Learn simple living tips for a mindful holiday season.

The holiday season can make simple living a challenge. There are many activities to choose from, things to do, traditions to follow, holiday cards to send, gifts to buy, wrapping to do, checklists to follow, dinners to host, meals to make. 

It’s a lot, and at the same time exciting. The holiday season brings warmth and joyful feelings. But those feelings can just as quickly become overwhelming when you’re not following simple living through the holiday season.

Children, in particular, benefit from simplicity through the holiday season. Through simplicity, we create precious memories, enjoy and appreciate gifts, and decrease activities to those that matter to us the most.

And you’re able to have a fulfilling holiday season that matters to your child by using simplicity and mindful living.

This article will discuss the benefits of a simple holiday season with your children and the steps to take to create a beautiful simple holiday season, free from stress and full of calm and peace.

How do you simplify holidays with children?

When you look online for how to enjoy the holiday season, you’re going to be presented with an oversupply of activities, traditions, and gifts to get. For example, I recently saw an article for 52 traditions to do with your kids—the very opposite of simple living and a mindful approach to life.

We have too much to do, and in turn, it creates overwhelm and stress where it’s not needed. But the good news is that it’s pretty easy to simplify your holidays. 

3 Simple Living Steps for the Holiday Season

All it takes is three simple steps to make an impact on the joy and appreciation of the holiday season for yourself and your children.

1) Reduce holiday activities to just the core

Depending on where you live, you may have an array of holiday activities to choose from. But that doesn’t mean you should do as many as you can.

Instead of thinking that more is more, think less is more. Choose one or two activities that mean the most to you and your children and do those.

I have many lovely things to choose from for the holiday season. I could easily do a holiday-related activity each week, which would honestly exhaust me (been there, done that).

Our desire as mothers is to create the best possible holiday season for our children. So, naturally, we think, let’s do as much as possible, and we’ll fully embrace the season. We’ll say to ourselves, “It’s fun! The kids will love it!”

But, for children, so many activities can feel overwhelming and overstimulating. 

Given a choice, a child will choose quality over quantity. 

So, my recommendation is to take inventory of all of your options and present them to your family. Then choose 1-3 that you will do, based on the preferences of your children.

2) Simplify traditions

Traditions are rituals that benefit all of us, especially children. But it’s in simple living that these become extra special.

Having traditions during the holiday season creates feelings of comfort and security in children. And traditions give them a sense of belonging. 

To create a simple holiday season for your children, choose the traditions that bring the most comfort to you and your child.

Here are some ways to simplify traditions for yourself and your children:

• Gift card giving: reduce to close family and friends or eliminate them and send a holiday email.
• Holiday dinners: simplify the menu or consider potluck style dinners
• Holiday parties: be intentional in choosing just one or two that you and your children can attend and enjoy.
• Gift giving: simplify by giving to close family only and choosing just one meaningful gift per person.
• Baking cookies: Involve your kids and make simple recipes that you can enjoy with your children rather than making various cookies and doing cookie exchanges with others (which can feel more like work than a pleasure). Not to mention that it can be hard on kids to give the cookies away that they wanted to keep at home.
• Simplify decorations: depending on how pulling out your decorations makes you feel, you may want to consider simplifying your decorations to perhaps a holiday tree and easy, meaningful decorations.
  

3) Shop small and local

I learned the lesson of simple gift-giving early in life as a child. It was Christmas morning on the island that I grew up in, and my neighbor friend was so happy about the gift he had received. He held it in the palm of his hand.

I also couldn’t wait to show him mine, as I had received several gifts, but I was intrigued by his pure joy and wondered what he had received for a holiday.

He opened his hand with eyes full of happiness and glee, and it was a small plastic bird. I had never seen a child so happy with such a simple gift.

I learned at that moment the value of simple gift-giving, which I then practiced with my children from the first year of their lives to this day. The following section below covers more on this in detail.

During the holiday season, simplify gift-giving by shopping small and local. Make gift giving more about the gratitude of receiving, instead of the gift’s value or the gift’s size.

How do you simplify gift giving?

Having learned early on the value of simple gift-giving, I created the tradition in my home that we receive just one gift for holidays. It’s all my children have ever known. And since it’s just one gift, they are very mindful of what they place on their wish list and appreciate the gift they receive. 

The research shows that children express more creativity and imagination skills when they have fewer toys vs. more. 

A few generations ago, gift-giving was a lot more simple. Gifts were handmade primarily and a lot more humble.

Today, for many families, the holiday season is centered on gifts. And gifts have become more elaborate, increasing materialism and consumerism during the holiday season.

An ING study found that 70% of adults in America feel the holiday season is too centered on gift-giving. And yet we are spending more and more buying gifts. 

I genuinely believe it’s because we expect to gift to so many people during the holiday season. It can feel like being on a treadmill that you want to get off but can’t. 

Take back the holiday season by simplifying gift-giving. 

I made the decision about 15 years ago to stop buying holiday gifts for adults. And not only did I simplify the number of gifts my children received to just one, but I also placed a cap on the value of the gift.

Consider not buying gifts for adults during the holiday season and reducing the number of gifts you present to your child during the holidays.

Other ways you can gift that do not require much spending but are meaningful:

• Gift cookies or holiday snacks

• Write thank you cards of appreciation.
• Donate to a local family shelter
• Make a family video with your children wishing others the best and happiness and send it to family and friends
• Create a meal train to help a family in need

Create a culture within your family where gift-giving is also about what you give to help others vs. what you buy for family and friends. As a result, your children will grow to appreciate and value what they receive and understand the meaning of giving.

How can I enjoy a holiday without stress?

Through the tips shared, you’ll be able to enjoy a simpler, more meaningful holiday season without stress. In addition to that, using mindfulness can help you be more present and calm during the holiday season.

Mindful living tips for a stress-free holiday season:

• Begin self-care rituals during the Fall and into the Winter that help you stay grounded and calm (download the Calm Parenting Toolkit below)

• Surround yourself with others that are also practicing simple living and mindfulness.
• Consider adding meditation practices during the holiday season.
• Be aware of your body’s sensations when presented with additional holiday activities and expectations.
• Learn to say no to what doesn’t serve you so that you have space to say yes to what does.
• Remember that what our children want and value the most are not gifts but our presence. So live in the now, be in the now.
• Create holiday season affirmations that calm and give you peace.
• Consider ditching overwhelm by becoming part of the Parenting Alchemy.
• Keep a journal of gratitude to remind yourself that you already have everything you need to be happy.
• Choose your activities intentionally.
• Remember that even one or two small changes towards simple living can make a massive difference in relieving stress.

You can have a simple, beautiful holiday season with your children.

Committing to a simple holiday season is a form of defiance against consumerism and stress, and choosing a slower pace, more meaningful approach to the holidays.

Keep in mind that to your child it is time with you and your presence that matters more, even above the gifts they have on their wish lists.

While we are presented with the expectation of centering the holiday around too many traditions, too many activities, and too many gifts, you are able to instead choose intentional traditions, meaningful activities, and simplify your gift-giving.

What are your simple living holiday tips that work well for your family?