Celebrating a Simpler Christmas

Over the last few weeks we have been discussing ways of keeping the holidays simple, restful and enjoyable, and most importantly, focused on the Savior’s coming. As Stephanie at Keeper of the Home invited me to participate in the special theme on this topic today for Simple Saturdays, I thought it would be nice to compile my ideas here with a few additions. Many may think it is quite impossible to simplify Christmas, but I believe deliberate planning and prayer is the key! Consider using the holiday evaluation questions to prepare for the holidays as a family!

I appreciate Stephanie’s encouragement to depend upon the Lord’s grace for pursuing a simpler Christmas! By His grace, it is possible!

1. Name drawing for gifts

We have always done this growing up in a large family. Everyone gets something for our parents, but we each picked one or two names from among the siblings. We continue to draw names within the family (his siblings and mine) now and it works very well without stressing any of us financially. We keep a budget of $10-15 for each of these gifts. We decided early on that gift giving to the extended family would be too much for us, so we don’t personally give gifts to cousins, aunts, uncles, etc., nor do we go through the extra effort to ship out gifts to extended family.

2. Holiday Baking

Rather than doing scores of baking, with tons of varieties of cookies, I chose one yummy Pumpkin Banana bread recipe and make a large batch in small bread pans (each recipe made about 4 small loaves, so tripling this recipe made 12 loaves). I made about 12 loaves to distribute among neighbors, family and friends. They are currently in the freezer ready to go! We have enough sweets over the holidays for me to be tempted to indulge in lots of special baked goods!

3. Christmas Cards

Rather than making Christmas cards or buying them, we printed photo cards from Costco for a frugal $15 for 50 cards with the envelopes! This can be completed online and everyone loves getting pictures!

4. Set a budget

How much did you spend last year? Are you comfortable with these figures? Set a budget together with your spouse for gift giving, hospitality and entertainment and stick to it. We have chosen to just give each other two or three gifts this Christmas. Karis is getting one from us as she usually gets a few from the Grandparents and is perfectly content!

5. Shop online!

This is definitely up my alley, especially because I am not a shopping person! Getting it done online helps eliminate a lot of time running from one store to the next, not to mention the gas saved. This year we made a simple Amazon wish list, using their new universal wish list button, which allows you to add anything from any site to your one amazon wish list!

6. Homemade Gifts

We discussed ideas for homemade gifts here. I completed a few homemade family gifts online using Shutterfly, a simple program with lots of fun photo gifts ideas. I had a blast and it was all completed from my computer.

7. Events

As I discussed here, we have made a diliberate effort this year to simplify our outside events. This has definitely taken a little effort, and the difficulty of declining invitations, but is well worth it! Two outside holiday events, one Christmas party, and two outreach events…that’s all that is on our calendar.

8. Advent Celebration

We have been having a blast using the Jesse Tree advent idea this year (tracing how each event of the Bible is linked to the coming of Jesus). This has kept our focus on preparing for Christ’s coming and has been so rich. We are using Ann Voskomp’s Jesse Tree Devotionals and have stolen ideas from others on making our ornaments. Ann’s devotionals are in the back of the Christian Family Holiday Planner guide that has been a great help in simplifying our holidays, but you can also purchase it separately. There are wonderful ideas for ornaments here and here.

9. Focus on Others!

Drawing our attention first and foremost to meeting the needs of others around us has been a simple means of keeping Christ at the center of our holiday celebrations. Especially with the economic times that we are in, there are many families that cannot even celebrate Christmas this year. The more we have focused on meeting needs around us, the less we are focused on our own desires and wants for the holidays. It is a glorious opportunity to share the true meaning of Christmas with others! Talk to the deacons at your church and ask if there are any needy families in the body. Collect a wish list from them and team up with other families to provide Christmas for them. This is what we have done this year. Include missionaries as well! Giving has gone down significantly this year, and thus many of those who are serving overseas or stateside do not have the extra resources to provide gifts for their children.

I pray the Lord would bless and sustain you this holiday season and grant you the ability to keep it focused on Him! Through Him all things are possible! May you have a rich and Christ centered Christmas!