This isn’t my first Christmas of doing the bare minimum. I have been working on this for a few years, and I suppose one of these years it won’t feel so uncomfortable.

It’s a little strange to not be all jacked up right now, hurrying here and there, making lists for my lists. It’s almost like deciding to not study for finals when you are a student. I feel out of synch.

“Are you ready for Christmas?” everyone asks. “I think so,” is my reply. I am ready for A Christmas, but maybe not THE Christmas I used to have. I took Deck the Halls to heart. I decked everything that wasn’t moving. There were wreaths and Santa’s and elves and every other imaginable Christmas item in every room of our home.

This year, I was questioning whether we needed a tree. We have one, and I am glad we did that. We have a wreath too. There are gifts for Dale and the boys. I am making a grocery list. Dinner on Christmas will probably be something out of the norm but not crazy making like a turkey. I don’t have a Christmas card or letter written yet. Maybe that will come in the spring.

I wonder about the root of my Christmas minimalism. Is it a sign of depression? Anxiety? Typical for families with adult children? What occurred that switched me from completely redoing every room in the house to now only having little peeks of Christmas decorations here and there?

I’d love to have some pious answer, like I am trying to simplify Christmas, because it really was two parents in a barn with a newborn baby. I might be known to be preachy on occasion, but that’s not it.

Honestly, the Christmas story was so far from my mind when I was doing all the decorating. I wasn’t thinking, ‘Jesus would love this.’ It was more about the boys. I wanted the house to feel like a Christmas wonderland for the boys.

There is nothing like Christmastime when you have young children. I remember the wait for Christmas morning was almost unbearable for me as a child, and I saw my sons experience that same tension between excitement, anxiety and happiness. Ethan always worried about Christmas – ‘what if it isn’t good this year?” he would ask. That is how high his expectations were. He was worried the day wouldn’t live up to the hype.

The hype for this year’s Christmas, when Ethan asked for a TV mount for his wall and Thad picked out the clothes he wants, is minimal. Lowkey and chill might be better ways to describe the vibe. They will probably arrive at the house late morning.

There will be food. They love food. “So much” is how much they love food. Thad used to ask for food for Christmas. One year it was ice cream. Another year it was chocolate covered strawberries. That would be his entire Christmas list – one food item.

There will be charades. We always play charades with another family on Christmas night. It’s amazing how much fun it is to play with young children and then to see how good they get as they get older.

There will be food, gifts and charades. All four of us will be together. It’s the bare minimum, all I need for a great day. I know that bare minimum is not something to take for granted. The pain of an empty seat at the table digs much deeper at Christmas.

Please accept my warmest wishes for THE Christmas that would make you most happy. Feel free to consider a bare minimum Christmas for yourself. It turns out, the earth doesn’t come off its axis if the cards aren’t out the day after Thanksgiving and there isn’t a wreath in every window.

If anyone asks, tell them you are modeling after Mary –THE Mary. The shepherds were telling everyone about Jesus’ birth. All were amazed. What did Mary do? “Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart,” Luke 2:19. She didn’t send any cards, bake any pies or wrap any gifts. Not to sound preachy, but maybe take some time this Christmas to reflect these things in your heart.