It has been said that less is more. This holiday season in the spirit of generally simplifying my life I thought I’d see if that’s true. So what better way than to de-clutter what for most Americans is the jam-packed pinnacle of all holidays? Christmas.
Christmas in particular can use a lot of de-cluttering, certainly in the US if not in other predominantly Christian, westernized nations as well. Two thousand years after the occurrence of the blessed event we celebrate, we’ve managed to turn this time of year into the Olympics of gifting, baking, mailing, decorating, and travel. We’ve made it a month-long sprint of parties, shopping, and shipping deadlines. We’ve commercialized the crap out of it until it has become more about myth and tradition that religious reflection. We even kill trees for it. I for one can live without fruitcake, eggnog, and a fresh evergreen in my living room once a year.
De-cluttering the holidays means de-cluttering your life by eliminating excessive or unnecessary holiday activities you have been conditioned to do, and taking more time instead to celebrate the holidays as your heart desires.
But I admit, de-cluttering Christmas came for me this year out of necessity rather than reflection. Due to a cluster of December business trips—for both my husband and myself —further complicated by a mid-December weekend cruise we’re taking (I just won it and it’s a “use it now or lose it” deal), capped off by the fact that we’d be spending the entire week of Christmas and New Year’s with my husband’s family in a foreign country, I knew back in November there simply would not be time to accomplish all the Christmas and holiday rituals I usually undertake. Even in November I wouldn’t be getting a head-start due to a Thanksgiving week trip to Europe. All told, out of December’s thirty-one days, I would be home for fourteen. And did I mention we have a ten year old daughter (who still believes in Santa) and a dog?
So when contemplating how I would “get it all done,” I quickly realized the limited options available:
