Ok, I’m traveling today, so I wanted to do something fun and easy! So let’s do a “What would you do?”
“What would you do if you had to eliminate one thing/activity this holiday season?”
If I had to cut back one commitment this holiday season, I’d probably ditch doing the Christmas Cards. We send out so many~it always seems overwhelming, even with Yankee Bill taking care of his side of the family and his friends. We just keep in touch with way too many friends from military days! All those moves ya know.
I love getting cards, and we would never really stop sending them, but I have to admit that it would probably reduce my psychological stress of the season if we didn’t have that task.
So what about you? What would you eliminate if you had to give one thing up this holiday season?
I’m with you on the cards. We have already basically given up on this, though I have sent out picture/Christmas note via email to the same huge list. I feel some guilt, but it was a HUGE load off my holiday mind, esp. with DH gone either until just before Christmas, or for the holiday itself, the last 4 years.
Also, Christmas baking – we bake and frost one kind of cookie only.
I would give up baking in a heartbeat. It’s time consuming, makes a mess, and generally takes up a day I’d rather spend on almost anything else. Don’t get me wrong, I like my pumpkin bread and cherry cookies as much as the next person in the family, I just don’t like to make them. My dd11 is a budding baker though, so very soon I won’t have to be involved at all and we’ll still have yummies. 🙂
I would give up on being so committed to seeing family on Christmas day. I have missed my family holiday for years because we spend most of the day at my husband’s family house. It is the ONLY holiday they do as a family…but we often miss or rush to see my family. Now with a little one who takes a nap in the middle of the day…I can just see all heck breaking loose!
Boy that’s a hard one…Maybe store bought presents. I would rather have something handmade or something from the heart…not just a run to walmarts get a present and run out kinda of thing…I know some people don’t make homemade stuff, I didn’t for years…I just want to give more this year then to receive….this year is all new to me because all my kids are gone and in college and they are all coming home for christmas…so new tradtions will be made…some will stay…I stopped sending cards to everyone that I hadn’t spoken to in years….So I send a few only that are in my life now…Lisa
I would give up my in-law’s Christmas party. It’s a huge event with easily over 100 people each year. Trying to keep up with my toddler in such chaos is more stress than it’s worth.
I would love to give up the traveling. In all honesty, I’d prefer to stay home all day on Christmas, in our pajamas and just enjoy our gifts.
A few years ago, we gave up gift-giving for the adults on my side of the family. We still give gifts to the kids (there are only 3). As soon as we made this change, my stress-level at the holidays dropped tremendously. Now if I could only convince my hubby’s side of the family to do the same — they don’t like it however. At least we’ve dropped our budget a lot so we’re giving much smaller simpler gifts. I really like to focus on the togetherness and fun of the holidays and making it magical for the kiddos. As adults, we don’t need more “stuff” in our lives.
I’ve pretty much given up decorating with greens. I used to put up window garlands, etc. but now I just buy two wreaths from the Boy Scouts and be done with it.
This year, I would like my husband to give up so much holiday baking and cooking! He loves to go all out and make the holiday meals of his youth but we have a lot fewer family members. He just gets all cranky – sometimes the smoke alarms are going off and once or twice he’s popped the breaker! – and it ruins the restfulness of the day.
We also don’t have the post-dinner storage his mother used to have. She fed a crowd and had two refrigerators and a freezer for the leftovers. We only have six and are awash in a flood of fattening leftovers. Way too much of a good thing!
Normally, anytime he wants to cook, I’m all for it. Not over the holidays, though!
Last year we got married, and I was so overwhelmed in the aftermath of thank you notes that I did skip the holiday cards. I would have skipped trimming the tree too, but my Husband took care of that. We decided to buy ski lessons as a Christmas present to ourselves…and then never got around to it. It was a minimal effort Christmas 🙂
This year things are less chaotic so I’m bringing the cards back (I should really start on those!) and we haven’t decided on our Gift to Us yet, but it may be twice as awesome to make up for last year.
All Adults, we skipped gifts to his Mom and Sister last year and instead we collectively “adopted” a family through the Jewish Parents Institute and bought Hanukkah gifts, wrapping them when we were together to celebrate over Thanksgiving. It was nice to be able to buy Legos. This year we’re getting together too late for a repeat of that, so we’re planning donations to charities in each other’s names, with info about the charities to accompany the certificate. It definitely cuts down on the shopping stress, will it get there in time, can I carry this through the airport, etc.
So last year we cut out so much, but we still traveled back to my hometown for Christmas. We’ve already decided that once we have kids we’re no longer traveling at Christmas and instead they’re waking up Christmas Morning to presents under the tree from Santa.
One suggestion for the cards- use labels to address them. I know it’s not as personal – but it’s way better than no cards at all. Type your address list into a spreadsheet or database, and update it every summer, and go ahead and print them. Not too many people move from Sept-Dec anyway. That way once you get your cards you just attach the labels and off they go! It destresses the card mailing process – just do them one evening while you watch tv together with DH. After Christmas you can even update it with all those envelopes you got with Christmas cards and thought “I should send them a card next year!”
