the most satisfying christmas ever...

in reflection during the last few days, i believe i can say that our efforts to simplify christmas {in order to avoid the post-holiday letdown} seem to have worked. as we fell asleep christmas night, matt said "so what did you think?" and i think i can say honestly, it was perfectly satisfying.

we had dinner, games and opened presents at mom's christmas eve. it was just the five of us {including bob's mom}, and felt very simple. we took our time with gifts - one present at a time, so we could each watch and appreciate what the others opened. made it home, and in bed, around 11pm.

christmas morning, i was up just a bit before matt, and made us a nice breakfast. we read from Luke by candlelight to enjoy the christmas "story" together, while the snow fell from the sky in the most blizzard-like display i've ever seen. after opening our stockings, we decided that if we wanted to get out of seattle, we'd best go now, so we loaded up and headed for the boat.

at dad's, our side of the family shared a relaxing dinner. new for us this year was dinner around the dining room table {with the TV off}, as their new house finally has room for everyone. i loved the conversation, the relaxing atmosphere. no hurry, no stress. we opened presents - again, taking time to enjoy eachother's gifts. we even had time to squeeze in some family photos {you could really tell dad was humoring us though}...

so if i had to determine the recipe for success, i would say it's a combination of several things:
~lessening my focus on gifts during the season.
~lessening my focus on my own wishlist.
~displaying fewer decorations.
~really thinking about each gift we give: would this suit the person i'm giving it to? will they use it?
~paring down my own belongings during the season - giving well to goodwill.
~giving to others.
~slowing down to enjoy the celebrations of the actual holidays - instead of making the season one {very} long celebration.

a {rare and unnecessarily} white christmas

it was cute when it started about a week and a half ago - the snow, that is... then it got old really fast - about last Sunday, when we had 5 inches fall in one night (we average 3 inches of snow a year). that was about the time we tried to make it to church in my little aveo, getting stuck a block from home and having to be rescued and towed home by a friend with a 4WD.

then i figured out matt could drive in it in his stick-shift, and we've been mostly mobile - as long as i don't need to drive myself. thank the Lord for don, who has picked me up and taken me to the office - and home, and sometimes carted me on church-related errands every day this week. a more understanding and generous boss i can't imagine.

we canceled our annual Christmas Eve candlelight service. i kinda can't believe it, but it was the wise choice - knowing that temperatures below freezing would make the parking lot more treacherous than the roads. still - it doesn't feel like Christmas without starting with the candle-lighting.

my grandparents canceled our annual Christmas eve dinner at their place - which we've done as long as i can remember, since my parents alternated holidays, and i figured out that i liked Christmas eve with mom and Christmas day with dad. not heading directly to the farm after church... sure, it's less rush - but sometimes i relish the busyness.

so we'll have dinner with my mom tonight, and then celebrate Christmas morning in our own home - for the first time ever. we'll make breakfast and open our stockings together, then pack up and head to my dad's, where i hear the roads are wet, but clear...

simplifying christmas: halving the decorations

another key for us in simplifying Christmas was putting out fewer decorations. i realized that there's simply no reason to put out everything we own - it just breeds clutter, and then there's no place for real-life stuff. so, we pulled out our favorite ornaments, my cute little tree collection, a simple berried-stem arrangement, stockings and two wreaths, and called it good. add to that the collection of christmas cards we received, suspended from a christmas ribbon, and our house is perfectly cheery. less work, less maintenance (dusting, rearranging as cats knock things over, etc), less clean-up. decorations simplified.