#and one of those weeks is hannukah AND christmas so extra busy

[vaguelyhauntedcornfield]

Saying ur busy is so weird when ur unemployed…like im working on certificate courses and job apps and running errands/doing chores and i probably could do them another time and be free tonight…but ive got the motivation now so im busy sorry friends 😭

[brokestminimalist]

‘Tis the season...

…for stress, suicide, and heart attacks.

Listen up.  Christmas is December 25th, every single year.  It doesn’t sneak up behind you like a mugger in a dark alley.  It’s never a surprise.  You can’t possibly forget when it is.  Since that is the case, there is no excuse for anyone to be shopping for Christmas gifts on the 24th.  Or the 23rd, for that matter. Or that entire week, in fact. Christmas Eve is a day that you should be spending with your family and friends, cooking, playing games, reading together, wrapping gifts, etc.  You should not be at a store.  You should not be spending money.  You should not be contributing to the commercialization of what is otherwise a deeply meaningful holiday. You should not be imposing on retail workers, who are forced to spend this time away from their own families, just because you are a disorganized failure of a human who can’t be bothered to take care of your shopping at a reasonable time.  Get your crap together before the very last minute like a real adult.  (Yeah, that’s right.  We know you’ve just been fake adulting all this time.)

We, unfortunately, are that retail worker.  We spent Christmas Eve last year behind a customer service desk, getting yelled at by people who waited until the very last minute to buy This Year’s Big Thing and were angry that we were out of it.  On Christmas Eve.  Of course we are out of it. It’s Christmas Eve. You should be at home with your kids, not harassing poor retail drones who have no control over stock and just want to get off our feet and have Christmas dinner.  We did not get to see our families.  We did not get to play Dirty Santa or eat any pie or see Great Uncle Jim, who might not be around for that many more Christmases.   We didn’t get to watch the Peanuts special with the kids, because we were too busy taking care of these materialistic, inconsiderate sheeple who think that they need to rush out at the last minute to buy a bunch of stuff to impress relatives they see once a year or less.

Because that’s what it’s about, really.  They aren’t buying three hundred dollars worth of name brand toys and clothes out of the goodness of their hearts, they are doing it out of the obligation that Christmas creates.  They aren’t buying gifts because Jesus commanded them to care for the poor, they are just fulfilling an expectation.  They are spending money so that the rest of the family won’t think less of them.  And they’re going into debt.  At least half are making these purchases on credit cards, which they will spend the next several months paying down.  The gifts themselves will likely get played with for a few days and then put aside or quickly broken.  Next year, the cycle will begin again. Obligation, debt, disuse.  Meanwhile, pressure increases every year along with stress.  Kids don’t just get one gift from Santa, they get twenty. Parents work more hours so they can afford it. Heart attacks and depression rates skyrocket.

Is it worth it? Of course not. Stress literally shortens your life.  Is your sister going to remember what you got her this year in ten years?  No.  Are your kids?  Certainly not. What do you remember from when you were a kid?  Is it the presents themselves, or is it the feeling of Christmas?  Seriously.  They’re going to remember sitting by the tree with family, they’re going to remember playing with their cousins, baking cookies with grandma, and making snow angels with the neighbor kids.  We don’t remember what we got for Christmas when we were ten, but we remember sliding down a snow-covered hill on a trash can lid with our brother.  We remember making our own ornaments for the tree and leaving out milk and cookies for Santa.  We remember a pancake breakfast on Christmas morning, making s’mores in the fireplace, and talking on the phone to relatives who lived across the country. Mostly we remember the anticipation, the warmth, the closeness, rather than the toys or clothes we got and quickly broke or outgrew.

