I love to have a BIG Christmas. Not everyone does but I really do. My mom loved Christmas and we always had huge Christmases growing up. Those memories were some of my favorite and I love attempting to recreate them with my kids. However, this year I’m going to be doing it a little different.

I’m working on getting my holiday shopping done right now. Like so many other people, I’m looking for gifts for the ones I love. This year I’m putting extra thought into everything I buy. I’m not saying that I didn’t put thought into things in the past, but I did buy many things just to have them. Toys that the kids played with once. Things that they haven’t even touched a year later. Things just because I wanted to have that overflowing Christmas tree.

It’s really hard to reign yourself in when you’re used to shopping like that around this time of year. It’s stressful and takes away from all the joy this year can bring. I’m making a list this year and I plan on sticking to it. I’m cutting down drastically on the “stuff” and focusing on things I know my kids really actually want. Things that will be important to them months from now and not just in the few minutes after they unwrap it.

I’ve seen people who do the “Four Gift Rule”. I like the idea behind it but I don’t think I can quite cut myself down to four. We are doing one big gift and a few smaller gifts this year. Focusing less on the materialness of the day and more about being together. We shall see if I can keep up with this as Christmas gets closer and I have my yearly “have I done enough” anxiety attack. Fingers crossed!