For those of you who celebrate it… Merry Christmas!
We’re spending this holiday with my in-laws in Connecticut, and there will be food, family, and fun as usual for such festive times. But, I will admit to having felt very reflective this holiday season, as I re-imagine our family holiday traditions since our Digital Nomad launch.
We’ve been in at least 3 different locations this December, and it never quite made sense to decorate. Obviously, there’s no attic to pull a bunch of holiday decorations out of while we’re on the road… So, what makes it feel like holiday time?
Well, this year, here’s been my strategy…
Lots of holiday music, a diffuser full of various pine and spice-filled blends, and holiday events every weekend. But, this holiday season of being “on the move” has made it clear that we’d rather be landed in one place for the holidays. (Particularly as Pumpkin gets older and preparations for Santa Claus start becoming more important.)
So, next year, we’re planning to spend Late November-December “back home” near Boston so that we can enjoy a traditional New England winter for one month before we escape to warmer climbs.
Have you ever thought about what makes it feel like the holidays for you? What are your family’s special traditions? Please share them in the comments because you might give me great ideas for crafting our future holiday traditions :).
The biggest change is taking the focus OFF of all the multitude of STUFF. It’s a big adjustment for both ourselves and our family to avoid buying a pile of gifts that we won’t have space for in our car. To that end we tried to make it easier for our loved ones by creating a “Wish List” with specific, mostly experience-based gifts that would be awesome for the next places we plan to visit. (Yes, that link will show you our actual registry, and it’s not at all a plug for gifts from you *hahaha*… just an example of our “Digital Nomad” holiday wishes.)
I found a great registry website called So Kind, which might be helpful for some of you who want to create holiday experience with less stuff next year… remember, it can be used year-round and good for that upcoming birthday too ;).
In the meantime, for many this is a day to rest, relax, and play with your family, I want to encourage you to soak in some joyful, peaceful, beautiful, holiday spirit.
A very happy holidays to you all… however you choose to celebrate it!
Interesting post and belated Merry Christmas! One thing I’ve realized about myself over the last several years is that I’ve chosen just one thing that’s my holiday “all in” … and it is cookies in beautiful packaging that I give to teachers, basketball moms, dog groomers etc. I pretty much do the bare bones with everything else. I get the tree up, attend the requisite parties, but I don’t decorate the house crazy, I don’t even get cards out every year let alone on Thanksgiving. But without the baking day(s) (which I call Cookie-Palooza) it’s just not Christmas for me! My daughter is old enough now to help and it’s a great tradition.