Will It Last?
I’ve received emails and messages this Christmas from all over the world, and from people of many different faiths. I’ve loved the Christmas memories, every one of them — short or long, simple or profound. I’ve started compiling them into one page, called the Keeping Christmas Forum.
Now this won’t surprise you — not one memory is about the gifts. Not one. Nobody remembers how many gifts they received, how many cards they sent, how beautiful the decorations, or how perfectly planned the parties. People remember things that last, and nearly all of them fall into three categories:
Read MoreThe Half-Lit Wreath
For years, I have hung a wreath on each of the front windows of our home during December. Two days ago, half of the lights on one of the wreaths went out, and it looked a little like a giant white chocolate-dipped Oreo hanging on the window.
So I went to Target yesterday to buy a new string, and as I made my way to the back of the store, I overheard the following comments from random people:
Read MoreChristmas Can Be Lost
I was busy preparing a blog post for today about ways to honor the true meaning of Christmas – and I read this comment from Rick. I couldn’t say it better:
Read MoreIt is so easy to get caught up in the activities of the month that Christmas can be lost.
So what will I do to make room?
I will slow down. I will pray. I will reflect and ask others to do the same. I will reconnect with those I take for granted, those I don’t speak to often enough.
The Christmas That Changed My Life
I’m pretty passionate about simplifying Christmas, as you can tell, and I thought maybe you would like to read why. This is the story of the Christmas that changed my life — the Christmas that led me to do things differently, and that ultimately led me to write the song, Do You Have Room?
WE DIDN’T MISS CHRISTMAS
I prepared for Christmas early this year – Our tree was up the day after Thanksgiving, complete with a new set of ornaments – music ones, like I always wanted. I had meticulously chosen just the right gifts, décor, food, lights, stockings and wrapping paper. My parties were planned, and my cards were in the mail, and I was feeling pretty smug about it. But on the night before Christmas Eve, I still wasn’t ready. I had planned for everything….except the chicken pox.
Read MoreThat Night, There Was Room
Special Christmas moments don’t always have to be planned. Sometimes they just happen. Like this spontaneous, SIMPLE, fun idea from one of my readers, Summer:
My absolute favorite Christmas memory is being with my family and cousins on my mom’s side. Music is always the ‘big’ event. Once many of the cousins were teenagers, it was more difficult to do planned performances from each family. But there HAD to be music! One Christmas Eve, after enacting Luke 2, everyone grabbed any kind of instrument they could find; guitar, spoons, toy drum, a wooden stick used on a pot lid, an almost empty oatmeal container — and we had the greatest improv Christmas music session ever!
Read MoreGETTING OFF THE MERRY-GO-ROUND
If you want to take the biggest chunk out of your Christmas complicatedness, do this:
GET OFF THE GIFT-GIVING MERRY-GO-ROUND. (i.e. The blurry, frantic, endless rush that sounds fun, but just makes you feel sick inside.)
Now I can’t tell you exactly how to do this, because everyone does gifts so differently. But I can tell you what we do….
1. We try to do all our Christmas shopping in one day. I just refuse to spend a month at the mall. Okay, I know you’re laughing — you’re thinking NO WAY. But there IS a way — if you cut down on the number of gifts you give and you plan very carefully.
2. We give 3 gifts per person from Mom and Dad. That’s all.
Read MoreSIMPLIFYING CHRISTMAS
I used to promise myself every year that I would simplify Christmas. But in fact, the opposite continued to happen — each year I put up more decorations, spent more money, sent out more cards, made more goodies….you know the drill. Then one year, something happened that would change our Christmases forever. I’m going to repost the story of that Christmas soon, but for now, I challenge you to join me in SIMPLIFYING CHRISTMAS.
But first, a warning: This challenge is not for the faint-of-heart. It’s not intended to just make you more organized. It won’t prompt you, for example, to create a wrapping center in your spare room, or remind you to check the ads before you shop. This challenge is to help you create a real, deep-down different kind of Christmas — the kind of Christmas that you’ll remember 10 years from now. So, are you with me?
RULE # 1: LESS IS MORE WHEN IT COMES TO DECOR
THE UNSPOILED HOLIDAY
There is so much to be said about your recent emails, and I can’t wait to start sharing your good ideas. But first things first: There are very few unspoiled traditions here in America. Thanksgiving happens to be one of them. Somehow, despite our country’s affinity for commercializing everything, Thanksgiving has remained unscathed. It doesn’t ask us to decorate, hang lights,
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