The solution is simple.  Just stop.  Don’t be a commercial Christmas gift giver.   Be creative, but don’t go shopping and don’t spend an excessive amount of money.  Think about the person this gift is for, and tailor it to them.  Give IOU’s for a chore like babysitting, grass cutting, or house cleaning.  Give out items that you sewed or baked.  Give out plants that you’ve grown, especially cooking herbs. Get together with other family members and start a college fund for the newest baby. Gather favorite recipes from the oldest generation and collect them into booklets for the one that’s coming of age. Make jars of sugar scrub.  Get one of your grandparents to sit with a voice recorder and tell stories from their childhood, then give copies to everyone. Teach a teenager how to drive or how to cook, something that they’ll take with them and use for the rest of their lives. Sign the little kids up for library cards.  Make candles or soaps.  Make your own cards to go with them.  And don’t start in December!  Start early, get your projects going, and spend December enjoying your home and your family instead of fluorescent lights and crowded parking lots.

This is supposed to be the season of giving, so give! Give your time, your knowledge, or your skills.  Give the product of your hobbies.  And if you have been too busy or too broke for even those, then give a cozy morning with family. Give an old movie while drinking hot chocolate. Give a drive around town to check out the best Christmas lights. Give a game of catch or an afternoon building a snowman or a funny story by the fireplace.  Give advice.  Give hugs.  You can be generous without things and without money.  Get into the spirit of a minimalist holiday and drag your friends and family along with you. If they get mad at the lack of material items, you should probably get new friends.

A few other things, before we go.

We here at Brokest Minimalist don’t actually give or accept Christmas gifts, as a general rule.  This is kind of extreme, but it works for us.  We spread the word far and wide that we don’t want things, and we don’t buy things for people.  Instead, we make homemade cards every year to send out. We put in bits of poetry, our own drawings, and handfuls of glitter.  Why?  We want to acknowledge the season and wish others well for the start of the new year, but we don’t want to contribute to the obligation/debt/disuse cycle and we don’t want to encourage our loved ones to do the same.  If we wind up attending an event, we bring a batch of brownies or pumpkin butter along as tribute.  We do not bring individual gifts, nor do we spend a single minute of our time shopping or looking at advertisements or giving any shits what the latest and greatest thing is.  We do not have holiday stress, except as it is forced onto us by excessive traffic or having to spend three hours in line at Wal-Mart just to buy a loaf of bread or some dog food because everyone else and their mom is there trying to get last-minute gifts that they put about three seconds of thought into.

This is difficult for our family.  Some people understood right away, but a few still don’t get it.  One relative still mails us a present every year, even though she lives in town, because she knows we won’t go to her house to get it.  We usually thank her politely and donate it to charity after the first of the year.  If you would like to go truly gift-free, we recommend letting your family know well in advance and being prepared for confusion.  If some continue to give you gifts anyway, accept them graciously and then donate them when you get a chance.  Or, tell them that they may give you gifts that are consumable, such as food, candy, hygiene products, candles, etc. Stuff that can get used up, in other words, and won’t linger around your house attracting more clutter.  Or, tell them to donate to a charity in your name. (An exception is if you have little kids. Please have a few things for them to unwrap on Christmas morning if that’s what they are used to.  It’s likely that they won’t understand and their upset will ruin the day for both them and you.  Let them unwrap a few presents and then distract them with games, delicious food, and visits with family.)

If someone you know is going minimalist and refusing to exchange gifts, please accept this and don’t argue with them about it. Don’t assume it’s because of money, though it may be in part.  Don’t feel sorry for them for the lack of gifts (although you can be sorry if they miss Christmas with your family because they were forced to work instead). Send them a card, give them a call, and wish them luck with their project.  When you buy someone a gift while knowing they don’t want you to, you aren’t doing them a favor.  You aren��t doing something nice, you’re giving them stress and guilt and an implied obligation to pay you back for your kindness.  So don’t do it. Take them at their word, wish them well, and go on with your life.  

If you have spent previous seasons stressing out, shopping, going into debt, or otherwise doing things you don’t want to do, spend today and tomorrow relaxing. Spend time with your family.  Have a hot bath, a cup of hot chocolate, an extra slice of pie.  Do some yoga, breathe deeply, and let it go. This year can be different; you can make it so. Lolz, we rhymed. 

