A few years ago, I started writing notes to myself about Christmas. The season comes once a year, and I usually want to do things differently the next year, and then I forget unless I remind myself.

This year, I didn’t do as much service as I would like to in the future. I would like to give a few neighbor presents, which didn’t happen this year, and maybe visit neighbors and friends more. But I don’t want to place unnecessary guilt on myself, either. Do it out of love, not out of duty.

I made a charcuterie board and frog eye salad for lunch (and we snacked on it dinner) and it was nice. I think we liked snacking on things more than cooking a big meal. But also I should have bought less candy. We had so much sugar.

I also could give my kids less presents and they would be just fine. Sometimes I do filler presents and they are just unnecessary.

I need to remember to do graham crackers for gingerbread houses–or maybe make out own cookies, since my kids don’t like gingerbread anyway. And I also liked looking at Christmas lights and watching A Charlie Brown Christmas, and that’s about all the traditions we really need.

Making Christmas more simple and less of a big deal is just fine. Sometimes it’s a lot of pressure to make everything special. I had a kitchen renovation this December and I was just busy and distracted with all of it. So I didn’t do as much. And I think it was better that way.