This week I have a very special guest blogger here to share her tips for a more intentional holiday season.  I recently started reading Corina’s blog and fell in love with her authenticity and encouragement she provides to her readers!  I hope you enjoy her post and will sign up for her FREE Gift Guide below. 🙂


Corina, is a lifestyle blogger and a bilingual parent of 2 children. Originally from Germany, she moved to America a few years ago and began writing. On her website http://www.corinatime.com she writes about family, travel & minimalism.

Connect with her on social media:

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/corinatime21/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/corinatime9555/boards/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/corinatime9555/

How to intentionally spend the holidays and enjoy this time of year with loved ones.

***

The last holiday season was super hectic with all the preparing, decorating, gift buying, and everything else that had to be done to create the perfect holiday. The chaos makes you forget what the holidays should really be about. It can even get to a point that makes it hard to feel the holiday spirit.

Well guess what! There is a way to celebrate that won’t leave you stressed, overwhelmed, and broke! What if I tell you that you can have a holiday season you will remember for years to come by simply not doing what everyone else is doing?

We think we have to compare ourselves to other people. It’s like a competition to see who gives the best gift. Did mine cost more? Was mine the newest version? Is one gift enough? Is my holiday dinner perfect? Do I have the best decorations? Were my decorations the most creative?

Let’s get back to the meaning of the holiday season. Let’s get back to the reason we love to celebrate and what is really important. Spend the holidays more intentionally and bring back the spirit. Be less stressed while creating memories and traditions you will enjoy and remember for years to come.

Are you ready? Here we go:

Let’s get prepared

Decorations help us to feel the holiday spirit, whether it is Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, or another holiday. Decorating is a great excuse to spend time with people that make you happy.

Create some amazing center pieces for your dinner table with family and friends or do easy craft projects with your children. Time spent together like this will never be forgotten and will put you in the holiday spirit.

It brings me joy to craft decorations with the people I love and spending time with them brings us closer. This can be a onetime event or you can start a new tradition.

***

Cook together

Standing in the kitchen for hours and preparing an amazing dinner for your loved ones can bring you joy, on the other hand it can be both very stressful and exhausting. How about you change it up this year? Let’s prepare food together. Spend time with your loved ones while preparing and have some great conversations. Enjoy your time together.

Another great idea is to let people help you prepare some of the food. Ask them to bring a side dish or to bring plates or drinks. Don’t stress yourself out about everything. Let people help you and enjoy all the different culinary items on your table.

***

Give time

A great meaningful activity with family and friends all year round is donating time to help others. There are amazing organizations and events where you can spend your time.

Take part in things like your local soup kitchen, helping out with clothes drives, bake sales, or creating goody bags for the homeless. Those are just a few ideas of things you can do with family and friends.

The great thing is, you are helping other people while spending time with your family. Your children will appreciate the opportunity and it teaches them to help those that are less fortunate. It also teaches them to appreciate what they have.

Helping others and putting a smile on someone else’s face is the best gift you can give yourself.

***

Quality time

Sometimes, you only see family around the holidays. Maybe they aren’t geographically close to you, or maybe you are both just really busy. Either way, try to spend some quality time with them.

In Germany, where I come from, we enjoy going to the “Christkindlemarkt” (Christmas markets) with the entire family and having great food. This is also a good opportunity to have some amazing family pictures taken!

No matter how quirky some of your family members are, the holidays would not be the same without them. So, soak it all in and enjoy yourself. Do your best to live in the moment and appreciate them. Go and check out some holiday activities near you, sit down and spend time together with a family game night, or just talk with each other. Another activity we enjoy doing is picking out the Christmas tree and hanging the ornaments.

***

Gift time

Let’s remember why we really celebrate this day and focus on the important things. It is not about who gave the most expensive gift. It is about the people we love, the time we spend with each other, and the memories we make that should stick out. Instead of “stuff”, give the gift of memories and experience. I have a great post about gift giving for minimalists that will give you some ideas.

I also created a free list for intentional and meaningful gifts and activities around the holidays I would love to send you. (click image below)

I hope I could give you some great ideas on how to simplify and intentionally spend your holidays with the people you love most. Let’s make some new traditions and mix things up. Think about all the great memories you had when you grew up, the ones that really stick with you and start from there. Consider bringing back a meaningful and intentional season with lots of great experiences.

 

“Always remember

the greatest gift you can give someone

is your TIME.”

 

Don’t forget to grab you free gift and activity guide to start of your holiday with more meaning and less stress!

 

Happy Holidays!

XOXO

Corina

 

Related Posts:

16 Comments on How to Intentionally Spend Your Holidays!

  1. I am getting so excited about the holiday season. I already have my gift list, and I have even started buying gifts. Great holiday ideas! Thanks for sharing.

  2. Great post. I think it’s so important to live intentionally. I’ve written a few posts lately about how to hygge through the holidays so this is so right up my alley. Love your ideas.

  3. The holidays is definitely a time that many overspend and indulge in excesses. If we all paused to think about making it intentional and about giving back, it would make for a richer experience for all.

  4. This is such a great article. I need to be more mindful of how I plan and appreciate the time I have to spend with my family! The days get so busy – it’s easy for the time to slip away!

  5. These are wonderful ideas! I love cooking together. To me it’s not the holidays without yummy food and cooking with my family always makes me happy! Thank you for these tips!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.