Life Changes- Living with Less

Life Changes-Living with Less

With the end of the year quickly approaching and the dawn of a new year just around the corner we often look back at all of the things we have accomplished or sometimes not accomplished, we take inventory of our lives and how things are going and we remember the moments both good and bad.  We end the year with a celebration and toast the memories made and the new ones to come,  and is my own tradition the last few years I fall asleep on the couch just trying to stay up to see midnight because thanks to my good friend “Murphy” insomnia only works on nights that I really really need to sleep and not on nights when I’d like to enjoy a nice evening with my husband ( if you ask he will tell you I am not a nice person when I've been woken up after falling peacefully asleep on our very inviting sectional). The New Year brings about a fresh start, a time to make changes.  As the year has come to an end I am looking back on all of the changes in our life this year both good and not so good, I am reminiscing on the good times and thinking thoughtfully of what could have been done differently , and I’ve been thinking long and hard on the changes that I would like to make for my family this year.  I’m looking to change our lives for the better and to do that we are looking to live with less.  

Less clutter and chaos, as soon as I am home from our very fun extended family holiday celebrations I will be going through all of our families stuff starting with the toys and clothes which consume a large majority of the free space in our house and which cause me 90% of my headaches and fights, they also take up a large portion of the basement covering the floor and couch and the other change I am incorporating calls for our family to actually be able to use that space much more efficiently so we start in the dungeon and work up from there .  I will be going through and starting by removing anything that has not been used in 6 months and anything that no longer fits or flatters, that includes all of the “free” hand me downs and gifts that have been given to us, this is a hard one for me because I feel guilty getting rid of something that someone has given us but for my own sanity I am going to get over the guilt and downsize, downsize, downsize.   

Less junk food and take out,  this one is a no brainier it costs us money to eat out and the cost of feeding my family at the golden arches could buy us a really nice steak dinner and then some, it costs us a small fortune to feed our family of 6, and the junk food is only good for one thing adding a little extra junk to my trunk which seems to get a little more cluttered the older I get and also seems to be accompanied by extra baggage that gets stored elsewhere.  So no junk food helps keep the extra junk from the trunk.  

Less screen time and technology.  I am horrible at getting lost in the Bermuda triangle, I log on for a few minutes to check my facebook, then head on over to pinterest and maybe play a game or two of that candy crush that my 7 year old got me hooked on and before I know it those few minutes turn into an hour of time in which i could have actually been doing something productive.  So less screen time means I actually have more time to do things that I enjoy and yeah maybe I might even get some housework done, grumble grumble if I really have to….

So here we go on an adventure to live with less and hopefully gain better health, happiness and harmony. I will keep you updated along the way with posts and pictures so you can see just how much of a pack rat I am and just how much stuff one family of 6 has accumulated over the years. That’s me for today just trying to live life one puzzle piece at a time.

J.        

The True Meaning of the Holidays

The True meaning of the Holidays

This year while I was frantically preparing for the chaos of the season, my husband was away at a work party and the kids and I were enjoying a quick meal and I asked them, what is it you are looking most forward to about Christmas, I was expecting them to say the presents, the cookies anything but what they did say, their response brought a tear to my eye and made me feel so proud of the children that I was raising.  My daughter said I am most looking forward to everyone being at grandma and grandpas together, my son says yeah and spending time as a family mommy,  I love Christmas because Christmas means family.   And in that moment I was reminded of what the true meaning of the holidays is, it is not about the gifts, or the decorations, it is not about one upping each other to see who can spend the most or buy the most presents,  it is about the time spent together with family making memories that will last a life time, it is about sharing the laughs along the way and making memories while creating and carrying on traditions.

The holiday season can be crazy and chaotic and oh so stressful so much so that we sometimes lose sight of what is really important about this special time of year,   The season is not meant to be so busy that we have no time to relax and enjoy the special moments with our family, it is not meant to be so stressful trying to find gifts and spending time fighting the crowds and standing in never ending lines at the stores.   The season has become so commercialized and we have lost sight of the real reason behind the season, people do not even bat an eye over going into debt to buy gifts for family and friends spending money  they don’t have on things that have no real purpose or that we have no real need for just to fill the bottom of the Christmas tree.  

This time of the year brings about so many wonderful memories for most of us, visions of Christmas’s past, of fond childhood memories making cookies, snowmen and eating Christmas dinner surrounded by family and friends.   I can only remember a handful of the gifts that I received as a child, my first pair of cross country skis, a well loved wrinkles dog that i still have and have passed on to my own children to play with and enjoy and the year that I got my Walkman, (yes this tells you how old I am getting to be I had a Walkman and cassette tapes) but other then those few beloved gifts I don’t remember the presents that filled the bottom of the Christmas tree I know that my family always made the season special and we always made out very well and yes some people would say that we were spoiled, but the gifts are not what I remember looking back they are not what brings me joy and makes my heart feel full with fond memories.  The memories that come to mind when I think back on my childhood holidays are the laughs we shared as a family, sitting around the fire place Christmas eve sharing drinks my grandfather used to make my sister and I Shirley Temples every Christmas eve and that memory makes me smile as it made us feel so special and grown up.   I remember the big breakfast we always had and still have Christmas morning special fruit salad that may or may not have been made with a little bit of liqueur and breakfast quiche, croissants and of course the delicious chocolates we would enjoy from our stockings.  I remember enjoying a delicious dinner complete with my grandmothers special pink salad that she made in a mould, I remember the laughs that we have and the stories that are shared across the table.  These are the things that make me smile and bring me joy, these are the truly important things in life being surrounded by family, sharing stories and fond memories and enjoying a nice meal surrounded by the people that we love and that love us.  So this year i took a cue from my kids, I thought about the real reason for the season and about the things that make the season so special,  creating crafts, baking cookies and spending quality time together, I didn’t stress over the gifts, the decor or the things that I didn’t get around to, I enjoyed the moments, I slowed things down and truly had a relaxing holiday.  My husband was happier, my kids were happier and I was happier.  Each of our children received two gifts, one from mommy and daddy and one from their siblings, they also received their stockings and one gift from Santa, (and of course they received tons of gifts from the grandparents because try as I might I have no power over grandma and grandpa’s when it comes to buying for their grandchildren and believe me I have tried as this mommy hates clutter and picking up the million or so toys that get scattered about the house. ) My kids are thrilled with the few gifts that they have received from us and are contentedly enjoying a relaxing day filled with yummy breakfast, card games with family and a fun afternoon outside building an ice fort with all of the family.  We have cuddled and we have shared stories of the forts grandpa and mommy made when we were kids.  These are the holidays I want my kids to remember the time spent with family making memories and carrying on traditions that will last a lifetime, the true meaning of the holiday season.   

Merry Christmas from our family to yours living life one puzzle piece at a time.

J.