Follow Up: Opt Out of Christmas

I've told quite a few people that we chose to "opt out" of Christmas this year and the response is almost always one of confusion.  What exactly does it mean to "opt out"?  How is this even possible?  Why would you want to do this?

Good questions for sure!

Now that Christmas has come and gone, I thought I would update y'all and share exactly what opting out meant for my family.

We normally host Christmas Day dinner.  Big meal, lots of friends and family, fancy china, decorations, cocktails, music- THE WORKS.  We didn't do that this year and instead chose to invite Grammie and Grampie over for soup, Piepalooza 2015 (basically a butt ton of pies that we gorged on all day long) and lots of Christmas movies.  We played Battleship, watched all three of the Santa Clause movies, played Legos, ate pie and took naps.  It was glorious.

We did not participate in any Christmas parties or events.  Now- this one was a bit more tricky because your loved ones want you there.  But you guys- I'm really so very glad we made this choice.  No big extended family get togethers, no work parties, no friend's nights out means NO extra gifts to give, NO shuffle to make it all fit into an already packed holiday schedule and NO stress.

Typically we plan quite a few holiday themed activities or have events that we try to go to during this busy season.  We did NOT plan a single thing.  Even Christmas Day was very loose as I seriously just invited over the Grandparents and had NO idea what time they were arriving.  We relaxed and just focused completely on being a family.  And when we did go somewhere or do something fun- we did it OUR way.

We took time off.  Holy Buckets but the husband hasn't had a Christmas off in 5 years.  FIVE YEARS!!!!  This year, he planned way in advance and was able to take the 23rd-27th off.  This was simply the very best gift this Christmas!  We had time to watch Christmas movies all together on the couch, we played the new video games that Santa brought, we went out looking at Christmas lights at 9pm at night, we ate cheeseburgers and fries, we visited a local church to see their light display, we drove to a local garden to see their fun outdoor display, we sang naughty Christmas carols, we went exploring in a nearby town, the husband and I had even more quality married people time, we went to the gun range, we played hours of ball with Buddy Boy, we slept in, we went to bed late- we just relaxed and enjoyed our time together with no real schedule and no real plan.

We gifted differently.  Normally Santa brings the kiddo all the good stuff- ie. the toys while the husband and I gift the necessities ie. socks, gloves, shoes etc.  Typically Santa brings about 10-15 items for the kiddo and 5 items for the grownups.  This of course does not include the stockings stuffed with goodies.  This year, Santa still came, but he brought less.  WAY less.  The kiddo had a total of 5 items under the tree from Santa and the grown ups, just 2 or 3.  The stockings were stuffed with 5 small items each.  The type of gifts were also very different and this was the very first year that the kiddo did NOT get the one item he asked Santa for.  Sorry kid, no Lego Millennium Falcon this year....

Our gifts to the kiddo were much smaller and we spent much less.  It's not that we go crazy on Christmas but we did make a big effort to cut way back on Christmas spending this year.  Not because we couldn't afford to spend more but because we wanted to take the focus off material items this year.  We also did not gift to many people that we normally gift to.  Mainly because we had opted out of most Christmas events, there wasn't a need to show up with gifts in hand.  However we also wanted to opt out of the commercialism aspect of what Christmas has sadly become.  Those that we did gift to, only received one item.  And many of the gifts we gave were free.  We chose to find gifts using our local Buy Nothing Facebook page which had the added benefit of getting us out into our community and meeting more of our neighbors.

We spent more time helping our community then ever before.  Our family has always been community service driven and we are raising our child with a heart for change.  But this year- we turned a corner.  We found many in need in our community (neighbors even, right down the street!) and we gave.  Then we gave some more.  We opened up our hearts and our wallets to give Christmas to other families instead of making it even bigger for our own.

So yes- we made several changes this year and I have to say that it was by far, one of our best Christmases ever.

We still put up decorations, we still had Christmas dinner (just not the traditional one), we spent time with family, we had presents, Santa arrived, we had our tree and our eggnog but it was just on a much smaller scale.  We opted out of the stress, the commercialism, the chaos and opted in to family, a heart to give, our community and the entire reason for the season.

Would I do this again?

In a mother truckin' heartbeat y'all.

I have to admit that I did miss dining on my wedding china and sipping from my platinum rimmed crystal goblets but other than that- yeah, it was the most wonderful, relaxing and blessed Christmas that we've had in quite awhile.

I'm already looking forward to next Christmas and taking the lessons we've learned from this year.  So many good things.  SO.  MANY.


Want to read the first post?  Click here!


Psst- Want to know what Opting Out REALLY looked like at my house???

First it looked like this.....

Then a little of this....

Pie Break!!!

And finally....some of this.