quite a few recent changes – multiple babies born, marriages, etc. He and I are both laid-back, “roll with the punches” people who realize that Christmas 2018 with a 2yo will be very different from Christmas 2028 with a 12yo. Unfortunately, we each have a couple of extended family members who are upset over our declined invitations to late evening functions, formal meals, and other traditions that are lovely but just don’t work for our family this year. Doesn’t mean we’ll never be back though! Thanks for the reminder that what we’re doing is just fine, not wrong in any way. 🙂
LizC says
I grew up with a simple, lovely Christmas (non-Santa) and we’ve continued that on with our four kids, and now get to celebrate with a little grandson, too!
We don’t have much family nearby, so we’ve had “orphan” Christmas, including friends who are also far from family, and that’s been a joy.
We do keep our in-family gifts quite simple and homemade; this year, my oldest is doing gorgeous repaints and restylings on some of her younger sister’s dolls, for instance. I’ll make some new nightclothes for her son from adult-sized Ts with cool graphics. My husband found a fantastic deal on a small mini-fridge for our soon-to-launch son, and the younger girls are planning to stock it with goodies. We’ll do some items for the dollhouse, and get cozy new Christmas socks for everyone (and robes for the girls this year).
Our holiday meals are “party food”–nibbles, turkey sandwiches, and desserts, most of which are made ahead so kitchen needs on holidays are low.
The little girls (13 and 11 by Christmas) are in charge of decor around the house; we’ll do an Advent readings/activities thing all month; we have several family/friend concert performances between now and Christmas, and some church celebrations.
We don’t “do” Santa, but we do hang stockings–filling them with little edibles for Christmas morning. Those are fair game until we break out the deep fryer about 10:30am and make the Christmas Onion Rings. (Hey, our traditions are weird, but they’re ours. And hot coffee with fresh onion rings and ranch dip is actually amazing. The kids invite their friends for a second round on New Years.)
All in all, we “do” Christmas from mid-October, when we start Christmas concert prep… so it’s a low-key, pleasant and cozy time all along!
Andrea says
this sounds amazing (except that I don’t particularly care for onion rings!) but everything else sounds fantastic!! Thanks for sharing such a detailed look at how your family simplifies Christmas!
Jamie says
We have simplified Christmas over the years also. We limit gifts, 2 from Mom and Dad and 1 from Santa. My 3 oldest kids decided last year that they wanted to pick out something for each of their siblings. I gave them a budget and they absolutely LOVED planning what their brothers/sister would enjoy within their budget. This year they are using their own money. We have several activities that we enjoy doing during the season but only one that is a must-do tradition. I make homemade hot chocolate and some simple cookies (sometimes just chocolate chip) and we drive around looking at lights. It is something so simple but even my 13 year old looks forward to this night. We have simplified our decorations, outdoor lighting, and events that we attend. Oh, and I decided to NOT send Christmas cards this year. It is something that I always feel stressed about (getting coordinating outfits, finding the perfect picture spot, finding the perfect card, printing it and mailing it out in time, etc, etc.) so I decided just not to do it. 🙂
Andrea says
how lovely that your children WANT to use their OWN money to buy gifts for each other!
Also, I totally understand about the Christmas card thing. I really truly love doing the cards each year — but with 4 kids now, it is more of a hassle!
Kellie says
Andrea I loved this post! Such a good reminder since I tend to go over the top during the holidays and wind up cranky and exhausted a week before Christmas – NOT IDEAL. Also thanks for including the comment that there’s grace to switch things up year to year. That’s so wise!
Andrea says
I know — we don’t want mom to be crabby on Christmas.
