I know this might sound a little strange….. but the one thing I am looking forward to, with our impending vacation over the school holidays, is skipping Christmas preparation here in Australia! Is that wrong?
I am seeing the decorations going up in the shops and hearing the jingles in the supermarket aisles, clearing out the junk mail catalogues full of useless ‘stuff’ from my mailbox…. and I am thinking the delicious thought, ‘just this once, I can walk away from all this, this year ….. get on a plane and escape it all’.
I asked my boys if they remembered what they got last Christmas. They looked at me blankly and said no. I promised them that they would remember this year’s… for all the right reasons. They will remember where they were, what we did as a family and how they were feeling. I am so excited about giving my boys ‘a feeling’ this Christmas’, a memory that they will carry with them for the rest of their lives. I can tell you right now that it is the experiences in life that bring me to tears, not ‘stuff’. This is going to be a great paradigm shift for my boys….a Christmas without stuff….a Christmas with a backpack on their backs, scarves around their necks and life experience as their gift.
I feel lighter …. and free. Already.
How do you feel about impending Christmas?
A-M xx
Image from HERE.
We’re skipping it too. We’re off the the beach before Xmas! Just us for Xmas day
Can’t wait!!
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‘Just us’ is the best way to be some times. xx
Hi AM! Try to go into Germany for Christmas! They do decorations and charm and atmosphere like nobodies business! Seriously, you will not be disappointed. Best place Rothenberg au de Tauber! Real story book stuff that our 3 teens (including 15y son) still talk about! Luff it 11/10! Haha. Kt
Oh Katy, we’re all booked..France, UK and Switzerland… so no Germany this time. I am hoping that Paris coughs up the goods for charm and decorations over the Christmas period. We will be in a little Swiss village for New Year though so I am sure we won’t be disappointed. How wonderful that your children have such special memories. xx
Ok, that makes me green with envy anyway. In Paris, head to Shakespeare and Co and then a little further along the bank for some open air markets with charm. Small but much less commercial than the blah blah on the Champs! Kt
Oh I will, I will! xx
Oooh I hear you, we did exactly the same thing last year, took our girls (aged 13 & 15) to Europe for Christmas and the memories and experiences were far more precious than I could have ever hoped for…..there is NOTHING like Europe especially at Chrsitmas. Have the most wonderful time and enjoy making your special and precious memories together x
Oh that is so good to hear Lee. I think it’s a great age to take them travelling as they remember the experience and they are relatively low maintenance when they are teenagers. I know I won’t see the whites of their eyes on the flight over with all the in flight entertainment..a young boy’s dream! No computer games rules on the flight over! And as for Europe in winter? I only ever travelled Europe in winter when I lived in the UK. Mainly due to work but also due to affordability. It’s so magical. Still remember frozen toes though! It’s going to be cold! Xx
How wonderful. I haven’t done a cold Christmas for ages. Where will you be?
(If you are going to Paris at all – and frankly who doesn’t go to France without Paris – let me know. I have ooodles of tips.)
K xx
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Kitty, yes please, email me if you have the time! We will be in Paris before and over Christmas a-m@capecoddesigns.com.au xx
I so hear you on this. We spent Christmas in the Netherlands last year and while I missed my extended family it was fantastic just to focus on our family and our experience instead of all the ‘stuff’. So very tempting to make it our new normal for celebrating Christmas.
It is very tempting isn’t it?! It’s such a luxury to have that precious time together as a family at the busiest time of the year. I must admit, it’s becoming a habit for us now. We have had a few Christmas’s away from the big family now! xx
I will be happy with a glass of bubbles and a ham sandwich. Very low key for us this year sweets.
xx
Thinking of you every day and stalking your street as I drive by. xx
Paris for Christmas just sounds magical – we did Italy a few years ago and it was magical at that time – even snowed for Christmas Day. We are also escaping this year to the other side of Oz. Our first extended family Christmas in over 10 years. Can’t wait! But, like you we are going light. No major presents this year, just the memories we are going to make with family and friends at the beach.
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I love ‘going light’ with everything these days! Oh Italy in the snow sounds magical. If we don’t get snow in Paris, our New Year is in Switzerland so we are bound to hit the white stuff sooner than later. xx
I told my mother yesterday that we will be abandoning the extended family dinner for a dinner at a lovely restaurant with just the 4 of us. She wasn’t happy, put out in fact, but I’m bored with the same ole thing each year and to create a beautiful memory for my children, I have to make changes and sadly my mother doesn’t understand that. She wants us to do what is expected of us and finds my decision disappointing – oh well, time for a change!
V x
Oh we did that last year!…abandoned the extended family and spent Christmas as a little family unit. It was heavenly and so simple. We actually went to a little restaurant for Christmas lunch so there was no prep at all! You have to do what feels right for you. xx
Dont feel wrong even for a second !! You are bringing tears to my eyes with your description of the feelings of the experience you are going to have as a family. I have always gotten emotional when I have travelled to places afar & I do when other people have those experiences as well. Just imagine ‘next year ‘ as you sit around the Christmas table at home reminiscing about your wonderful experiences from this year.
Karyn x
Oh I am an emotional wreck when I travel. The tears flow freely. It’s hard not to cry when you are awake and alive, experiencing once in a life time moments. So grateful. xx
It sounds perfectly wonderful to me. I liked your point about asking the boys what they received last year. So true!
I liked Katy’s tip about Germany, that place sounds amazing.
