I love to decorate for Christmas but for a number of years now I have struggled with a sort of guilt about it. It just seems so vane. It takes a huge amount of time. It creates clutter in my house and interferes with productive space. Maybe I am a "follower" of the decorating concept that touts positive flow of energy within a space. I just didn't know it until this moment. With this kind of thinking the decorating pendulum swings in a minimalist direction.
On the other hand time and accumulation of things seem to go hand in hand. My decorating forces lie in wait in my basement in an old trunk style freezer, Breyer Carolers, angels, Christmas village pieces, a precious nativity made by my daughter, snowmen, Santas, innumerable garlands, swags, beads and baubles all vie for a place in the pageant. Many of them gifts from my family,I love them. They are pregnant with memories of Christmas past and the love which prompted there giving. So,on the other end of the pendulum swing is a tendency to drag everything out and display it all.
And then we bring in a tree decorate it! Yikes! I am beginning to feel claustrophobic!
Add to this the reality of limited space which shrinks even more when it becomes filled with the physical, space occupying bodies of my loved ones... all 13 of us. Next year, Lord willing, there will be 15!
I have to have a strategy! I want things to look pretty without interrupting the flow of life. I want to display items that my loved ones have given me without having my house look like a Christmas warehouse. I want my family to enjoy our home. I want it to bring a smile to their faces. I want to acknowledge the season peacefully and joyfully.
So, I follow my gut feeling about space and the flow of energy and limit my Christmas decorating. I use my favorite things and rotate other things from year to year. I discipline my thinking and don't don every surface with some sort of Christmas representation. That way I keep the clutter under control and still am able to show my appreciation for gifts. That way during a season full of hubbub my family can function and I can have peace.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Christmas - Presents
Christmas is a demanding holiday and I am finding that it becomes more so with each passing year. I guess that makes sense when you consider it is no longer just our children we shop for but with spouses and grandchildren we have an additional 6 people on our list. Next Christmas, Lord willing, we will add two new bundles of blessing to our shopping list.
It was easy when our children were little. I knew what they needed and wanted and it was relatively simple and pleasurable to go shopping for them.
Now they are all adults, each one very different from the other with different sets of circumstances surrounding their lives and different needs. We really try to get things that they want. We have them give us lists of things they would like to have or need and that really does help.
We have simplified some of shopping by purchasing gift cards which saves a lot of time, plus then they can get what they want and have the pleasure of going shopping when it suits them and when they can maximize their buying power during the after Christmas sales.
Shopping on line makes Christmas easier too. We did more of that this year. We even did some of our shopping on e-bay. Probably the biggest time saver is not shopping for a lot of clothes. When the children were little we didn't just splurge on toys and gadgets. We used Terry's Christmas bonus to buy needed clothing items for them. Of course they were growing so fast, keeping up with wardrobe needs was constant. That was true for us all the way through their college years. Doing that now would be exhausting. It just gets very complicated trying to find the right size, style, particular item and at the right price! This year even though I did buy clothes for everyone I bought fewer clothing items than I ever have. In all I think I only went Christmas shopping 3 times with Terry doing the last minute shopping for the few items that rounded out our gift giving.
I hope our family would agree that it was a very pleasant Christmas. I don't think I wore myself out as much as I might have and I think for the most part needs and wants were attended to.
It was easy when our children were little. I knew what they needed and wanted and it was relatively simple and pleasurable to go shopping for them.
Now they are all adults, each one very different from the other with different sets of circumstances surrounding their lives and different needs. We really try to get things that they want. We have them give us lists of things they would like to have or need and that really does help.
We have simplified some of shopping by purchasing gift cards which saves a lot of time, plus then they can get what they want and have the pleasure of going shopping when it suits them and when they can maximize their buying power during the after Christmas sales.
Shopping on line makes Christmas easier too. We did more of that this year. We even did some of our shopping on e-bay. Probably the biggest time saver is not shopping for a lot of clothes. When the children were little we didn't just splurge on toys and gadgets. We used Terry's Christmas bonus to buy needed clothing items for them. Of course they were growing so fast, keeping up with wardrobe needs was constant. That was true for us all the way through their college years. Doing that now would be exhausting. It just gets very complicated trying to find the right size, style, particular item and at the right price! This year even though I did buy clothes for everyone I bought fewer clothing items than I ever have. In all I think I only went Christmas shopping 3 times with Terry doing the last minute shopping for the few items that rounded out our gift giving.
I hope our family would agree that it was a very pleasant Christmas. I don't think I wore myself out as much as I might have and I think for the most part needs and wants were attended to.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