And I’m ALWAYS in favor of switching up traditions if they stop working (sometimes just for a year, sometimes forever)
Ellen says
When our oldest was in kindergarten (he is now 36…) his school presented a program based on the book Unplug the Christmas Machine. A great book, by the way! One of the ideas was a December calendar, loosely based on the Advent calendar idea. We would just print a generic blank calendar (well, actually we started this before internet LOL so we just had to draw one!) and each day there was a little folded piece of paper with the days “event”. The real secret, though, was that my husband and I sat down the end of November and planned our month based on school events, family events, community events we wanted to do and the special holiday things we wanted to do with our kids. Definitely not over the top stuff (no Elf on the Shelf for sure!), just simple, homespun holiday things. We scheduled shopping for the Giving Tree at church, putting up lights, calling the grandparents (the days before unlimited long distance so this was a big deal. It was amazing the stress it relieved on us. We knew everything would happen in its time. The kids ran to the calendar every morning to see what would happen. And yep, some nights we had to rearrange when we could see there was no way cookies would get baked the next day! They actually loved this so much we did it through high school, when they would actually help plan it so we could do the things they enjoyed during the holidays.
Andrea says
Thanks so much for sharing this Ellen — great tips (especially for those of us with younger kiddos!)
Carrie says
Ellen, I am so glad you shared this tip! My 12 year old daughter has an absolute love for Advent calendars. We have 5 of them, but only 1 gets “used”, the others are decorations. Anyhow, it has become increasingly hard to figure out what to put in the Advent calendar as she gets older, but she still loves having one. I am actually in the process of wracking my brain, trying to come up with something different for this year. I love your idea of using it for special events or things to do!
Our family likes to do fun things every year, but we are very much in the same mindset as Andrea, we don’t like to over commit and we don’t like to schedule things for certain days. We know we want to see the Christmas Lights, make Christmas cake pops (my daughter loves to bake), and then we usually just see what’s happening around town for the month of December. We are loosely scheduled, maybe just aware of what’s going on and what we would like to do. We go with the flow and just do what sounds fun, if anything at all.
I think I might make “coupons” for the Advent calendar, so she can cash them in for fun things when she is in the mood to bake or watch a Christmas movie, etc.
So glad you shared your tip, I finally know what to do this year and I can still keep it simple!
Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas!
Jaime says
I think in our over the top, excessive world, we’ve started looking at traditions as major events rather than as meaningful consistency. In our family, putting up our tree and spending the evening reminiscing about family members no longer with us and past Christmases while also reflecting on the outgoing year is my favorite seasonal tradition. Having Christmas music playing softly in the background during dinner every night is another one. They’re not elaborate, expensive Pinterest worthy events but they are consistent and meaningful holiday occurrences for our family.
Stel says
I love how both your sets of parents seem to accept that the next generation has their own new families and traditions to establish and work with! I would love that. Being an adult orphan, it is automatically assumed that we should just go to the in-laws and it’s gotten to the point where I have not been able to establish my own routine/tradition for my own family 🙁
My boys (14 and 10) love that we do small Christmas stockings on Christmas morning (Christmas Eve is a huge affairs with too much food (which I really don’t like) and unfortunately no real regard for the reason for Christmas. THIS year, however, the planets are aligning and our small family will go to a Christmas program at an outdoor venue, with carol singing, while the rest of the family…I don’t know. And that makes my Christmas much more simple!
Andrea says
haha — WELL…. our parents don’t necessarily “accept” that we have our own traditions, but I’m pretty stubborn so we make it work!
It took a while, and we still go back and forth on some things, but if I want something to change, I know I have to instigate it and stand firm otherwise nothing will change. Dave is usually on the same page as me too — so that helps!
tammy says
I usually don’t like to bake but decorating Christmas cookies is such fun especially with littles. Gordon’s Food Service has a 6 lb box of pre-cut holiday cookies that you just bake and decorate, and honestly, they are some of the best tasting sugar cookies I have ever had.
ML says
Yes – we get this same box from GFS and it takes out the (sometimes) laborious step of sugar cookie cut outs and allows us the time to enjoy decorating (which my children prefer anyway!)
Kaethe says
GFS cookies are the best! They taste SO good and the kids love decorating them!
Andrea says
yes they are good! I’ve thought about buying them this year if we decide to decorate cookies! I’m also considering buying the Costco pies for Thanksgiving!
