December 3, 2013
Simplify the Season : Change a Tradition
The easiest way simplify the season is to change a tradition. If there’s something that ‘you’ve always done’ that can be revamped, changed, or let go of all together to make things simpler, change it. Chances are no one will lose sleep over it and maybe it can become a new tradition.
In an effort to simplify this year, I made a ‘bold’ change and instead of wrapping all the Christmas books for unwrapping every day in December, I put them in a big tub and placed it under the tree. Understand that I love the idea of this, but it takes quite a bit of time to wrap the 25 books and then we aren’t able to access our Christmas books whenever we’d like to. So…I changed it. Now my little readers can read their favorite books any day under the tree. I won’t have to keep my littlest one out of the books that he would be trying to unwrap and everyone wins. And guess what? No one seems to care that I let go of this tradition.
What are you letting go of or changing this year?
This post is part of a series designed to help you Simplify the Season. You can see all the posts here.
Tammy Says
Hi Becky, I love this idea and have certainly been working on simplifying my life too. I mentioned your post in my blog as you gave me inspiration to write about gifting some of my snowmen to my students one year. I wasn’t as much about changing a tradition as it was about living simpler. If you have a moment, please check it out. http://ambrosiasattic.wordpress.com/ Thanks!
Lisa Grace Says
We’ve scaled back some of our more elaborate traditions, too. The more our family grows, the more we simplify. I think it’s great 🙂 We actually seem to be having MORE fun this year!
Nena@WiltedAcres Says
I’m taking a cue from Gretchen Rubin, author of THe Happiness Project. Instead of stressing over sending out Christmas cards, I’m going to send Valentine’s cards. Same idea – cute family picture and a “holiday letter” but in February instead of December. I thought it would be a nice surprise in the middle of winter for our family and friends as well.
Megan Hawkins Says
I did the same thing! I just didn’t want to spend the time wrapping all the books this year, and I thought that my kids might get to read them a bit more than they usually do if the are more accessible.
Darlene Lopes Says
I did this very same tradition each year for many years. Well, my kids are now 18 & 20. I continue to put the books out in a basket; unwrapped for easy access. I continue to add to them also. Love Christmas books!