K.I.S.S. Your Way to a Meaningful Holiday Season

[sunshine]

From "Counting the Cost" newsletter. It came in my e-mail today.

FEATURE ARTICLE:
K.I.S.S. Your Way to a Meaningful Holiday Season

Surely you’ve heard the expression “K.I.S.S.” (“Keep It
Simple, Silly,” or for those who don’t mince words, “Keep
It Simple, Stupid”). For me, “K.I.S.S.” means something a
little different. Since I am such an enthusiastic advocate
of simple and meaningful celebrations, I’ve adapted the
K.I.S.S. motto to mean, “Keep It Simply Significant”.

Although we all want memorable, meaningful holidays, the
question is how to make that wish a reality. Here are seven
steps that will help you lessen stress and busyness so that
the true joy and meaning of Christmas can shine through.

1. Opt for a Christmas without charging. – If you carry a
balance on your charge cards, Christmas spending on credit
only increases the stress in your life by adding to that
debt. One way to alleviate this problem is to commit to
having a “no debt” holiday season. Using cash, check or
debit card will help you be more realistic about how much
you spend; it will also help you to make more deliberate
choices about how you spend the money.

2. Give gifts from the heart, not the pocketbook. – Rather
than trying to impress friends and relatives with high-
dollar gifts, I focus on giving “million dollar gifts” --
gifts that are low in cost, but high in value. A million
dollar gift makes both the giver and the recipient feel
like a million bucks! Your loved one feels great because
you took the time and effort to give a meaningful token of
your love. You feel terrific because you know that the gift
will be truly special to the recipient. This kind of gift-
giving doesn’t cost much because it draws on the creative
skills, talents, time and effort of the giver. Million
dollar gifts come in many different varieties; some of my
favorites are crafts, food gifts, gifts of time and gift
baskets.

3. Keep decorations simple – When it comes to decorating,
remember this rule: what goes up must come down! Often
people tell me that they love decorating but hate having to
take it all down in January. The solution to this dilemma
is to limit how much decorating you do. Ask yourself, “Does
this really add meaning and value to my celebration?” If
it’s not that important to you, save your time and energy
for aspects of the celebration that you really enjoy.

4. Rather than entertaining, show hospitality during the
holidays. – So many times we feel we have to put on a big
show when people visit our homes. The difference between
entertaining and extending hospitality is that entertaining
makes you look good while showing hospitality makes your
guests feel good. If you focus on trying to make your
guests feel loved and accepted rather than trying to
impress them, it is much easier to keep things simple.

5. Keep meals simple. - Instead of trying to cook up a
feast, focus on having simple meals made up of family
favorites. Consider also the issue of “time vs. money.” If
you work full-time, you may not want to spend your entire
holiday in the kitchen cooking and then cleaning up
afterwards. For you, simplification may mean purchasing
major components of your holiday meals precooked. Or you
may opt for using disposable dinnerware so that no one has
to spend time washing dishes.

6. Budget your time wisely. - Often during the month of
December, I think people must feel like little hamsters on
their exercise wheels. They’re running, running, running
but not really getting anywhere or even enjoying the ride.
That’s why I believe it’s so important to budget your time
just as carefully as your money during the holiday season.
Don’t waste time and energy doing things that aren’t that
meaningful for you. Focus on spending the limited amount of
time you have on activities that add value and significance
to the holidays.

7. Stay focused on why you celebrate. - Christmas has
become such an expensive, busy, commercialized time of the
year. Probably the biggest step in keeping the holiday
season simple is to not let the meaning get lost in the
shuffle. Think about what you want Christmas to be about
for your family. What’s most important to you? What kind of
memories do you want to have of the holidays after they’re
all over? Then keep that goal in focus as you go about
planning your family celebrations.

[simplemom]

Thank-you... Those are the best Christmases...

[Guest1]

Thanks for sharing this ~ Great advice for all!