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Shannon's avatar

I'm always so happy when you post this and more people get on board with shedding stress, financial drain and commercialism. People in our lives know not to bring gifts to our home - not because we're ungrateful but because the greatest gift to us is people keeping their money. My love language is feeding people so a wrapped gift is almost never coming from me....unless it's a plate of food. LOL!

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Liz Sproule's avatar

I was totally inspired (years ago) when I read about your no-gift approach to the holidays. I spent some time really looking at my holiday experience and made some tough decisions about what worked for me and what didn’t.

Decorating: I love lights! The lights and candles are what make things festive for me. They drive away the cold and dark that I associate with winter. I start early and limit the decorations to fairy lights and candles.

Christmas cards: I edited our list of recipients to a more manageable number and paid for the cards to be pre-addressed. Thank you for your service Shutterfly!

Baking: I purchased pre-made Gingerbread houses for our Gingerbread house decorating party. I also stopped making a variety of Christmas cookies, now I make three types- the favorites of each of my three kids.

Gifts: I recognized that for me, I needed to share the responsibility and decrease the overall workload. It helped that my kids were getting older and making their own money. Now we do a Secret Santa. My parents, husband, kids, and their partners all participate. We have a $100 limit for the gift and $50 for the stockings (if this seems outrageously high, just know this is a significant reduction in total spending). My favorite part is that my father, husband, and sons are now equally involved in gifting. Previously, 99% of the holiday experience was managed by my mother, me, and my daughter. There were some complaints early on, from my 80 yo father and 24 yo son, but now everyone is onboard.

Christmas day: I cut down on our obligations. No more getting dressed up, traveling, and fancy food. We have a slow-paced morning with a delicious breakfast and then everyone does their own thing. This works especially well for my kids, who are trying to balance time with us and time with their partners’ families. I usually spend the afternoon walking the dogs, napping, and reading.

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