Intentional Holidays

I don’t know about you, but I am tired of the holidays being crazy on top of crazy.  I want to slow down and really enjoy the joy and glad tidings of the season.  And get back to a simple, meaningful celebration. I am going to be more intentional about my holidays this year.
OK..... what does that mean, exactly? Well, I have identified a few areas that I think I can simplify.​

First, I am going to make a plan. Check out this planner layout I made in my grid notebook.  First column is the holiday activities we have done in the past.  Then we picked the top seven tha we really want to do this year. So I am going to make sure these seven activities are added to our family shared calendar.  That way everyone knows when the activities are scheduled for and can plan accordingly.
​The next column is for holiday decorating — outside & inside.  We have really scaled down this year.  We selected the decorations that are the most meaningful to us.  When we were evaluating which decorations we wanted to use, a big factor was weighing the joy the decoration gives us vs. the ease of putting the decoration up.
The third column is a biggie. The Holiday Budget.  It is amazing to me how much we spend on “The Holidays”. Between gifts, donations, food & beverage, decorations, clothing, etc etc etc —it’s a lot of money. So having a budget helps both my husband and me see exactly where all the money is going.  It also helps us identify areas where we might want to economize.  If nothing else, we can clearly set our intentions.

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And that brings me to holiday shopping.  As you can see, we set a monetary budget for each person we want to buy a gift for.  And we really try to stick to it.  I am not the best of listeners, especially when someone might be dropping a hint.  But my husband is great at this.  He listens throughout the year and has a list of ideas for each person — very helpful. So when we go to buy a gift for someone, we actually have a list of things they have mentioned they want. And then we don’t run around and end up just buying “something” so we can give them a gift —whether it’s something they want or not. Intentional, feel-like-I-am-getting-them-something-they-might-even-use shopping vs. I-don't-care-if-they-even-like-it, crazy-making shopping.

Now don’t get this next statement wrong, I like a bargain as well as the next person.  However, I don’t drive myself crazy looking for the absolute best price I can find.  I do my best but I think my time is worth something.  So when we have found the item for what appears to be a good price, we make the purchase and move on.  I don’t agonize over it for hours...days....weeks????? 
Also, start early.  Right after Thanksgiving (I just can’t bring myself to think of the Holidays before Thanksgiving has its day) but NOT Black Friday (I can’t buy into the consumer mania of that day) is a good time to start.  Whether you like to get all your gift shopping done in one marathon shopping day or take a fews shorter trips to accomplish your shopping, be intentional and keep your patience and holiday spirit with you.
​Planning the holidays with intention and reasonableness helps me find the perfect gift for someone (in my budget), helps me stay in the moment and even — drumroll, please — enjoy the whole holiday expereience. And isn't that what the holidays should be about?

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Holidays,
Laurie