Merry Christmahanuwanza! As pumpkin spice is not-so-subtly shoved aside for peppermint everything, I wanted to be sure to gift you with a holiday post. Our family celebrates Christmas, and honors all other holidays, and I have to tell you that as hard as I try, I hate Christmas.
There. I said it.
I love aspects of it; decorating the tree, and now that Ella is 2, stuff like Elf on the Shelf is a hilarious challenge and tons of fun. My wife & I make an epic amount of Christmas cookies to take to all of our neighbors. That part is awesome.
But the rest of it – the “hustle and bustle” (aka the shit storm of chaos) is for the birds! It’s stressful, expensive, unnecessarily complicated and it makes me miss the simplicity of Thanksgiving. I wish we could combine the two seasons; Just a turkey, family, friends, a tree, an elf and some alcohol. So delicious and simple.
There are awesome ways to simplify, but they require discipline..
- You can give handmade gifts, like photo ornaments — so let’s hope everyone you give a gift to wants a photo of your child on their tree or in their home at all.
- Bake cookies and give those as gifts — as long as you aren’t a mediocre baker that will be amazing amidst the 300 lbs of junk food already trickling into to every home in the name of festivities.
- Call your family and tell them that you aren’t giving gifts this year — and find that one relative who starts a rumor that you’re having money problems (there’s always one).
- Make it about the kids — I have nothing snarky to say about this. I love this idea best of all.
- Keep it light and fun! — Seriously. As soon as we took this approach, the holiday became about our little family, friends, food and fun, and I stopped being stressed. We spend time with the people we love and eat and drink to our hearts content.. just like Thanksgiving.
From our family to yours, Happy Holidays!