Merry Christmas, Festivus, Kwanzaa, and a belated Happy Hannukah to everyone.  If none of those holidays suit you, we wish you peace, love and ice cream anyway.  

Links: simple Christmas links from becomingminimalist, sugar scrub recipe

[gillespialfredoe01806ld]

Top Tinsel Towns: 10 Surprising Cities Whose Holiday Charms Are Worth Unwrapping

Accept it, the winter holidays overshadow everything in December, whether you’re a Scrooge or a Tiny Tim. The majority of us fall somewhere in the middle. Along with the joy, there’s the stress: making the frenzied rounds of holiday parties, wandering the aisles of CVS for pre-packaged mistletoe or the last box of Hannukah candles, dutifully enduring the office potluck.

But there are some who truly adore this time of year. They festoon their homes with pine branches, pinecones, and pine-scented Febreze; they install outdoor holiday lighting that rivals the Vegas Strip. They revel in heading to the Christmas tree farm to cut down a fresh spruce, watching “Love Actually” on autorepeat, or going with that special someone to a menorah lighting.

So these folks need to find metros that share their ardor. As it turns out, some cities are more on this celebratory wavelength than others. We set out to find those festive places that go all out for tree lightings, parades, and holiday-themed everything.

“For a city to be really attractive for the holidays, it needs to offer something for everyone—from kids to the grandparents,” says Kirsten Maxwell, founder of kidsareatrip.com, a site about family activities. The events they offer, she says, need to bring every generation together.

The jolly realtor.com® data team dug into the numbers to find those magical metros that are catnip for holiday lovers. We looked at the 150 largest metros around the country and sifted them down to one per state. Our criteria were:*

Google searches for “Christmas Parade,” “Hanukkah,” and “Festivus”

Seasonal cashiers as a percentage of all employees

Percentage of realtor.com home listings with a fireplace or chimney (because, Santa)

Christmas tree and holiday decoration businesses per capita

Toy stores per capita

Alcohol consumption rates by state (holiday parties, oh my!)

Number of Christmas trees cut down per state

Percentage of all flight arrivals between Dec. 19 and Dec. 23 (to estimate how many folks are going home for the holidays)

Best cities for holiday lovers

Claire Widman

So hitch up those sleighs, and we’ll find you a holiday match. Ho ho ho.

1. Hickory, NC

Median home price: $232,000

Holiday highlight: Enjoy some of the nation’s finest Christmas tree farms … just don’t get run off the road like a Griswold.

Union Square in downtown Hickory, NC

Wikipedia CC

This place takes its Yuletide festivities seriously. Every year, an 18-foot tree in the mountains of North Carolina is cut down and erected in the city square, where it’s generously decorated. The lighting takes place the week before Thanksgiving—and thousands of community members come out to watch it, and the parade beforehand. It’s a big deal.

So how does it work, you ask? “The parade wraps up downtown, and Mr. and Mrs. Claus light the tree,” says Dana Kaminske, spokeswoman for the city of Hickory. “We have hot chocolate and cookies. And the downtown retailers stay open. All the money raised from the professional floats goes into a scholarship fund.” Got it.

Before December arrives, this town is already in full holiday swing. There’s the Western Piedmont Symphony’s holiday concert, and the holiday kick-off event at the Hickory Museum of Art. Or chill out to a frontier Christmas vibe while strolling through what’s purported to be the nation’s largest collection of “rescued and restored” log cabins, in Hart Square.

2. Eugene, OR

Median home price: $337,275 Holiday highlight: More Christmas trees! No. 1 in the nation for piney production

Oregon’s Ugliest Sweater Run

Oregon's Ugliest Sweater Run via Facebook

Eugene residents love getting outdoors to run, bike, and hike, so naturally, that’s how they hail the holidays, too.

