It is nearly December and the holidays are right around the corner. Have you started getting ready? How are you feeling? Are you excited or are you feeling increased stress? The holiday hustle, as I call it, often leaves me overwhelmed. As I look back over past years, I realize I was a big contributor to the situation. I tended to overdo it. What about you? I have felt busier than ever this fall. As a result, I want to reduce the holiday hustle this year to be a more manageable pace. This reminds me of a concept I learned in architecture school, less is more. This was popularized by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who was an influential driver behind the mid-century modern movement. His tactic was to use necessary elements of a building—such as a building’s structure—to express simplicity. Every element served a purpose. The more I allow this concept to pass beyond architecture and into my life the happier I am. The less I do, the better my life seems to be. This holiday season I am looking to do less buying, less baking, and less decorating in the hope of a less overwhelming holiday season. Today’s post highlights my ideas to slow the pace of the season along with a delicious recipe. These ideas may offer some relief for you as well.
The first and probably the most obvious area where less is more is gifting. Are you guilty of being what I call a supersized Santa? I know I am. When I was a kid Santa always brought the most impressive gifts and I wanted the same for my kids. Over the years, Santa has gone overboard at our house. It is so exciting to watch my children’s eyes light up when opening a present and I will always cherish those memories. Nevertheless, there are some downsides. One of them is that a supersized Santa can forget what Santa bought because there are too many presents to keep track of. This happened to me last year when one of the gifts broke. My daughter came to tell me about it and my response was, “Gosh, I don’t know if I still have that receipt.” Her immediate reaction was of sobbing tears, and the frantic phrase, “Mom, this is from Santa, that means Santa isn’t real.” I spent the next ten minutes trying to calm her down and express how mommy has so much going on she can’t remember who gave what, which of course was true. I certainly don’t want to do that again. As they get older it is harder and harder to keep the magic going. This year I am going to de-supersize Santa. Below are some quick ideas on how to do that.
- Give one gift from Santa. It doesn’t have to be the biggest gift, but one item that comes from Santa’s workshop. All the other items will be wrapped from mom and dad or other. This gives you one gift from Santa to remember. Everything else is from someone else and after a few months the who is irrelevant.
- Consider giving experiences versus things. A trip to the movies, or the ice cream shop, or maybe a play. This can be for the whole family. The gift of an experience gives everyone something to look forward to including you. Additionally, it won’t get forgotten a week after it is out of the box and as a result there are less items to clutter up your home.
The second area where less is more is in the category of baking. I love cookies at the holidays. My mom always had numerous varieties of cookies and for every party we were invited to, she brought along a tray of cookies. This was great in the 1980s, but the American diet and lifestyle have changed. Last year I spent a couple of days making cookies. I didn’t necessarily enjoy it and I ended up eating most of the cookies myself. Has that ever happened to you? In the end, I threw out several of them as they just got too stale. I don’t want to repeat that this year. Instead, I have some ideas to add less to my waistline and my to-do list. Maybe they will work for you too.
- Pick one cookie recipe that is a house favorite. Make it with the family in early December and enjoy. If you need to bring something for a holiday gathering save time and stop by your favorite bakery, they will have all kinds of good things. This will result in less waste and less time. Below is a recipe from www.sallysbakingaddiction.com that my family loves. It is a soft and thick snickerdoodle and hope you enjoy it too.
- Host a cookie exchange. Invite three friends over and ask each friend to bring one pre-prepared cookie dough to share. You can bake them together and share the recipes. The baking will be done in a few hours, and you will have four different kinds of cookies to enjoy. This will allow for less time than if you made four different cookies yourself and more time enjoying people.
The third area where I am going to focus on less is more this year is in holiday decorating. I get an anxious feeling every time I think about the numerous manger scenes, the different wreaths, the strands of lights, and other items neatly packed in four red and green storage bins in my house. I know that every holiday decoration I bring out I will eventually need to be put away. Are you feeling anxious as well? This year, I am going to take a minimalist approach and try the following:
- Stick with the basics. A tree, a manger scene, a wreath on the door and a few candles on the table. The less you bring out the more your favorite items will shine.
- Choose décor that can span into the spring. Look for light green and mauve tones for wreaths or floral arrangements in the house. Winter arrangements vs. Christmas-inspired arrangements can go into March. This may reduce the effort to put it all away at once.
- Choose a theme and pick a few rooms to decorate. Be consistent in the type of lights you use and the colors you place around the house. It will be less busy and well-suited to complement your home.
I am certain I won’t take all the stress out of the holidays, but I am going to try the less is more approach this year. I am looking forward to time with family and friends, while embracing an attitude towards less buying, less baking, and less decorating. I am hoping to eliminate some of the hassles of the season and set a realistic pace to result in spending less money, less eating, and less cleaning up. What are you looking forward to this holiday season?
This brings me to today’s Star Stunning realizations:
- De-supersize Santa. Consider giving fewer gives in total, and plan for one good gift from Santa. Consider choosing something your child asked for on their visit to Santa or in their letter to Santa. This will reduce the number of items you need to make note of that are from Santa in particular.
- Choose ONE good thing. What is your favorite treat at the holidays? Is it Chex mix? Is it a sugar cookie? Whatever that one thing is, make that one thing and only that one thing.
- Stick with the basics. The entire house doesn’t need to be decorated. Choose the areas of the house where you will most enjoy your holiday and focus on bringing it to life through a minimalistic approach. This will allow your favorite pieces to shine.
A Star Stunning Soft and Thick Snickerdoodles
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour spoon and leveled
- 2 tsp cream of tartar
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 1 ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg + 1 large egg yolk at room temperature
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
Topping
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 375° F. Line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper or baking mats (set aside).
- Make the Topping: Combine the granulated sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl.
- Make the cookies: Whisk together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together in a medium bowl.
- In a large bowl using a hand mixer and stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and granulated sugar together on high speed until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract. Beat on medium-high speed until combined. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. With the mixer running on low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in 3 equal parts. The dough will be thick.
- Roll cookie dough balls, about 1.5 Tablespoons of cookie dough each. Roll the dough balls in cinnamon-sugar toppings. Sprinkle extra cinnamon-sugar on top if desired. Arrange 3 inches apart on baking sheets.
- Bake the cookies for 10 minutes. The cookies will be very puffy and soft. You can flatten them with the back of a spoon if you like when warm as the author recommends. I leave mine puffy. All the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes and then move to a wire rack.
- The cookies remain soft and fresh for 7 days in an airtight container at room temperature.
Let children help! Tradition in our home is to hang mini stockings for each grandchild. Gave a tape measure hammer thumb tacks and stocking to our 11, 9, 8,6 these 4 grandchildren had to do the math work together and hang 11 stocking. Perfect job.
This is finally happening at our house this year. The kids helped out tremendously on the Christmas tree.