Holidays
Is it realistic to simplify Christmas?
By Jaimee Rose,
The Arizona Republic
Every December, when the American holiday spree of overdoing everything starts our stress swirling, we take a vow of self-control and promise that this year will be different. We decide that one Christmas tree is actually enough, and that the neighbors aren't getting the annual homemade holiday soap.
This year, we swear, we're simplifying Christmas.
And yet for all our good intentions, for all the gift-wrap organizers we buy and copies of Real Simple that we tote home, it seems we just can't help ourselves. We can't do less. We just keep spending, decorating, and eating more. And now we're going shopping for things to help us simplify Christmas.
This holiday season especially, everyone wants to help us ease Christmas.
You can get your car washed while you shop at the Scottsdale Fashion Square valet station. You can buy pre-decorated trees, pre-frosted gingerbread houses, and pick up a Pottery Barn gift card with the groceries. You can order monogrammed thoughtful presents and photo-laden Christmas cards online during your lunch break. There are people to hire to hang your lights, make your party appetizers, and spend time with your kids while you go buy them presents. There's even a new Holiday De-Stress class at Get Psyched! in Tempe, where you can learn relaxation techniques to help you deal with the happiest time of the year.
This is the new American ideal, some experts say: a holiday with deeper meaning, and a calmed-down, chilled-out Christmas. About 78 percent of Americans wish that the holidays were less materialistic, according to research by the New American Dream, a non-profit group that promotes reduced consumption.
Meanwhile, our lack of self-control is driving us nuts. According to the American Psychological Association, we rank holiday stress causes in this order: lack of money (61 percent), the pressures of gift giving (42 per cent), lack of time (34 per cent) and credit card debt (23 per cent).
But already, holiday spending is up: we're expected to surpass $457.4 billion this year, up 5 percent from last year, according to the National Retail Federation, with the average American spending $791.10 each. And about 46 percent of Americans are still paying the credit card bills from last Christmas, according to a poll by Consolidated Credit Counseling Services.
It's enough to drive us all straight to the cheesecake and eggnog. (So that we might then stress about squeezing into our cocktail clothes.)
"Over the last two or three decades, we bought into this idea that if the turkey is good and the cookies have all been cut out and the trees all have lights, then happiness and the simple joys of life will follow," says Dan Ho, author of Rescue from Domestic Perfection ($19.99, Bulfinch, 2006) and host of The Dan Ho Show, which premieres Jan. 4 on Discovery Health . "And it's just not the truth. We all know how to do all of that, but we're more restless than ever."
That entire notion of store-bought simplicity is silly, he says. Sure, this month's Real Simple shows us how to get everything you need to decorate for Christmas from the aisles of the grocery store (place cards out of Cheerios, pretzels as ornaments, and bow-tie pasta as package bows.)
But we all already have more ornaments than we could possibly need, and we must resist the urge to try the pretzel trick, even if it gives us an excuse to buy a new plastic storage box to organize the old stuff.
Of course, it's easier to buy discipline than to actually have some. We spent $5.4 billion in 2004 on household organizers, 19 percent more than we did in 2001, according to the most recent research from the International Housewares Association. And think of the store shelves on the day after Christmas, when everything feels overstuffed, and suddenly there's a parade of Rubbermaid, which feels like the answer to everything.
Lisa Sanford of Scottsdale has tried to simplify. She stopped hosting big parties, and instead invites couples over for homemade soup - one pot meals being chapter one in the simplicity scripture. She gave up on handmade Christmas cards, and now dresses up store-bought stationery with ribbon. But still, there's a Christmas tree in every room of her home, three days dedicated to decorating, and cinnamon rolls baked from scratch for the neighbors on Christmas Eve.