Case in point: Oregon’s Ugliest Sweater Run, which takes place here a couple of weeks before Christmas. It’s your typical 5K run, just requiring that contestants be outfitted in that hideous knitted garment an aunt bought them a few years back. If that doesn’t do it for you, try the Jingle Rush 5K, where you’re provided antlers and bells at the start of the run, and hot chocolate and cider upon completion. Heck, the city’s nickname is Track City U.S.A. Winners never quit!

To stave off dehydration, head over to the Holiday Cocktail Party at the Provisions Market Hall. You’ll guzzle holiday libations and beer from local breweries, all while digging Rat Pack-era tunes.

3. Buffalo, NY

Median home price: $166,525 Holiday strength: Great for kids, lousy for bank accounts—the highest concentration of toy stores per capita

Even the deer love Buffalo during the holidays.

Joel Lim/Getty Images

In the 19th century, Buffalo was one of the first cities to install electric streetlights, earning it the nickname City of Light. They’re still gaga over their lights here, as evidenced by the ultracool display of more than a million LEDs that you’ll see as you drive through the Fairgrounds Festival of Lights. More than 15,000 cars wind their way through the spectacle during a two-week period every December.

“This past Saturday, we had 1,500 carloads,” says Marty Biniasz, marketing manager at Erie County Fairgrounds. “Drivers can listen to Ho-Ho Radio and our holiday soundtrack as they drive through.” After all, what would a festival of lights be without Ho-Ho Radio?

The Fairgrounds also has a 3,000-square-foot maze. Once you find your way out, you can grab your Santa suit and head over to SantaCon Buffalo for drinks with 5,000 other Santas.

Did we mention that Fisher-Price, one of the world’s largest toy companies, is based in the Buffalo region?

4. Pittsburgh, PA

Median home price: $171,500 Holiday highlight: Hi, Mom! An unusually high number of townies return home for the holidays.  

PPG Place Ice Rink

Lori Kemp/Getty Images

During the mid-20th century, Pittsburgh was a steel and coal-producing behemoth, and transporting those products required a massive network of railroads and locomotives. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise to hear that model trains play a big role in the Steel City’s holiday celebrations.

“There were so many [trains] in Western Pennsylvania,” says Bill Humphrey, public relations director and vice president of the Western Pennsylvania Model Railroad Museum. “People think of us around Christmas time, which all goes back to the tradition of setting up a model train around your Christmas tree.”

During the holiday months, the museum opens up and guests pile in to share nostalgia for the city’s past. The museum’s best-known model train is a 1/87th scale model that replicates the network of trains and tracks that ran between Pittsburgh and Cumberland, MA, in the summer of 1952.

But it’s not all diesel and ironworks here. The Winter Flower Show and Light Garden at the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens is another December tradition. Luminous orbs, oversized ornaments, and festive lights add to the allure of orchids and poinsettias.

5. Sarasota, FL

Median home price: $350,000 Holiday strength: Drink up! Alcohol consumption spikes here in December, thanks to a plethora of parties.

Venice Christmas Boat Parade

Education Images/UIG via Getty Images

When you think of the holidays, you probably picture snow and snowball fights—not temperatures in the high 60s to low 70s. That doesn’t stop folks here from celebrating hard. So if you want the festive atmosphere without the chill, then Sarasota might be your place. Just make sure to bring your boat!

The annual Venice Christmas Boat Parade floats along the waterways from South Nokomis Beach to North Venice Beach. Participating boats are transformed into decorated Christmas floats with lit-up reindeer and palm trees.There’s also the Downtown Sarasota Tree Lighting Celebration and the Jazz Christmas Concert at the Centennial Park.

Feeling wistful for the white stuff? Swing by Snow Fest Sarasota, where you and your children can play in manmade snow. The free event attracts around 15,000 guests and offers pony rides, snowman building, and jelly bean juggling—because why not?

6. Hartford, CT

Median home price: $259,950 Holiday strength: A fine place to celebrate eight crazy nights

Winter in Hartford

DenisTangneyJr/iStock

Cue the Hanukkah celebrations: Connecticut has one of the highest concentrations of Jewish residents in the country.

