Being a parent at Christmas time is magical.
Getting to feel the excitement this season brings to children, creating memories, it truly is the highlight reel of parenting in my opinion.
However, can we also all admit that Christmas time when you have young children in the house can be rather crazy too? December is a month filled with shopping and wrapping and organising and meal prepping and baking and attending a variety of plays and recitals and list writing and card-sending and just generally a time when mums really don't get to catch their breath at all until December 25th – post lunchtime – rolls around.
And then there is all the stuff. You know – the mountains for toys that is unwrapped in a flurry, that you now somehow have to find space for – in bedrooms or play rooms that are no doubt already stuffed to the brim with stuff.
So when we take all this into account, maybe it makes sense doing what this Canadian mum did – although I have got to admit, it does sound a little extreme at first – until you hear her reason.
“I don’t buy my kids Christmas gifts anymore," mum-of-eight Angie admitted in an Instagram video recently.
In the clip, Angie explained that two years ago she reached her limit with Christmas as many of her kids already have their birthdays during that time.
“I felt overwhelmed with the amount of stuff,” she admitted.
“Plus not being the best at gift-giving, I decided to stop buying gifts… it took a lot of my overwhelm away around the holidays.”
This may sound a little dramatic, but Angie reveals that she and her family have now come up with a new present system that works insanely well for them.
“Here's what we do, each kid draws a siblings name and they 'buy' for them. They have to think what that person would want and pick it out,” Angie describes.
“They like what they get more because there's less… they also look forward and wonder throughout the year who will get who - and even talk about what they would pick each other."
Better yet, the system will end up saving Angie hundreds as her kids will use their own money to buy the gifts after they turn 10.
"I've decluttered my life - from how my kids dress to what they eat"
As it turns out, Christmas is not the only thing Angie has streamlined recently.
The self-confessed “minimalist mum” has dedicated herself to simplifying every aspect of her life.
In a separate Instagram video, she shares the top five things she has "decluttered".
“How my kids dress. PJs all day for toddlers. Why not? It’s less fight and they're happy. Unmatched outfits – ‘sure you love and picked it yourself awesome’,” Angie revealed.
She continues by explaining that she has also minimised what she makes for meals, revealing that if her kids like the food then that is OK, even if that “doesn’t make sense”.
She’s also streamlined her kids’ playroom and only kept the toys that they actually play with.
“How my kids go to sleep. If they want to sleep on the couch one night, why not? The point is to sleep. If they need us for one night, OK we're here for you,” she continued.
“Explaining my choices to others, I know my family best. I will listen to you and respect you but I may not apply your advice.”
