Simple, Lovely Christmas

 

“Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want. And experience is often the most valuable thing you have to offer.”

–Randy Pausch

I was struggling a little at the end of last week.  I've been giving myself a lot of pep talks but the truth is that I was having a hard time finding the Christmas spirit.  I kept saying that it won't be more or less Christmas if I don't have this or that and it's true...but heaven help me when I start to get want-itis.  That's when I started to formulate a plan.  A plan to make Christmas as much of a celebration as I possibly could...On a budget, a very strict budget.

I realize it's late in the year to start talking about Christmas and gifting on a budget, but it can still be done, even at this late date. In fact, I've had experience! 

I've heard quite a few folks saying, "Oh I can't enjoy the season this year.  Things cost too much.  I haven't enough money.  I don't have the time."  I think I can, you can and what's more I'm looking forward to Christmas!

Here are a few things I've learned over the years. And some that I'm doing right now.

Have a Potluck Party.  For years, we had a huge party the Sunday before Christmas.

People don't seem to do potluck parties much these days, but they really should.  It's a very affordable way to enjoy time together without big expenditures.    

It was a thing that started quite accidentally.  A long-lost friend dropped by unexpectedly on the Sunday before Christmas.  I'd been making things ahead for Christmas dinner and baking cookies.  They had been out shopping.  As the afternoon turned into evening, we all got hungry and so we combined what we had.  We ended up with a table of snacks.  

The gathering was fun.  It didn't make a dint in our holiday dinner supplies but it was so fun that we decided to repeat with that friend and a few more the next year.  Then we started inviting family.  It got to be a rather big deal.  We were on a tight budget and so was most everyone else, but everybody brought something.  I made a big stock pot of Wassail, endless pots of coffee, and the kids drank hot cocoa. Everyone ate their fill from what everyone had brought to share.  

We kept that tradition going until mine and John's work schedules got too difficult to work around.  Friends divorced, moved, married.  Lives changed. We enjoyed the party years.  It was an affordable and fun way for us all to enjoy the holiday but recognizing that it's time to let go of what is no longer fun or workable is important, too.  

Send out Christmas Cards.  This is a habit I've kept up for years.  I don't send out a load of cards, but I do send out a few.  I don't buy expensive cards, but I find the prettiest cards I can get.  I generally use about 1 book of stamps.  I'd say this costs less than $25 each year.  The bonus for me is that some people actually send cards back.  I love getting mail.

This year my eldest granddaughter asked for friends and family to send her Christmas cards with a favorite family recipe included.  I think that is a wonderful idea and I was happy to oblige.  That might be a fun thing to do with your family and friends.  Perhaps you have a tried-and-true recipe that everyone loves, asks for, or has fond memories of eating.  Share it!

Go to local events.  I'm a little peeved...Apparently our town held their annual Christmas parade last Saturday.  I didn't know this until this Saturday, when the local paper published it.  I'm making a note on next year's calendar to check if this is happening on the first Saturday of December 2025.

Our town also has an annual Christmas tree lighting in the park.  Something else to put on the calendar for next year.  

Local churches are offering a Christmas play, a cantata, a concert, and a walk-through Bethlehem experience.  We've been to our own Christmas program this afternoon.   

Local talent is usually pretty amazing.  These events are free.  They may ask that you make a donation, but it's not forced and frankly they are perfectly happy to take what you can afford to give.  Contrary to popular belief while these events are usually free, it does cost to put them on, even the most modest events.  So, give what you can and enjoy something that is relatively inexpensive.  

My only issue this year has been that everyone is offering their event this weekend and we had to choose one to attend, so we opted for the program at our church.

Watch Christmas movies.  Everyone has their favorites. I certainly have those I love and watch each year.  Most of these can be found for free (with ads) or can be rented or purchased.  I have a few that we've purchased and view each year.

We've also found a few old tv shows that we enjoy the Christmas episodes of.  This evening, we watched an old Bing Crosby show that was aired on Christmas Day in the 1960's.  It was lovely and we enjoyed it very much.  Then we found an Andy Williams Christmas special.  Oh we enjoyed that one as well!  We'll look for more of those, too.  

It's my personal goal to watch a holiday movie most days over this week and next.  

Have a non-traditional meal for Christmas Day.  I know many people love their big turkey or ham or Rib Roast dinners on Christmas Day but let's face it...They can be a bit much expense wise, especially given we Americans just celebrated a big Turkey dinner at the end of November.  

We've had something different for Christmas Day dinner (or family Christmas day dinners) more years than we've had traditional meals.  John started this when he came into the family.  His family tradition was to have BBQed Ribs.  Over the years we've had Brats and German potato Salad and homemade pretzels.  We've had 'party foods' at the kids request a few years.  We did Lasagna one year with salad and Garlic Bread.

This year, John has requested we do ribs for the two of us.  I bought them on sale the other day and put them in the freezer.  They cost less than the turkey breast we bought for our Thanksgiving meal.

Put Up A Tree.  We have a lovely little artificial tree, just about 4 feet tall that we put on a table in the living room window.   

One of my simple pleasures is getting up each morning to plug in the tree.  I love the glitter of the ornaments and lights.  I enjoy it all day long.  I keep my tree fairly simple.  It's small and pre-strung with lights.  I hang a few ornaments and drape a bit of ribbon or garland and I'm done.

Granny cut a small cedar or pine from the fields each year to have in her home as a tree.  She did that until she simple couldn't do it at all and was too far gone with her dementia to think of it on her own.

The tree doesn't have to be a traditional tree.  You can hang Christmas cards on the wall in a tree shape.  You can buy a small Norfolk pine and string it with fairy lights and paper snowflakes.  One friend strung a garland on her wall so that it looked like it was an invisible tree.  She put a star at the top and hung wrapped candies with tape on the wall as ornaments.  It was imaginative and cute and the kids loved it.

Ride Around and Look at Lights.  Even just riding around your local town and looking at the decorations people have put up.  Even the most modest home usually has a tree in the front window.  I love to see the twinkle of lights in house windows.

Some communities have one neighborhood where everyone decorates the house and invites folks to drive through.  There was a place out in the country dubbed Candy Cane Lane in our former home area and we enjoyed taking the kids there to view the lights, get candy canes and wave at Santa.  

Bake and Decorate cookies together.  Or make Graham cracker houses with the kiddos.  I'm having the grandchildren over to make and decorate sugar cookies later this week.  They always get to take cookies home with them which they think is fun.

Gift What You Can.  Giving gifts is just lovely.  It's a little hard when you can't afford to buy things but I have found there are all sorts of ways to give and folks are generally pretty happy with whatever they receive.  They just appreciate your thinking of them.

As a newly married, newly unemployed young woman, my first Christmas as an adult came with the realization that I couldn't buy a single gift.  I had a decent supply of pantry staples and so I made tons of cookies and gave an assorted box to each of our family members.  

One year for a particularly slim Christmas, I wanted to do something more, so we decided to fill stockings.  Each child got the old-fashioned treats of an apple, an orange, a packet of hot cocoa, a huge peppermint stick, a package of gum and their favorite candy bar.  The stockings were the hit that year and in following years they asked for more of the same.  We might vary by putting in a small packet of flavored coffee for those that drank it, or packets of popcorn but it was pretty inexpensive overall.  

Something as simple as an ornament can be a lovely gift.   

And coupons (only give them if you mean to make good on them!) for free babysitting or a car wash or a favorite meal are usually welcome by most folks.  

I hope you gained an idea or two.  And share if you have any fresh ideas about how to have a simple but lovely Christmas.  

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