Less Is More This Christmas

With the Holiday Season fast approaching, we’re being bombarded once again with advertisements on television, the internet and everywhere, telling us to buy this or that to make our loved ones happy.  We’re being encouraged to be all things to everyone and spend, spend, spend…

I know this will sound cliché, but that’s not what the Christmas season is about.  We all know this and yet every year, we let the stress of the shopping, baking, spending, eating, and dieting get to us and vow to do better (as in less) the following year.  And of course the following Holiday Season comes along, and we get sucked in.  Does this sound like you?

I used to let it all get to me as well.  I wanted so much to please everyone and to make sure everything was perfect.  But there’s nothing like a little reality check to make you stop the madness and do LESS.

The last few years have brought about some changes in our home, financially and otherwise.  After I stopped working, I had no choice but to slow down and really look at what matters.  The money just wasn’t there to buy expensive Christmas gifts, and physically, I wasn’t able to do as much with the festive decorating as I used to.

But guess what? Christmas came and went, just like it does every year, and it was wonderful and memorable, the way it should be.  We were with family and friends.  We shared memories, laughs and good food.

This whole ‘less is more’ concept gets lost on many people.  It’s not only important during Christmas time, it’s a way of life that should be adopted year round.  For one thing, it takes away a lot of stress when you choose to simplify your life and let go of the need to be or do too much.  It also gives your children a powerful message about not buying into the insanity of acquiring material things.

So this Christmas is going to be another simple but happy one for us.  I have no intention of mingling with the stressed out crowds in the malls and department stores or making my home look like a Norman Rockwell painting.  I'm not going to spend money I don't have, waste energy on things that aren't important, or worry about what others think.  I’ll leave that to those who think they should still do MORE… ;)