I don't mean cutting down a Christmas tree. We've never had a real tree in my house. And yes, we've had ours more than 10 years, so environmentally we're not horrible. I originally picked up a fake one when my husband and I were first married. It was the cheapest thing I could find. Four feet tall. My mom bought us another one about five years ago that has the lights attached. We used to put up both trees every year. The little one upstairs on a table with our family ornaments, and the big one in the basement with edible treats for our holiday party. All treats we made ourselves. I'll get to the party in a moment. So what am I cutting down? I'm only putting up one tree this year. This might be normal for everyone else, but I'm taking out a holiday tradition for us. Cutting down on what we do this season.
I can't say this year is more overwhelming than other years. In fact, it's less stressful. For the last four years my kids would be going crazy at the beginning of December getting ready for the Lego Robotics competition, while I would be spending weeks making our year-in-review photo and video slideshow for family and friends. Other specific years had their stresses: I only graduated from college a couple of years ago, so this used to be the time of finals and projects for school. One holiday season was dealing with the recent deaths of three close family members. Another season was dealing with my sister's pregnancy as 'terminal' (my niece is just fine, btw.) And it's only been one year since my husband finally got a good job after three years of looking and dealing with financial strain.
Maybe that's what this year's cutting down is about. I (THANK GOD!) don't have external stresses this Christmas season, so why make ones for myself?
Last year our one family computer (yes, my two teenagers and I share a computer) was at capacity and could barely surf the internet. I could not make that family movie. I loved doing that project. I've been making a family movie every year since my daughter was born, starting with VHS. It's the present everyone in my extended family can count on. Except for last year. The hundreds of photos and movies from 2010 are now sitting, transferred, to our shiny new computer. Along with 2011 because I'm not making one this year either.
I'm not writing Christmas cards. I've been doing that since before my kids were born, before I was married. As an 18-year-old in college, I wrote people Christmas cards! Who does that? Me. Except this year. No family photo, no little side comments individually thought of for each of the freakin' ninety-two cards I sent last year.
My children are homeschooled, and I print out their daily schedule and tape it to the wall. I change up the schedule every six weeks or so, concentrating on different areas. Guess what the December typical day looks like for them? "THURSDAY: Music, Exercise, Crafts/Projects/Presents." I'm a musician, so music practice never stops! But that's it. My son is spending most of his days drawing "Ninja Christmas" pictures that he's giving away. My daughter hums happily around the kitchen while making lip balm of all different flavors.
So what am I doing for the season? Yes, I'm still making and buying some presents, but nothing too elaborate. Actually, I'm creating a few photo books on Snapfish because it takes about twenty minutes or less, unlike that slideshow I used to do. But mostly I'm getting ready for my annual dessert party. That I will not cancel for two reasons: I love having a big party in my tiny house, and it makes me clean my house. Some people do Spring Cleaning, in our house December is the Big Clean in prep for our party. Every closet, drawer and cabinet is cleaned and organized. Things are thrown away! Yay! It makes me feel really good for the new year. And I have so much time this year to do that because I'm cutting down on other things.
Some people pare down the crazy holiday season because they have so many other things to stress about. It's weird, but this year I'm reveling in the lack of crazy in my life to relax at home with a cup of tea, and a closet full of stuff to organize. OK, maybe I am crazy, but I'm not stressed about it!
