Member-only story
Abandoning holiday traditions, without regrets
In which the author lightens the load of Christmas obligations
Being a female of a certain age, I am the keeper of my little family’s holiday traditions. Which means, I do the work of decorating, cooking, organizing social events, shopping for and wrapping presents. All of these and many related tasks regularly populated a lengthy “to do” list that I compiled every November.
Every year, the lists ended with Boxing Day sales (January) during which cards, wrapping supplies and even gifts for next year were purchased at clearance prices.
I’ve been noticing recently that, over the years, this list has been pared back. And I like the results.
Baking was the first to go.
As much as I enjoy both creating and consuming sweet holiday treats, weight gain and the risk of diabetes have put a stop to the sugar cookies and mincemeat tarts.
And since I stopped working in an outside office, it’s much easier to avoid those cookie exchanges and platters of goodies that seemed to always turn up in the lunchroom in the weeks leading up to the holidays.
Exchanging gifts came up for review next.