Carrie says
Wow! I have never heard of Gordon’s Food Service and their Christmas cookies box. I’m going to check it out right now. We love decorating cookies but I don’t want the hassle of cutting them out.
I guess I can just find them in the internet?
Paulette says
Frankly, simplicity makes holidays more enjoyable for me. Lots of people have just gone overboard (IMHO) with gift giving, decorating, etc. I appreciate your approach, even if it’s only a nod to this season of your life. Thanks for sharing, Andrea.
Andrea says
yes, exactly!
Tina says
Last year at work we were talking about Christmas gifts and I remember one of my coworkers talking about how each year each of her two kids gets 3 gifts for Christmas because Jesus only got 3 gifts and why should the kids get more presents than Jesus did. This really put a limit on how much was spent on gifting to the kids each year.
Shelley says
LOVE this post!! Have a wonderful, stress-free, family-centered Christmas “season!” (oooh…and I love Heidi’s comments below mine here, too!!)
Heidi says
This year, we’re keeping things more simple with more experiences and less “junk”. We’re doing a Polar Express train ride instead of toys, giving subscriptions for various people- even making my grandfather (who is a widower) a BUNCH of individually sized freezer meals instead of another random gift.
I think the older I’ve gotten the more I’ve realized that it’s not necessarily the TRADITIONS that I love but the predictability of it all. I just want to know there’s a plan to make it less stressful- I don’t mind too much that it might not be the same plan as last year. 🙂
Erin says
Because of my husband’s job as a pastor, our December has to be a little busier. Now that we have three kids, we really simplified everything else this month. We have traditions, but we hold them loosely. For instance, we have gone to a local zoo the Sunday after Thanksgiving to look at their lights display, but this year, Thanksgiving weekend was busy and we decided it was better for our family to have a quiet day than cram just one more thing into that weekend. It was so freeing to even give just that one tradition up for this year!
Andrea says
yes, something so small — but a huge relief to not have one more thing on your to-do list! Glad you were able to enjoy a little extra time at home this year!
Amy says
Andrea, my favorite on this list is #3! We have some traditions, but not an insane amount to HAVE to keep up with. The tradition that we share as a family is decorating the tree and our home for Christmas on Thanksgiving, Usually my husband and daughter do the most of it while I cook, and I “jump in” when I can, There are more things that just my daughter and I do together, That may seem strange to some, but my daughter and I have more in common I suppose than what my husband would be interested in, although, he did participate in the ornament decorating we did last year! Some things my daughter and I do are listening to Christmas music anytime we are in the car, watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade (followed by the Dog show!) make Christmas cookies and other holiday treats (Chex Lemon Buddies are a staple!), an advent calendar (because her great aunt would always send her one when she was little so we carried on the tradition). those are just the ones we do EVERY YEAR. There are other things we may do if we want, but I think we’ve got a good amount.
Tara says
Keeping things simple for the holidays is so lovely. My family all gets together for Thanksgiving an Christmas. We all live within an hour of each other and take turns hosting. I don’t love almost always traveling on a holiday. It creates a rush on Christmas morning to prepare the dish we’re bringing and get the kids ready and everything packed in including the small handful of presents for my neice and nephews. I try to have as much ready as I can, but it still feels a bit stressful. One year we stayed home to celebrate with just our household because of illness. My introverted self loved it. Still, once we arrive at the big gathering on any holiday I find I enjoy being with everyone so much we end up being the last to leave. We do have wonderful family and lots of fun together. Makes the stress of packing it all up in the morning seem worth it. Remind me of that on Christmas morning though. 😉
Also, I wanted to note that I think your home decor lends itself just perfectly to being Christmasy. Your reds, whites, greens and wood tones need only small accents to turn them into “Decked Halls.” 🙂 So in your case less really is more.
Andrea says
Thanks Tara — and yes, all the reds and wood tones really seem to work for so many holidays! I hardly need to add any decorations to make the switch from Thanksgiving to Christmas — and even Fourth of July!
