🎄Have Yourself a Minimalist Christmas⛄️

When I say a minimalist Christmas I don't mean putting up little or no decorations, no dinner or no presents. A minimalist Christmas means NOT DOING THE THINGS THAT YOU DON'T WANT TO DO because they're traditional, social media worthy, or because everyone else is doing it!

We live in such a commercial society, conditioned to keep buying stuff we neither want nor really need so we feel good enough. Being manipulated that to be as happy or successful as the person in the ad we need to buy X, Y or Z.

When you watch an old black and white movie it was a luxury to have an actual Christmas tree in your house – most people would have to go to a Department Store or a Park to see an actual tree and all the ornaments etc. It was a magical treat. Nowadays you are practically a social outcast if you don't have at least an 8ft tree, or a tree in every room and your house lit up to be visible from space 😋

When I was growing up, I loved Christmas - deciding on what I wanted from Santa/my parents; putting up the Christmas tree as a family whilst listening to Now That’s What I Called Christmas and Jim Reeves 12 Songs of Christmas LPs; watching all the Christmas specials and movies on TV as a family in front of our coal fire; on Christmas morning I’d have my stocking filled with little trinkets and of course the traditional tangerine/satsumas, and then have to wait for my dad 'to check if Santa had been'; later we’d have a nice dinner with the family and watch more TV or play games in the evening. It was a relaxing and fun time to look forward to. So many happy memories, and I still love all those activities many years later.

Now Christmas has grown arms and legs and I see people stressed out beyond belief and getting themselves into serious debt. I mean, Christmas these days isn’t one day – oh no, it’s practically a whole month...and that’s not including all the ordering and prep that needs to be done before December. If you think of all the tasks along with the money we spend these days it really is mind-blowing:

• We need to think about what we want to eat for Christmas dinner and start ordering it…from October! I mean I never know what I fancy for dinner today, never mind in 2 months’ time. Then there’s the quantity of food and drink we order and think we need for one day….and a huge amount of that food ends up in the bin. A perfect example being people buying Brussel Sprouts as they are traditional…when no one in household even likes them!

• We need to have elaborate decorations inside and outside the house. There’s the huge trees and all the trimmings, the lights outside, the giant inflatable things for the garden, the garlands inside, the huge door wreaths, the light up everything’s (parcels, train sets, elves, reindeers, Santa’s…you name it). And you need to buy these pretty much in November or there is nothing left in the shops.

• Then there’s the other Christmas activities to book in advance and pay a fortune for – breakfast with Santa, pantomimes, Christmas parties, trips to Lapland…where does it end?

• Then there’s the shopping to consider. Gone are the days of us getting the book or CD we want for Christmas as we just buy or download these things ourselves when we want them. We spend hours and hours trawling the internet or trudging round shops to buy people things they don’t want or need and likely will never use. Gifts that lie in a cupboard or drawer until someone comes looking for raffle prizes or for the school fair. We spend so much money on things for the sake of it. Lining the pockets of big companies!

• Then comes the stress for parents of young kids, on top of everything else, having to think up different activities every night for Elf on a Shelf and remembering to do it, and of course photograph it for social media.

• And then there’s Christmas Eve – it’s no longer just about being excited for the big day. Oh no, it needs careful planning and more shopping too. There’s the Christmas Eve boxes for the kids (cos they don’t get enough on Christmas Day itself 🙈), family activities/days out and matching Christmas PJs for the whole family. And again the obligatory social media posts.

We’re obsessed with having everything over the top and picture perfect! When really it should be a time to bring people together, where they can relax, enjoy time off work/school and have fun together.

So many people I speak to actually dread Christmas and are more stressed than any other time of the year. Once Christmas Day is over a lot of people end up coming down with the flu and other viruses. They have put themselves under so much pressure for the month before it that when they finally relax and let go…BAM, they get ill!

I don’t mean to sound like the Grinch. I love Christmas, I really do. But I love the traditional parts of it – putting up my tree and listening to the songs I love; cuddling up watching Christmas Movies and admiring my tree all lit up in the corner. A simple traditional Christmas. No one in my house can usually manage a 3 course meal in one go either, so we usually have starters at lunchtime, main course around 5pm and then dessert around 8pm. It's a chilled, laid back day. In fact, some years my husband has to work on Christmas Day and me and my daughters haven't even bothered getting dressed and have lounged around in our PJs, playing games and eating whatever we wanted, before having a family 'traditional' meal on Boxing Day instead.

MAKE THIS CHRISTMAS ONE THAT YOU MAKES YOU HAPPY! Not one that needs to be social media picture perfect.

If you love all the busy stuff, and have the time and money to do it, great! I hope you have a really wonderful time.

But if it is something you struggle with mentally, time wise and/or financially then consider if it is really worth it. It’s one day! Will your kids even remember all this stuff when they are older...probably not. There are no prizes for doing it all!

Pauline (aka The Grinch) x