This Christmas

I think, in my 30th year, I've finally done it. I've figured out this whole Christmas thing.

I started shopping early- October. I made a list of all the people I wanted to buy for and ideas of what to get them. Long gone are the days when I had time to leisurely stroll through the mall and look for gifts. Now I just try to listen more to what people say they like, where people say they like to shop, and I base my gift giving off of that.

I ordered our Christmas cards right before Thanksgiving, hoping I'd hit a good deal. I did- 40% off at Shutterfly. Note to self- order more next year! I was about ten short.

Lovely craft and Advent ideas floated in front of my eyes on Pinterest, but I decided this wasn't the year to complicate things. We stuck with our chocolate Advent calendar, and no Elves on Shelves or Kindness Elves graced our house this year. We did just a few crafts and at some point I just decided- that was enough. Sure, there are a lot of cool ideas out there, but we don't need to try every last one.

I had all my wrapping paper already- bought last year, the day after Christmas, for 50% off. The way to go, I'm telling you.

The one thing I forgot? Scotch tape. And when the time to wrap finally presented myself, I didn't want to wait. No, this year's wrapping paper is held together with snowflake and motivational stickers we had on hand. I'm thinking the 3 year old and almost 2 year old won't even notice (or care).

Simplify, simplify. It has worked. Even the unintentional act of not going near a mall (thank you, online shopping) in the past few months, has worked wonders on my stress levels. The commercialism hasn't been in my face quite as much, and, hey, maybe that's why I don't mind Christmas music 24/7 this month- I'm not associating it with busy, loud stores filled with stressed out people.

One of my favorite moments this past weekend was after Buddy came in from playing out in the snow with Steve & Rosie. I got him changed into some dry clothes, and then we snuggled on the couch, watched an episode of Chuggington- that boy loves his trains- and shared a candy cane. I'll take that over a day of Christmas shopping at the mall anytime.