To kick off the first day of Hanukkah, townies gather at the Blue Back Square in West Hartford for a menorah-lighting ceremony held by Chabad of Greater Hartford, a community group. Afterwards, they get to watch a live carving of an ice menorah and 3-D dreidel printing. Be honest: You’re curious about the dreidel printing.

“In West Hartford, around 25% of the population is Jewish,” says Susannah MacNeil, associate vice president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford. “We have a very vibrant community and a wide variety of Hanukkah celebrations. And latke tastings.”

Other holiday entertainment in the region includes the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and the Hartford Gay Men’s Chorus, which regales the crowds with its annual fave, “Nutcracker: Men in Tights.”

7. Providence, RI

Median home price: $342,450 Holiday highlight: Need help with holiday decor? You’re in the right place.

Providence, RI

digidreamgrafix/Getty Images

One of the world’s largest toy makers calls the Providence region home: Hasbro, the maker of Monopoly and My Little Pony. And Providence sure loves its toys.

“The holidays are our time of the year,” says Emily Brownell, manager at Henry Bear’s Park, a mega toystore in Providence.

Providence has all the holiday attractions you’d expect, plus a few extra. You can watch “A Christmas Carol,” which will be performed for the 40th year at Trinity Rep in downtown Providence. Then you can throw on some holiday attire and run the holiday-themed F.I.T. ‘Mas 5K Trail Race-TrailFecta. Want to show the state love even on your Christmas tree? Swing by the visitor center at the Rhode Island State House, where Rhode Island ornaments are on sale. Deck the halls!

8. Salisbury, MD

Median home price: $299,950 Holiday highlights: Throw a rock in any direction in December, and you’ll hit either a holiday shop or a Christmas parade. So don’t throw rocks, OK? 

In Salisbury, holiday traditions seem to stick around. There’s the annual Salisbury Christmas Parade, from Mount Hermon Road to East Main Street, which has been going strong for 71 years. The parade includes fire trucks, marching bands, Santa Claus, and Saul the Salisbury Jaycees Bear.

The Emmanuel Wesleyan Church in Salisbury hosts a Christmas Eve candlelight service and a Christmas play called “How to Have the Best Christmas Ever!” Be prepared to take notes.

In nearby Ocean City, which is part of the Salisbury metro area, holiday lovers can enjoy the Winterfest of Lights. This is the 25th year of the event, which illuminates more than 1 million light bulbs. Imagine the electricity bill!

9. St. Louis, MO

Median home price: $189,950 Holiday highlight: An exceptionally high concentration of fireplaces. Cuddle up!

St. Louis

JByard/iStock

Anheuser-Busch, the iconic St. Louis company, shows its appreciation for the city by hosting an annual Brewery Lights event that runs from mid-November to the end of December. It features s’mores, ice skating, and—duh—beer. Just save the Bud and Michelob Light for when your skates are off.

The classic holiday activities make the city great for the holidays, says Anthony Paraino, director of public relations of Explore St. Louis. “People come into town from all over, just to see the light displays,” he says. Endless showings of “Meet Me in St. Louis” on TCM don’t hurt the tourism trade, either.

10. Lafayette, LA

Median home price: $210,000 Holiday highlight: Shopping and shellfish

Lafayette stands out for its unique take on holiday traditions. This shrimping town bills its season as Christmas on the Cajun Coast. So of course, festivities include a decorated boat parade down the bayou.

“Santa and some of his helpers and the mayor turn on the city’s [Christmas] lights, and then all the kids gather around the shrimp boat to take photos,” says Carrie Stansbury, executive director of the Cajun Coast and Convention Bureau. Delicious.

*Data sources: realtor.com; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; Bureau of Transportation Statistics; Google Trends; U.S. Department of Agriculture; U.S. National Institutes of Health; and Yelp.

The post Top Tinsel Towns: 10 Surprising Cities Whose Holiday Charms Are Worth Unwrapping appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®.