Pixie508 says
While some of the things you mentioned you don’t do, we have decided to do with our kids, I’ve learned that if something doesn’t happen, that’s ok. I’ve never been someone who does a ton of seasonal decorating, so it’s simple around here…a tree, a few extra strands of lights, a night light in our kitchen, and a snowflake tablecloth. Done. We do drive around and do lights one night, but there are several pockets of cool lights within a few miles, so we can complete the trip in an hour. I love having traditions, because I think it builds some excitement around the season, and I want Christmas to be special, and I want it to also lead into more important conversations (and it has already, and my oldest is about Nora’s age)
However, the one thing that makes me a little sad, is that I’ve all but given up on my Christmas baking. It makes a huge mess and takes up a ton of time. I’ve narrowed it down to 2 things I do really well and are able to be done relatively quickly. One is fudge, and the other is spritz cookies (mostly, because spritz cookies were the only thing my mom ever did, so that in itself is kind of tradition for me), because I do want to involve my kids (I make the dough, and just involve them in decorating). We do one batch and that’s it. I used to make 5-6 different things but I just can’t at this stage in life.
Andrea says
I have a feeling you will most likely get back to baking once your children are older — and they might really be helpful then too 🙂
I really don’t do any “Christmas baking” with my kids because it’s too messy and time-consuming. We make boxed brownies or sugar cookies from store-bought dough and I let them put a few sprinkles on. They think it’s great and I don’t have a ton of time or effort involved!
Deborah says
This is refreshing…Merry Christmas.
Debbie says
I can honestly say that we didn’t have many traditions in my family as I was growing up either. We would only do the Advent Candle and a little devotional before opening presents and that’s about it. Some year my parents would drive us to see Christmas lights, and another year it’s to watch a movie on Christmas day. Now that I’m married without children we’re finding our own way to make the holiday special. Other than decorating the house, making a hot cocoa/snack corner in the kitchen, and attending our Christmas Eve Candlelight service the things we do differs from year to year. It allows us to be free to stay home and enjoy quiet evenings or say yes to a party invite. My most favorite I would say is to just stay so I can appreciate the decorations.
Andrea says
I love the hot chocolate station in the kitchen! I actually don’t even really like hot drinks all that much (and neither do my kids yet) but this is definitely something I’m going to tuck away for a few years from now! Thanks!
Amy says
Your house sounds a lot like ours. In addition to the Christmas tree and two nativities, we have an advent candle, a tiny lit tree, snowman light up thing that sits on the mantle and a stocking for each child. My 4 year old likes to make chains, so I cut paper ribbons and stick on scrapbook adhesive squares (double stick). She can make chains without direct supervision during little brother’s nap time.
Andrea says
ah yes… we love the paper chains! Nora can use a glue stick on her own, so she can make long chains while the boys are napping 🙂
Leanne says
one way we simplified EARLY on was… no traveling… we don’t travel to everyone’s holiday gathering… we started this when we had a December newborn and it has made things MUCH easier! if people want to come with us… awesome… if not, we’ll see and “do Christmas” when its convenient… I rarely break this rule…and the years that I have…. I’ve completely regretted it! GREAT POST!!!!!!
Andrea says
this is great! I often feel bad for Dave’s sister as she always has to travel for every holiday because her family is the only one that lives out of town. They usually only come up for Christmas and stay home for all the other holidays, but I know I would hate traveling over the holidays. I guess they are just used to it by now.
Pixie508 says
I get why people don’t, but for us, it would mean never seeing my extended family (we’re spread out, so we pick a central location and meet). However, the one good thing, is that we never do Christmas on Christmas. Everyone spends their Christmases doing whatever, and then somewhere in the next few weeks, we get together. This year, my family Christmas will be on 12/30 (so we can all get home before the NYE insanity)
Andrea says
Yes, I’m totally OK with travel during the holiday season — I just don’t like traveling ON Christmas. I like to be home with my own family on that day if at all possible. It sounds like you’ve worked out a nice system to travel near Christmas and New Years without traveling on the actual holidays!
