Tis the Season of Stuff

How do you celebrate the holidays in your home? Having lived so many years in a small apartment we're attached to not being attached to stuff. We bought a small home so we wouldn't have room for stuff (or have need of stuff) and our purchases thus far have been essentials for seating and eating.

We made it through one toddler birthday relatively unscathed (thank heavens for clothing and hand-me-down toy gifts!) Now, as we face our first holiday season as people-with-more-than-one-bedroom, there's an impending claustrophobia. There's a Grinch-like pile of stuff is teetering on the top of Mount Crumpet, waiting to crash into our lives and spill out of our toy boxes.

I wasn't always so obsessed with stuff but the more I lived without, the better I felt. The less I had, the more I enjoyed the few things I actually purchased. With a toddler who burns through activities and clothes faster than a bag of goldfish crackers, it's gotten harder and harder to manage the serenity of a minimalist life.

In search of a holiday lifeline, we stumbled on some good ideas for minimal holidays that aren't too stark or Scrooge-y. Here's what we're trying out to see if we can manage the mess.

1. We are borrowing holiday books from the local library for FREE. Our favourites have been Merry Christmas Strega Nona by Tomie dePaola, a book about an old Italian witch who has to make a Natale feast for the village, and Three French Hens by Margie Palatini, which follows three french chickens from Paris as they befriend a poor fox in the Bronx.
2. This year we'll be following advice from the lovely Design Mom for Santa to bring something to wear, something to read and something to play with. And no extra gifts from mom and dad.
3. We're doing instead of buying. The Husband is big on holiday memories so we'll be cutting our own tree, baking our own cookies and dancing to our own christmas musical stylings on the piano.

I'm not sure if this will all work out as planned but my hopes are high. I would love it if you would leave a comment sharing your holiday traditions and ideas for cutting the stuff out of the holidays.

Photo from FeDe.