The Decluttering of Christmas

I certainly have a ways to go as far as simplifying my Christmas, but these are a few things which I intend to strive for:

1) Less Decorations: I have a small home just over 1200 square feet. Honestly, I used to think that the more decorations the better, but the result was more clutter and a home that felt cramped. So I tossed/gave away more than half of my Christmas decorations from last year. Now it feels clean, calm and pretty. I now have a simple, thin tree, a mini tree in the girls room, stockings and something for the mantle.

2) Toning it down on all the festivities: this is something I am still struggling with. But when it comes to Christmas activities, sometimes less is more. In truth, I should probably toss away some of these out of the home activities, I have planned. The goal should be to create simple, at home, Christ centered activities.

Some activities I am canning this year:

- 25 Books of Christmas (instead of making it all about gifts, we cuddle up and read our Christmas books when we can)
- Fonthill Festivities in Doyelstown
- An afternoon in Bethlehem for the Christmas Putz- even though I loved this last year, the kids were restless during the presentation and we happened to be disruptive.
-The Nutcracker Ballet

Activities that remain:

-gingerbread houses
-caroling party
-polar express (this is something Nonna and Pop pop pay for)
-a new thing watch a cirque show with the grandparents

3) A chance to make Christmas more Christ centered. In the summer I asked Elly if she knew why we celebrated Christmas. Eagerly she mentioned that it was the time Santa came to deliver us presents. Needless to say my mind was reeling. I had pondered the whole "Santa" mind set since the beginning of the year, but this was the clincher. I did not want my girls missing the whole purpose of Christ-mas. By the way, if you ask her NOW why we celebrate Christmas, she will tell you the real reason for the season. So my goals for this year and years to come is:

-Less focus on receiving gifts and more on giving. I kind of suck at this.  We get 3-4 gifts for the girls but they get plenty more from grandparents-and I am a BIG contributor to the grandparent thing, since I go crazy on black with Grandma Cooper.
- Reading the Christmas story, several times, more than just on Christmas Eve.
- Helping someone in need

Wish me Luck! And A Merry Christmas to Everyone!!

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