Christmas Simplicity

Sorry for the lack of posts.  I've been fighting a horrible cold since we returned from our trip and it's zapped most of my energy and motivation.  I'm ready to be able to fully breathe again and not have my asthmatic lungs hurt.

Over the past week, I've been thinking about how I've made this holiday season simple for us.  I'm sure it's not as simple as it could be (hey, I'm still pretty new to this), but I am pleased with the changes we've made.  It wasn't very difficult and I definitely had help in the form of Household Management 101's Stress Free Holiday Series.  Seriously LOVE IT.

Normally, we'd cram all decorating into one day and by the end of the day, everyone would be crabby and tired of decorating.  This year, we spread it out over one week.  I gradually got out the interior decorations (there aren't many because we have little kids who like to touch things), then we put up the outdoor decorations, and then finally got our tree and decorated that.  The only complicated thing ended up being the size of the tree.  I went BIG this year - although honestly, we could have gone a full foot taller - and while that wouldn't have been a problem, we now have a treadmill in our living room right where the tree went last year. So we had to rearrange the living room.  On the bright side, we think we like the new quirky layout a lot better.  Once the tree is gone after Christmas, we're going to try it out without a tree in the way and see what we think.

Now, what about Christmas shopping?  This has to be THE most stressful thing about the holidays.  And usually, I'd wait until December 1 to start.  This year, I started around Halloween and am done as of yesterday, when the last present arrived in the mail.  I did most of my shopping online because quite honestly, I hate stores at Christmas.  I now get to sit back and enjoy the season.  How beautifully simple!

I am now trying to continue getting stuff out of my house, since we'll be bringing more in once presents are opened.  This has turned into me rearranging various rooms to make things flow as naturally as possible.  I'm beginning to think this will always be a work in progress.  Every time I reach an organized point, I find a way that I can improve upon it.  Which is great, but might annoy my family slightly because their things have suddenly been moved.  Again.

So far, I'm pleased with how our Christmas flow has changed.  I am happy to be able to relax and I've been able to be much more crafty this year because I actually have the time.  We've made some fun new decorations, and we're doing some homemade gifts for a Secret Santa exchange.  I'm super excited to see how they turn out.  The big challenge will come right after Christmas when we have loads of new toys to find places for - but that just means we'll get rid of more things to make room.