There’s no better time (for me) to maintain my minimalism practice than during the holiday season. It feels like my version of “the big game.” 🤣
As soon as Halloween hits… I feel like we’re bombarded with:
Here’s a list of 20 ‘perfect’ gifts for your kiddos
Or… have you decked your home for the holidays yet??
But since the kids were born, we’ve taken a different approach to Christmas🎄
To shift the focus from things to activities- we call Santa the “Host” of the season.
He helps put together all these fun experiences and events starting the day after Thanksgiving (yes… I’m a “Christmas comes after Thanksgiving- don’t skip the holiday” kind of girlie.)
The reason for the season: so that we can spend time having fun and making memories as a family.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… minimalism has always given me MORE not less… we still do gifts- we just focus on less so they can enjoy them more.
So every year the kids tell us:
one big gift they want from us
one big gift from Santa
and one gift from each of their Grandparents + Great Grandparents.
(We’re SO grateful we have a family who’s willing to support our minimalist requests and appreciates getting the kids what they want.)
And to celebrate “the last day of Christmas” we open a few, thoughtful presents as we go from house to house (or even before the 25th so the grandparents can watch them enjoy their gift 1:1.)
My main goal during this season (that focuses a lot on giving [things]): is to actively focus on experiences instead.
We don’t want to strip away the fun and magic from Christmas (even though we often think- “but they don’t need anything else!?”) So this is how we’ve kept the magic alive thus far without the focus being on “what do I get.”
And after staying up until 1am the other night- getting intentional about what we want the holidays to look like this year… I think I’ve unlocked a new level🔓
Let me back up- earlier this weekend I had watched a fellow minimalist, Madisun Gray’s video on what she’s getting her kids for Christmas. She creates one every year but what stuck out to me this time was: decide on a major gift you’re getting them and find ways those who want to give can help bring that gift to life.
i.e. for her family- it’s a mud kitchen. Her and her husband are giving a personally handcrafted one to their kids and their family (and the other gifts she’s giving) are around that theme.
And as of wayyyyy too late the other night- our version of that is an indoor playground (Swedish Ladder + Monkey Bars) for the kids
including multi-functional crashpads… all things that will grow with them
Ok- Gifts without going overboard…. done✅
After that video was dancing around my head- my amazing sister-in-law shared a new tradition she’s doing with her family… which got me thinking about our #1 goal: experiences✨
She sat down and wrote out 25 envelopes with small, fun ways they can celebrate the season:
She said they’re nothing big- eat red and green food, watch a Christmas movie… all things they wanted to do this season but now they actually had a plan to do them.
So somewhere down my Pinterest rabbit hole (after I found the indoor playground idea but before I had gone into full blown crazy researcher mode) I read an article that talked about non-gift ways to make the holiday season + Christmas day special…
I immediately created a new section in my Unschooling Pinterest Board > then opened up a Google Doc… wrote “Making Christmas Magical (as a Minimalist),” added 25 numbered points for each day of the season, created a section for how we can set up their major present so it’s extra magical + a list of what Collin and I want to make sure we do as a couple to celebrate (because we don’t do gifts for each other.)
It felt so good to make a quick list of 25 little experiences we can have… that make the season magical so that the focus isn’t just on what they’re getting on the 25th. I highly recommend creating a list for yourself!✨
I thought you might be interested in my list to inspire your own and to see how I’m maintaining my minimalist lifestyle this season…
If you want to go deeper- you can find all 25 days of experiences plus ways to celebrate as a couple AND decorate for Christmas morning (with what you already have) inside my latest series:
Maintaining less, to access more of life’s simple luxuries.
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