Oh, and you can dress up the labels with a Christmas clip art to make it more palatable. 🙂
I gave up having a tree. I get to see a tree at my parents, and it was enough. It just wasn’t very meaningful to me. Having to put the lights on and all the ornaments in just the right place (I’ve got a little OCD in me!), just wasn’t worth it to me. But now my boyfriend wants one, and I say FINE as long as he deals with it and decorates it and such. 😛
Jenn,
I absolutely LOVE this post idea. I may have to borrow it!
As for me, I have given up over-the-top decorating in favor of simplicity. Gone are the lights in the windows (that kept tipping over), gone are the reindeer on the lawn, gone are the trees in the play room and kitchen. Now it’s just the tree in the living room, my Dickens Village in the dining room, wreaths on the front door and the Nativity. Simple.
As for Christmas cards, I, too, have stressed over these in years past. In especially stressful years, I’ve skipped them and written a two-year recap the next. And I’ve even sent Happy New Year’s cards or Valentine’s greetings.
Honestly, I would give up all the gifts… I just want to spend time with my family… I hate the commercialism of the holiday. But my husband and the kiddos (and all of hubby’s extended family) adore all the gift giving, so I’m stuck.
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday… no gifts, great food, meaningful family conversations…
I am currently observing all of the commercialism with Christmas because I work in retail. I personally am cutting out anything that makes me stress and enjoy the baking with my kids instead of being up all night baking for friends and coworkers, I am not sending out cards this year, and I am not shopping every week until Christmas, which is hard to do because I end up over spending. I am already done with the shopping for the kids with the exception of the stocking stuffers. I think I am going to focus on making some stockings for other children in need. I loved this post !!! I agree with Christina on Thanksgiving.
I quit sending Christmas cards 4 years ago and none of my friends or relatives have ever commented on it. I have less stress and less costs (postage 44 cents apiece!) which makes me happier.
Please don’t call me Scooge but we don’t do cards and we don’t put up a tree or “decorate”. We stopped the cards a few years back when I realized that with our unlimted long distance, those that we don’t see over the holidays or exchange gifts with made more sense to call them even if I didn’t speak to them directly but left a short message wishing them a wonderful holiday season (free) and since we are never at our own home on Christmas (or even days leading up to it, there seemed to be no point in putting up the tree for the cat to enjoy while we were gone. Our daughter has a small 3 ft tree in her room with her own personal ornaments that she enjoys decorating and having and I don’t have to stress about it. For decorations, we put up our Christmas season flag at the front door, and my mom quilts and has made a number of lovely “Christmas” quilts (lap quilts that I toss over the couch, table runners for the dining room and small tossable quited items that I place on the breakfast bar and coffee table). It still seems Christmas-ey and all I have to do when it is time to undecorate is toss them in the washer and fold and put in the trunk for next year. Much easier than stressing over the details!
I would NOT give up sending Christmas cards. We have moved around a few times and there were really good friends in each place we lived. Also, we live apart from our families. Cards can be stressful, so I try to get them done early. Usually we take a good photo of the kids or all of us during summer vacation. Before Thanksgiving I write a letter about what we have been up to, add the photo, and print them out. If you buy colored envelopes and pretty paper on clearance after the holidays they won’t cost much. My husband prints the addresses on envelopes from the computer. Then I get the whole family involved. My husband and I add personal notes (if not done already some evening), and the kids fold, load, & seal the envelopes. then add a stamp and sticker (fun for the youngest).I really feel good when this is done. The stamps cost about $40 for all we send, but I enjoy keeping in touch with old friends and family. For most of them it is the only time of the year that happens. I love opening Christmas cards that we recieve and hearing what is going on in my old friends’ lives. I am disappointed when a card just has a signature or if I don’t get one at all. Sometimes I think of not sending to some I haven’t heard from in a while, but then I remember that Christmas is a time of giving. If I can’t give some of my time (and a little money)to people I care about, then why bake, or have a party, or buy gifts, or do Christmas at all. We could all just celebrate Jesus (or whatever holiday you celebrate)by going to church or praying and skip everything else. For those of you that gave up sending cards – do you enjoy getting them? Maybe you shouldn’t open any you get in the mail because those friends didn’t get to hear from you! Maybe you could cut back to those you really don’t want to lose touch with. You could even send notes in January when life is quieter. But it is sad to give up brightening someone else’s day, especially when people are easily prone to depression or stress. Try to keep card giving less stressful, but please don’t give up on it.
Travelling!! We live far from all family, and it is a headache to travel w/ 3 kids under 5. We stay home about every other year, and then the guilt sets in. And there we go, with 3 kids, a dog, a playpen, a stroller, all those suitcases, and gifts, and heavy coats, and snacks, and books, and everything else we can cram into the car, and listen to the kids holler at the back of my head for 12 hours. =)
Two years ago I gave up traveling. It was terrible pulling the kids away from all the things they wanted to play with and do just so we could get in the car and try to visit everyone. No more. We stay in our pajamas all day and listen to christmas music, eat whenever we want and just relax and enjoy spending a nice quiet day together. Our house is always open to anyone who wants to visit. It is very calm and all the driving stress is gone.
I am right there with you on the Christmas cards. We have whittled down our list as low as it can go and the past couple of years I have had people question why we didn’t send them a card – oops! I just don’t like doing them.