Won’t make it to Germany this time but I think my boys will be grateful that we are seeing Paris, London, skiing and travelling all through Switzerland and skiing into Italy! They better be. xx
We travel to Canberra every other year to spend Christmas with my husband’s family. The kids love it as they get to spend time with all their big cousins. I have to be strategic about presents as we have to lug everything to and fro Perth. Must admit I haven’t put any thought into it this year. Might need to get cracking! Kinda wish I was planning a white Christmas though…Vx
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Oh I LOVE Canberra, especially in the cold. How lovely that you have somewhere wonderful to travel to, to be with family. I know, it’s getting close! xx
Love your idea of a Christmas full of memories rather than just stuff .We are still undecided as to where we want to go but has to be a place full of good memories:)
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It seems to be a movement gaining momentum… ‘experiences, not things’. Hope you find somewhere special. xx
I was chatting to my two yesterday about Christmas away Australia and we had a very similar conversation. We decided to have a Christmas holiday of memories not things…. We will buy some small momentos of our trip and fill our minds to the brim with the most amazing memories that we can.
Fingers crossed that Paris will look just like the image you’ve posted!
PS Not sure which is easiest – preparing for Christmas or getting the house ready for the house sitters!?!
x
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Yes, we have had that conversation too!… memories, not things. We have been pouring over the ‘Paris walking tours with kids’ cards we have. It’s going to be fun seeing it through younger eyes. xx
Oh I am so with you about the “feelings” for Christmas. I’m not so much about the gifts (although I scheme all year trying to find the right thing for the right person). What I love more is the soft carols in the background. The baking that I do. The fireplace at my parent’s while we sip on our Bailey’s and hot chocolate. Those are things much more important to me than any gift. You’ll be giving your boys the best Christmas ever I reckon!
XX,
Andrea
Oh that fireplace at your parent’s place sounds so good! Make sure that violin comes out. Seize the day with your grandfather and his violin virtuoso talents too! I can’t wait to sit in front of a roaring fire. Never even got to in winter here! xx
Hi AM – we are also travelling this Christmas and will be in the black forest Germany. I am also super excited about missing all the drama associated with Christmas however having to get organised so very early does cause some stress. Christmas cards in October, 6 Christmas days with various families … I just keep thinking of the pay off … a white Christmas with roasted chestnuts, hot apple cider and ice skating in the town square. There is nothing like a White Christmas and I am bouncing around like a kid trying to get ready. I can only imagine how your boys must be feeling!
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OMG, that sounds amazing!… like a fairytale! I am supported by the fact that you are also excited about missing the Christmas prep here. I have asked my family to meet up with us after we come back. Then I can get some a little something for each of them from Europe…. something special. My boys have no idea what is waiting for them as they have never been anywhere… except for big son’s Japan trip. Europe in the snow is another story! xx
I feel excited and nervous all wrapped into one…we are heading home to NZ for the first time since we moved to Australia in August 2011. Excited to see our friends and family that we miss dearly, nervous about being back in shaky Christchurch, nervous about how I will feel when it is time to say goodbye to everyone after two weeks. I haven’t felt homesick at all since being in Oz, and I am hoping a trip home doesn’t start me off…I love living here!
xx Karen
Oh it will be wonderful to see all your friends and family. If you haven’t been homesick yet, it sounds like you will do fine! Isn’t the excitement and nervousness the best bit! A-M xx
It’s Simply Christmas here in our house. Pared right back. We are reeling from two Aspergers diagnoses so we need to just breathe. Your trip sounds just perfect for your family right now. Have the best time!
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Oh I am so sorry. My heart goes out to you. xx
I’m leaving home for Christmas the first time ever and I can’t wait to leave behind everyones hidden agendas on Christmas day!! Its liberating. Giulia.x
Ha,ha the old hidden agendas! Leaving them behind is very liberating! Xx
It will be so magical and memorable…what a fantastic idea. xoxo
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Thanks Debra. Xx
Sounds amazing right now A-M. You have achieved the ultimate declutter!
Oh what a great way to look at it! You’re right! I have! Xx
Sounds wonderful. I was in Paris, Italy and Germany earlier this year … just magical. One thing though and this isn’t directed at you AM but on reading all the comments everyone seems to be talking about taking getting away on Christmas Day with just “our little family” or “just the four of us” … one writer mentions her mother not understanding it and being put out. I wonder how you all will feel one day when your own children decide to do that to you … a bit put out I imagine? Just remember … your parents are your family too … and once you were “just their little family”.
Nik xx
I suppose everyone’s family situation is different and you don’t know, from their comments, the real pain that maybe they go through at this time of year. My children will be free to go and do whatever they want. Hopefully the dynamic in our little family will be different to those wanting to escape their ‘put out family’…. and my boys will not be able to imagine Christmas without their parents and family. Depends on the family and the dynamic. I understand the readers’ ‘just us’ sentiments entirely. I was from a broken home and a broken childhood. There was no ‘little family’ for me. And sometimes, escaping the step-family, in-laws and all the dysfunction and expectations is the way that people cope best at this time of year. xx
I’m a huge fan of Christmas ‘elsewhere’. You do the frou frou – and I’ll enjoy it, thank you very much. It’s all become so [commercially] huge and so [commercially] important that I find it very distasteful. Getting away helps everyone focus on what is truly important – and that is quiet family time together and wonderful memories … with no stress for Mum.
Yep, no stress. Good word – distasteful. I will do my best to do the frou frou. xx
You are so right A-M, this is something they will remember forever! I will be in Paris in December too…hopefully as we’re still making plans. When will you be there?
Kat
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Oh Kat, I am there from December 20th! Would love to meet up for a Parisian ‘cafe’ if we could!!!! A-M xx
Amazing.. We too are doing the same thing (but with daughters).. Thank you so much for putting my thoughts so eloquently into words !
Im late to this post , but we too are going to America for the Holidays this year, and I have to say Im a wee little bit glad not to put out “stuff”
for Christmas etc…… I hope everyone has Happy Holidays wherever they might be !
Oh that’s so exciting Julie B!! Yes, no stuff here this year! Not one twinkle. Xx