Leanne says
that’s pretty much the way we do it, too…
we are always HOME on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day…
We always have an extended family Christmas on the Saturday after thanksgiving, which, while early, simplifies traveling around the end of the month 🙂
Andrea says
Dave’s family always does Christmas on New Year’s Day — which we love because it means we don’t need to drive from one family to the other on Christmas Day. My family is celebrating Christmas on Christmas Eve in the morning so we will be HOME ALL DAY by ourselves on Christmas Day for the first time ever since we’ve been married! Can you tell I’m a little excited!
Jean says
Andrea — I love your wisdom (especially the part about not going crazy and upsetting the routine and schedule that keeps everybody sane and healthy). I am coming at this from an empty nester perspective and the freedom to simplify that brings. I have slowly been donating or re-gifting lots of our Christmas décor (keeping favorites and a very small number of sentimental items). I love not having to put away much after the holidays! I am invited to an ugly sweater party this week and am deliberately not going out to find one — I long ago got rid of my ugly sweaters and love the “lightness” that brought to my closet. I see no reason to go to Goodwill to buy one. I am deliberately trying to minimize the “obligation” component that comes with the holidays. I even have a pack of sticky notes that I put out that say “Low expectations means everyone is happy”. It is meant to be humorous — but it rings true as well. 🙂
Pamela says
I’m right there with you! My little girl is almost 2, so this is her second Christmas. My favorite way to simplify is to just do the stuff I *want* to do, not the stuff I feel like I should do. This year I really wanted to put a little Christmas tree in her room – so that’s the first thing I did! I dug out the other two decorations that are important to my husband and I (for sentimental reasons), decorated the tree with non-breakable ornaments, and called the house done! We do have a favorite Christmas morning treat that we’ve been making for years now so that will get done…and beyond that, eh. Christmas gifts are simple this year too – photo coffee mugs for the grandparents (and great grandpa). Santa is bringing a small table and chairs, so Mommy and Daddy are providing art supplies. My husband and I are exchanging stockings only. It will be a great Christmas!!!
ShellyL says
I love that Nativity set. It’s very unique. I think I read that Dave’s grandmother made it. Did she also make the candle holder? I like that too. Thanks for sharing these ideas to simplify the season. They are very timely for me right now.
Andrea says
Thanks — yes, his grandma made the wooden nativity sets for all her grandchildren 8 years ago or so. She did not make the candle holder — that’s an old sugar mold 🙂
Leanne says
here’s a link to a really similar one on etsy 🙂
https://www.etsy.com/listing/243776587/wood-nativity-set-nativity-set-primitive?ref=shop_home_active_16
Andrea says
thanks for linking to this! I always get questions about it!
Beatriz says
I love creating traditions for myself and there are things that I love to do for the holidays too. That said I don’t have kids and my traditions are really an expression of what I like to share at the holidays.
I make gingerbread cookies and that’s my gift to my co-workers and a few close friends. I look forward to sending Christmas cards all year long and especially look forward to gift-wrapping. I have the time, some of these things would no doubt be simplified if I had children but as I don’t I take my time and have a bit of mulled wine while I do these things 🙂
Oh yeah, another fave thing from the holidays – mulled wine!
Andrea says
haha! I have nothing against traditions — only when traditions end up ruling our holiday season and forcing us to do things we don’t have the time or desire to do. When traditions are fun and anticipated, I think they’re great!
Charissa says
As always, I love your perspective. Why do we always have to complicate things (including holidays)?
Francie @ supersimpleways.com says
This is just what I needed to hear. I love simple living. http://www.supersimpleways.com
Bonnie'sMama says
Bonnie, who is three, was peeking over my shoulder and saw your dining room trees. With sparkling eyes, she said, “Those trees are so cute because there’s a mama tree and a baby tree!”
