This is the December I've been coming to for quite a while.Cutting back every yr on quilted gifts & doing my shopping in the Fall.Doing more shopping on line & having gifts shipped directly to the recipient.Using less decorations & enjoying them more.
Dec is my gift to myself. If I want to sew, I do, or not as the case may be, no deadlines.Same with baking/making goodies.No rush.I have time to look & admire all the quilts etc posted on here.We have time to see the Christmas light show,time for whatever interests us.We spend a couple eves with TV off,going thru old pics of family yrs ago, many no longer with us.Time for Chevy Chase's funny holiday movie,seeing "It's A Wonderful Life" & loving all the music of the season.
No more Black Friday shopping! It is in many ways, the best gift I ever gave myself.Don't know why it took so long
to happen.Maybe it's just age?

I normally do the same and it's so nice to be able to enjoy the season without all the stress. But this year I just wasn't in the mood to shop. So now here I am still trying to figure out what to get people who already have everything they need or want. Hope you enjoy your holidays.

That is great! We all deserve a break from the hussle and bustle. Sounds like you are really enjoying.

Ours is going to be the best ever. My son is 4 and he is so excited about Santa coming. He askes us every day if it is Christmas yet hahaha. I love to see the world through his eyes. As we do get older, we forget the real meaning of everything....The stars in the sky, the color of a butterfly, and how soft a plush toy is. I try really hard to lock all those memories away, so I dont forget. hahaha

Its great that you are really enjoying this year!

This year my Grandkids were here to "help" us put up the tree. That day was not the day i wanted to do it but it turned out to be a blessing. I didn't get out all the stuff this year and when we were all done decorating, i noticed that it looked so much better with some things still packed. I used probably half of the normal wall and window decorations and i like it like this...simple. My gifts are all bought so now all i need to do is bake my cookies and wrap. All in all a much more calm pre-Holiday!

I, too, have taken the time to breath in the season and the reason.

December can be ohso stressful. This year the family are all going to their inlaws for Christmas and kind friends have invited us to them. So no lists of shopping, small gifts that can be posted are the order of the day and life is terribly stress free.

Important to me as I have just started College. Getting back into learning mode is difficult after all these years and I wanted time just for me. Selfish perhaps, but there are many more Christmases in me.

Sounds wonderful and will need to do it next year! Life is just to short for all the stress.

Sounds wonderful!

I eliminated stress from the holiday too. I stopped doing my super crazy professional wrapping. I let 5yo dd completely decorate the tree (hardly any decor above 4ft...lol), only made three quilted gifts, and finished all shopping weeks ago. Now I'm just finishing up the last quilt and simply wrapping one or two gifts a day to get them under the tree...I'm loving it! Usually I spend hours and hours and more hours and hours intricately wrapping and decorating and baking and and and. I gave it all up and feel much less stress this year.

I'm trying for that next year for me too!