In years past, I was all about creating a beautiful Christmas home for my family. I went a bit overboard. There were two trees full of ornaments (one specifically for the kids), decorations everywhere, a kitchen garland full of the kids' handmade things from school, photos of them in kitchen magnets and in seasonal frames round the house, a bit of decor in everyone's room and both bathrooms, and lights and decor galore on the outside of the house, and gifts were way. too. many.
And let's not even mention the food.
It was a bit much. I see that now.
At the time, it was meaningful to me and I poured so much creativity into it.
I wanted everyone to feel the love - but what about me? For years I spent so much time making Christmas for everyone else but myself, and it was exhausting. This year, a tabletop tree has one ornament from each "kid" plus some vintage ones I picked up years ago. That, and the photo of Mark in a a small frame on my bedroom tree are all you will see of them. The rest is for me. I want the focus of my home at Christmastime to be totally different. And I don't think my kids will spend any time wondering about it at all. A simpler Christmas home means:
*less to clean up around
*less to buy and store
*more energy to focus on the season
*less stress over all
Its taken me awhile to come to the realization that although I do put out some very sentimental decor that makes me happy, what I want is more peace for the holidays. How about you?