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2juB1IO

[brokestminimalist]

Tis the Season...

...for stress, suicide, and heart attacks.

Listen up.  Christmas is December 25th, every single year.  It doesn't sneak up behind you like a mugger in a dark alley.  It's never a surprise.  You can't possibly forget when it is.  Since that is the case, there is no excuse for anyone to be shopping for Christmas gifts on the 24th.  Or the 23rd, for that matter. Or that entire week, in fact. Christmas Eve is a day that you should be spending with your family and friends, cooking, playing games, reading together, wrapping gifts, etc.  You should not be at a store.  You should not be spending money, because if you're like us you can't afford it.  You should not be contributing to the commercialization of what is otherwise a deeply meaningful holiday. You should not be imposing on retail workers, who are forced to spend this time away from their own families, just because you are a disorganized failure of a human who can't be bothered to take care of your shopping at a reasonable time.  Get your crap together before the very last minute like a real adult.  (Yeah, that's right.  We know you've just been fake adulting all this time.)

We, unfortunately, are that retail worker.  We spent Christmas Eve behind a customer service desk, getting yelled at by people who waited until the very last minute to buy This Year's Big Thing and were angry that we were out of it.  On Christmas Eve.  Of course we are out of it. It's Christmas Eve. You should be at home with your kids, not harassing poor retail drones who have no control over stock and just want to get off our feet and have Christmas dinner.  We did not get to see our families.  We did not get to play Dirty Santa or eat any pie or see Great Uncle Jim, who might not be around for that many more Christmases.   We didn't get to watch the Peanuts special with the kids, because we were too busy taking care of these materialistic, inconsiderate sheeple who think that they need to rush out at the last minute to buy a bunch of stuff to impress relatives they see once a year or less.

Because that's what it's about, really.  They aren't buying three hundred dollars worth of name brand toys and clothes out of the goodness of their hearts, they are doing it out of the obligation that Christmas creates.  They aren't buying gifts because Jesus commanded them to care for the poor, they are just fulfilling an expectation.  They are spending money so that the rest of the family won't think less of them.  And they're going into debt.  At least half are making these purchases on credit cards, which they will spend the next several months paying down.  The gifts themselves will likely get played with for a few days and then put aside or quickly broken.  Next year, the cycle will begin again. Obligation, debt, disuse.  Meanwhile, pressure increases every year along with stress.  Kids don't just get one gift from Santa, they get twenty. Parents work more hours so they can afford it. Heart attacks and depression rates skyrocket.

Is it worth it? Of course not. Stress literally shortens your life.  Is your sister going to remember what you got her this year in ten years?  No.  Are your kids?  Certainly not. What do you remember from when you were a kid?  Is it the presents themselves, or is it the feeling of Christmas?  Seriously.  They're going to remember sitting by the tree with family, they're going to remember playing with their cousins, baking cookies with grandma, and making snow angels with the neighbor kids.  We don't remember what we got for Christmas when we were ten, but we remember sliding down a snow-covered hill on a trash can lid with our brother.  We remember making our own ornaments for the tree and leaving out milk and cookies for Santa.  We remember a pancake breakfast on Christmas morning, making s’mores in the fireplace, and talking on the phone to relatives who lived across the country. Mostly we remember the anticipation, the warmth, the closeness, rather than the toys or clothes we got and quickly broke or outgrew.

The solution is simple.  Just stop.  Don't be a commercial Christmas gift giver.   Be creative, but don't go shopping and don't spend an excessive amount of money.  Think about the person this gift is for, and tailor it to them.  Give IOU's for a chore like babysitting, grass cutting, or house cleaning.  Give out items that you sewed or baked.  Give out plants that you've grown, especially cooking herbs. Get together with other family members and start a college fund for the newest baby. Gather favorite recipes from the oldest generation and collect them into booklets for the one that’s coming of age. Make jars of sugar scrub.  Get one of your grandparents to sit with a voice recorder and tell stories from their childhood, then give copies to everyone. Teach a teenager how to drive or how to cook, something that they'll take with them and use for the rest of their lives. Sign the little kids up for library cards.  Make candles or soaps.  Make your own cards to go with them.  And don't start in December!  Start early, get your projects going, and spend December enjoying your home and your family instead of fluorescent lights and crowded parking lots.

