A Minimalist Christmas: part 1

Hi Everyone.

Every year, as it gets closer to Christmas, I see more and more people crowding the shops and looking stressed out. I understand that a lot of people feel the pressure during this time of the year, and sadly I think a lot of it comes from the feeling that they HAVE to do what everyone else is doing. Like an obligation. Because of this, I thought this would be a great time to share what we are doing this year as an Australian family, who are also somewhat minimalist

Growing up, Christmas time was usually pretty simple and I would say that our life would have been considered minimalist by today's standards. Raised in mainly a single parent, low-income home, there wasn't really money for holidays, computer games or endless toys at Christmas or birthdays. But I always really loved the things I got.

Although I have found myself (in the past) thinking, "what am I going to get this person?", my personal life shouldn't be that hard to cater for. I don't have a big group of friends, I don't have my parents anymore. I have one close friend, a couple of friends who I don't get to see much because we are all so busy and the only family I have now is my husband and kids, as well as my in-laws. Because of this, I don't have to worry about nephews and nieces, uncles and aunties and so on. As my mother-in-law remarried this year, her husband has children and grandchildren of his own but we don't see them much and I am guessing there is no expectations of gifts for the kids. Getting to know them more is better than gifts anyway.

What did we use to do?

My husband and I have been together for almost 7 years and the first few Christmases with his family were spent at his grandparent's place. By the time we bought a few gifts for our kids and a couple for each other, we didn't really have much money to buy for the parents and grandparents. So I would make either a gingerbread house, cookies or something crochet. When Kyle's grandparents sold their home and started traveling around Australia over the past 2 years, Christmas became a little quieter. 

Last year we decided to spend Christmas Eve at my mother-in-law's house and I think we gave them some of their favourite chocolates and re-gifted a bottle of wine. They were really happy about that! On Christmas day we went to a friend's house in which we gave their daughter a pair of Christmas socks filled with little goodies (like a sock exchange). I gave my friend a box of chocolates and nonalcoholic champagne (as she was pregnant ) and for her husband: a 6 pack of rum. They didn't ask for any help with Christmas lunch so giving some treats was the least we could do and I knew they would love them. I also gave them a family gift of a Christmas ornament that I had crocheted. They were both very low key gatherings and we had a nice time at both.

*Please also note: we don't do Santa in our home and will cover this in part 2.

Last year, gift-giving for our little family of 4 was probably the most we have ever done over the years. This is a (badly taken) photo of our little tree on Christmas Eve 2018. There were a lot of presents for the kids from Kyle's dad and grandparents as well. To me, this looks totally crazy!

There was definitely a lot more than we originally intended, but you know, we had a lot of fun and it was a good reminder why we usually like to keep it a bit more simple.


How we went about it.

Originally we wanted to stick to the 4 gift rule idea, you know the one: "want, need, wear, read" and so we went with that, but there was an extra "want" for each person.
To my total surprise,  Kyle had also bought us all a family gift of 10 movie tickets. There were some good movies out at the time and coming in 2019 so it was perfect!

Apart from the main gifts, last year, there were a few new traditions that we wanted to try.
1: The Icelandic tradition of opening a book gift on Christmas eve. This sounded so great and we used our books from the "read" gift for this.

2: The crazy sock exchange. A pair of socks filled with goodies. We decided to do this instead of a stocking and it was really fun. However, I did find that being Summertime in Australia, I barely wore my socks and come winter, I was looking for just plain socks. But I still love the idea!

Each person got a few little goodies like chocolates and handy things like a torch or toothbrushes and hair ties and so on.  To some people, it doesn't sound like much, but with the added gifts that were sent from other family members, it was lovely but also a bit overwhelming.


What we are doing this year!

Kyle and I have decided that this year, we want to be home on Christmas day.
We will have a Christmas Eve BBQ at his mum's house again, but we are really looking forward to just a day for the 4 of us to wake up, open gifts and hang out. There will be no stress of getting ready or prepping our home for guests, and the kids can just play with their gifts and Kyle and I can relax in our PJ's and watch movies all day with the kids if we want to. We really don't know what the day will be like because we haven't done this as a family before but I think it will be like a normal day except having a few gifts and some yummy treats.

At first I was a tiny bit worried that my in-laws might feel offended by us wanting to stay home. At the end of the day, it isn't like we don't care, or that we don't want to see them over the holidays, but we live in the same town and we will see them Christmas Eve and most likely Boxing Day when Kyle's step sister and her family arrive. So It doesn't bother me at all.

It is my 12th Christmas a parent this year, and for the most part, life has been kept pretty minimal at this time of the year. This year especially I have really grown to embrace the idea of a few meaningful gifts rather than just a lot of stuff!

Stay tuned for Part 2 coming next

Take care. B