Homemade for Christmas

This is a celebration of light.

So often we spend the holidays, buying, wrapping, cooking, decorating, mailing, and doing the endless have-to’s that we have always done. Many people do this without taking the time to ask, why?
The result is stress, unhappiness, exhaustion and a total lack of joy. This year, to add to our stress, many are struggling economically.  I spoke to a friend a few days ago, and she too, is struggling. Last year she racked up credit card debt so that she could buy her kids what she thought they wanted. This year she has decided not to go that route. As a single mom and a business woman, she is has a lot on her plate. So she took her kids aside and said, “This year will be different. This year you will be getting a stress free mom, and little else.”
And her kids, instead of complaining, applauded her. As she has let her imagined obligations go, and instead is concentrating on the spirit of the season, she has found a new, childlike joy in the music, the lights and the excitement, that she forgot was there. Her children are responding by enjoying her and their stress free time together.
The season is but a moment, a bleep in time that is gone when it is gone. Early celebrations of the past, on which this holiday is based, were just that. A simple recognition that the sun had stopped it’s digression and that man had once again made it through the longest night. This has combined with the Christian celebration of the most sacred and special day in history, the birth of Christ. Biblical scholars say, this really took place in the spring, but it was transferred to this month as another celebration of light, His light. Combined this makes Christmas the most special of days.  It is a celebration of joy,  and each year this holiday should be looked at as such. A short time to live in the moment and enjoy, not the presents, but the present.
This site is to help you enjoy the present and the presents.  Instead of maxing out credit cards or worrying about where you might find the money to buy for everyone on your list, this is a resource to help you find more meaning in this holiday. It encourages you to simplify not only your list, but also how you respond to it.  I wanted to start this blog in October, but it didn’t happen. What you will get instead are day-to-day ideas and advice to help you cut back on costs and stress for the remainder of the season. Here you will find cost-cutting tips on Christmas gifts, Christmas decorations, Christmas crafts and Christmas cooking that will help you put more meaning in the season and leave more money in your wallet. I hope you find them usefu

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