This is supposed to be the season of giving, so give! Give your time, your knowledge, or your skills.  Give the product of your hobbies.  And if you have been too busy or too broke for even those, then give a cozy morning with family. Give an old movie while drinking hot chocolate. Give a drive around town to check out the best Christmas lights. Give a game of catch or an afternoon building a snowman or a funny story by the fireplace.  Give advice.  Give hugs.  You can be generous without things and without money.  Get into the spirit of a minimalist holiday and drag your friends and family along with you. If they get mad at the lack of material items, you should probably get new friends.

A few other things, before we go.

We here at Brokest Minimalist don't actually give or accept Christmas gifts, as a general rule.  This is kind of extreme, but it works for us.  We spread the word far and wide that we don't want things, and we don't buy things for people.  Instead, we make homemade cards every year to send out. We put in bits of poetry, our own drawings, and handfuls of glitter.  Why?  We want to acknowledge the season and wish others well for the start of the new year, but we don't want to contribute to the obligation/debt/disuse cycle and we don't want to encourage our loved ones to do the same.  If we wind up attending an event, we bring a batch of brownies or pumpkin butter along as tribute.  We do not bring individual gifts, nor do we spend a single minute of our time shopping or looking at advertisements or giving any shits what the latest and greatest thing is.  We do not have holiday stress, except as it is forced onto us by excessive traffic or having to spend three hours in line at Wal-Mart just to buy a loaf of bread or some dog food because everyone else and their mom is there trying to get last-minute gifts that they put about three seconds of thought into.

This is difficult for our family.  Some people understood right away, but a few still don't get it.  One relative still mails us a present every year, even though she lives in town, because she knows we won't go to her house to get it.  We usually thank her politely and donate it to charity after the first of the year.  If you would like to go truly gift-free, we recommend letting your family know well in advance and being prepared for confusion.  If some continue to give you gifts anyway, accept them graciously and then donate them when you get a chance.  Or, tell them that they may give you gifts that are consumable, such as food, candy, hygiene products, candles, etc. Stuff that can get used up, in other words, and won't linger around your house attracting more clutter.  Or, tell them to donate to a charity in your name. (An exception is if you have little kids. Please have a few things for them to unwrap on Christmas morning if that's what they are used to.  It's likely that they won't understand and their upset will ruin the day for both them and you.  Let them unwrap a few presents and then distract them with games, delicious food, and visits with family.)

If someone you know is going minimalist and refusing to exchange gifts, please accept this and don't argue with them about it. Don't assume it's because of money, though it may be in part.  Don't feel sorry for them for the lack of gifts (although you can be sorry if they miss Christmas with your family because they were forced to work instead). Send them a card, give them a call, and wish them luck with their project.  When you buy someone a gift while knowing they don't want you to, you aren't doing them a favor.  You aren't doing something nice, you're giving them stress and guilt and an implied obligation to pay you back for your kindness.  So don't do it. Take them at their word, wish them well, and go on with your life.  

We know this post is a little late in the game.  If you have spent this season stressing out, shopping, going into debt, or otherwise doing things you don't want to do, spend today and tomorrow relaxing. Spend time with your family.  Have a hot bath, a cup of hot chocolate, an extra slice of pie.  Do some yoga, breathe deeply, and let it go.  You don't ever have to do this again.  There is a way out, and you can begin the process as soon as Boxing Day dawns.  Next year can be different; you can make it so.

Merry Christmas, Festivus, Kwanzaa, and a belated Happy Hannukah to everyone.  If none of those holidays suit you, we wish you peace, love and ice cream anyway.  

Links: simple Christmas links from becomingminimalist, sugar scrub recipe