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Jingle Bells! Jingle Bells!
O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!
The beautiful songs my little toddler walks around the house singing over and over…and over and over. It is cute…but after a bit you’re kind of over it and wish she’d learn a new line…phrase…or song all together!
Yet, lets admit, we hear all of these fun songs on the radio, in the stores, playing in our homes or like I mentioned through the joy of a toddler…yet inside our homes we can find our lives chaotic, busy, overwhelmed and stressed. Why? I say inside our homes, I’m lumping it all together as a culture within our nation…why? Why do we let these *things* rob us.
As a family we are trying to simplify.
A few ways we are simplifying…
1- Avoiding the Shopping Malls and shop small : Ouch! Can you believe I’d say such a thing? Don’t get me wrong, I do love to shop. Yet simplifying has meant me staying away from the hustle and bustle and finding ways to support a small business is right up my alley!
At the same time I can shop from the comfort of my own home at any time during the day and not have to worry about messing up our schedule at home and nap time!! With the ease of PayPal and with PayPal’s One Touch allowing me to pay for items in my shopping cart without having to enter credit card or billing details, such a breeze. My last love about PayPal is PayPal offers return shipping refunds called Return Shipping On Us, up to $30 in return shipping costs per order and 12 orders per calendar year. Hello! How is that for a great platform!
2- Limiting the number of Gifts : My husband and I exchange a gift, but it varies form year to year what we do. Whether we set a budget, we say one gift or we decide on a gift together. Communication is the key on this one! This year I had been wanting a hands free type purse, as a mom having two free hands is amazing and so valuable…so we decided on going with Wilson’s Leather and I chose my backpack from their online store. I was pretty excited when it came in, that’s for sure!
Yet for our little one we are keeping it to four gift: Something you read, Something you need, Something you want, Something from me. This has truly, even though she’s only 2, has helped us keep reigns and not going over board.
3- Drawing Names : within my side of the family, we’ll get together at Christmas. Instead of everyone buying something for everyone…we do couples gifts and draw names for the kids/cousins.
4- Volunteering : this seems redundant, but find a place to serve and give as a family during this season.
5- Traditions : What traditions does your family hold? Stick to them. Don’t get caught up in all of the new traditions, I’m not saying you can’t try something new but my goodness if you can’t stick to a goal for three days in a row why do you think you’ll stick to doing something crazy with an elf for 25 days?!?! It’s ok…I’m not bashing it, just be reasonable and give yourself grace…you don’t have to do everything!
6- Advent : I racked my brain on what we could start this year for an advent count down…it’s not about wrapping up 25 gifts and giving her a new gift everyday…no, I want to avoid the over the top gift giving and creating a little one that wants and thinks she’s to be given everything she wants! NO! I wanted to avoid the candy. I wanted to create a focus for our family. We spend maybe 30-45 seconds on our advent right now…it’s our manger scene and each day we are adding a piece.
7- Be Resourceful : Is there something you can make? Get creative and resourceful and give gifts that you can make and save money at the same time it’s so so meaningful.
Hi I’m Erin a Southern mama from South Mississippi, owner and chief editor of Sixth Bloom a blog helping mom-tographers capture their kiddos and life, talking all things home, parenting and how we navigate through life. You will find me living life to the fullest with my mister (aka husband) and our two year old, Miss Elle, in our 500+ sq foot cottage as we build our dream house on our two acres! We are blessed beyond measure, love to travel, involved in ministry at our church and in between all of that I run three successful businesses! Follow me at: WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | PINTEREST
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of CLEVER and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
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