I know she (and my son) would looooove if we’d get a little tree or two out, so maybe we’ll make that our simple Christmas activity today or maybe even all week. Decorating the tree keeps them occupied for a looooong time day after day, all season long.
You’ve got some really helpful, freeing points here. It’s good to hear this voice of reason amidst all the beautiful, unachieveable perfection online.
Andrea says
haha -thanks! We love our little set of “Alpine trees”. There are actually 3 in the picture, so Nora says one is for her, Simon, and James 🙂
Denise says
Thank you for this post! There is so much pressure during this season, and I enjoyed the part about celebrating Jesus’ birth all through the year! I dislike going to church during Christmas Eve as it is so busy, but not busy during other times of the year.
Let’s keep the spirit of giving all year round!
Kristen Costantini says
Love your post Andrea. I agree it’s very freeing to decide what activities a family participates in around the holidays. It sounds like you have just the right combination for your family! As I was reading your post, I see that your family doesn’t do the Elf on a Shelf. I recently saw on Amazon a biblical “version” of this titled, Shepard on the Search. It’s by Day Spring and involves a little Shepard boy “searching” for baby Jesus. Thought you might be interested at some point,
since your kiddos are at a great age for it. Merry Christmas to you and your family and thank you for keeping it SIMPLE!
Andrea says
Thanks Kristen,
I guess the reason we don’t do Elf on a Shelf isn’t because it’s not Biblical — but simply because I don’t want to do one more thing 🙂 The Shepherd idea does sound like something Nora would LOVE doing right now though! Maybe I’ll just do one day of hiding our baby Jesus a few times and giving her clues to find it. Or maybe it can be a nap-time game while the boys are sleeping!
Bonnie'sMama says
Oh my, my kids would ADORE searching for the baby Jesus! Definitely trying this one. Thank you, Andrea!
Rachel says
Especially if you could “hide” baby Jesus with a tie in to spiritual things. Light of the World(near a light source), Bread of Life(near the bread), Living Water(near water), Rock of our Salvation(behind a rock), His words are sweeter than honey(if you have honey), Lamb of God (if you happen to have a stuffed lamb), Lion of Judah (if you have a lion), Rose of Sharon/Lilly of the Valley (if you have flowers), bright and morning star (if you have a star on the tree or elsewhere), we are the apple of his eye (near some apples), the Comforter (near a blanket or comfy toy), praise and worship belong to him (near the music). You could give a scripture clue every morning…or have the scripture with him and the item.
Andrea says
This is an awesome idea — and you had so many great examples! thanks a bunch!
Kristen says
Love that idea and the ones posted below!
susie says
Our Christmas is pretty simple like yours , but my kids love the elf on the shelf. The older kids love to move it and Katie is the same age as Nora loves to find it every morning. So, I guess we keep it simple too. It doesn’t have to be very creative so just letting you know it’s not as hard or complicated as it looks!
Barb Lutke says
Several years ago I started to simplify decorating and Christmas expectations, it’s so freeing! I put up the big Christmas tree on the main floor and a nativity set and a small table top tree in the family room. I too enjoy candles and music and find it’s calming and relaxing. I don’t do all the fancy Christmas baking anymore and just do what I think we might like on a small scale with some to give as gifts to friends. We don’t go crazy on gifts either, we each get 3 gifts and they’re not overly expensive. One year,our daughter and son in law enjoyed receiving freezer meals to have on hand after a busy day of work, gift cards for a date night and something handmade. We get together with them on Christmas Eve and often have appetizers instead of a huge meal that takes hours to prepare. Christmas started out in a simple stable and continues to bring meaning and joy for centuries!
Andrea says
Thanks for sharing Barb 🙂
Dave’s parents gave us freezer meals one year after one of our babies was born — and also multiple containers of frozen cookie dough to make whenever we wanted to fresh cookies. I LOVE those types of gifts!
And we almost always do appetizers with Dave’s family for Christmas too — it’s a lot faster/simpler and I love the variety!