December 1 means that this is the first day of Blogmas! If you are unfamiliar with it, this is basically a month long celebration of Christmas but here through blogs. I participated last year and, while it is a lot of work, it made me think about each day of December leading up to the Hap-Happiest Day of the Year.

A COUNTDOWN CALENDAR

I still call these "Advent Calendars" because I am Catholic and all of this is leading up to the birth of Jesus. But, I aim to be all-inclusive here. Whatever you want to call it, a count down calendar is a ton of fun but only if it adds to your holiday instead of making your feel less.

Which is why my calendar centers around the intention of enjoying the season with the least amount of extra things necessary. Each of us has something the other wishes they had. Money, friends, time, security, joy....these are not universal guarantees. And, during the Holidays whatever you are missing can feel like so much more. Which is why I wanted to keep these prompts simple, inexpensive, and controllable (ie unable to be cancelled by things like a pandemic).

My holiday count-down calendar is intended to remind me that there are small and beautiful joys all around me. And, in a time when a well-timed holiday commercial can make me tearful, I need all the joy I can find. Here are 10 things off my list of simply things that you can control (and look forward to) this holiday season. There will be more to come throughout Blogmas but we all need to start somewhere! On my calendar only the first five are filled out because the person I am right now might not feel like caroling on the 20th....you know what I mean?

  1. Beautifully wrap something. I always buy people books for Christmas Eve and I wrap them in brown paper (Trader Joe's bags turned inside out) and tied up with string. And then I sing this song forever.
  2. Go on a walk / drive to see Christmas lights. If you have people, take people. FaceTime someone. Or, go alone and rate the lights. I like to clap for the people. I hope they are watching their security cameras.
  3. A daytime look at the Christmas decorations is just as fun. More and more I am obsessed with the wreathes people put up. Don't have time? Just complement someone on the work they did to make their home / business seasonally beautiful.
  4. Make Christmas cookies. Sharing is only required if you tell people what you did.
  5. Put together a holiday playlist. Is that tradition music for you or a nice medley of death metal because you just can't hear Mariah one more time.
  6. Watch your favorite holiday movies. I have become more obsessed with Elf every year and find myself screaming "It's Santa!" when I see one out and about. But I tend to watch a lot of action films during this season. I find that joy and sadness can be confusing for my brain but action is a clear green light. Die Hard anyone?
  7. Send some holiday mail.
  8. Decorate your house. You can use printer paper to make snowflakes and paper chains and it is shockingly beautiful.
  9. Be Santa. Be the magic that someone else needs this holiday season.
  10. Drink your favorite seasonal beverage. I can hardly wait to have my hot cocoa!

Tell me, please! What is your favorite simple Christmas tradition?

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