A Quiet, Minimal, Smallholding Christmas

What does your ideal Christmas Day look like? The entire extended family gathered around one big table? Or something more quiet and minimal?

Christmas means something different to each of us. Some like a big, extended family gathering. Others spend the day with just their nuclear family. Still others prefer to get away somewhere remote and enjoy a few days of solitude with books, films and nature.

A combination of distance from our families, responsibilities for our animals and the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in George and I spending a quiet Christmas at home for the past few years. I can’t say that I’m disappointed about this. I come from a large family and would often retreat to my room on Christmas Day to read, simply enjoy some peace and quiet, or avoid the inevitable annual Christmas family argument.

Before we moved across the border to our smallholding, the pressure of travelling hundreds of miles to spend the day with others, or occasionally hosting Christmas in our home, often curtailed my ability to enjoy the day. But year after year, we always agreed to go along with the family plans to avoid offence or argument.

The last few years have finally allowed us to enjoy a simple, quiet day. And, as we’re about to welcome our baby into the world, I am so pleased that we’ve had the opportunity to start making some traditions of our own.

Our Christmas decor is really minimal; we put the tree up mid-December, Christmas cards are displayed on the sideboard as they arrive, and we have a few little festive lanterns and candle holders dotted about. I find that anything more than this becomes a real hassle when sweeping the floors and dusting the surfaces.

We get up early on Christmas morning, just like every other day! All the birds still need to be let out and fed, and the other animals tended to.

Then we head down to the beach at first light, to give the dogs a good run around and enjoy the fresh sea air with the whole beach to ourselves.

Once the dogs have had enough of chasing tennis balls and frisbees, we head home, light the fire and open a few gifts.

This year, George and I agreed to keep things simple and just buy each other a couple of books to enjoy on Christmas afternoon. Having spent months de-cluttering the house, neither of us wanted to bring more unnecessary items into the our lives!

We were also able to opt out of several gift exchanges, so just had a few gifts to open. We took our time over these whilst enjoying a cup of tea and pains au chocolat, making calls and exchanging texts with friends and family members to send our festive wishes. I really didn’t miss the pile of incoming gifts to find homes for, or the associated waste from wrapping and packaging.

Then I like to get some Christmas music on the radio – Classic FM is wonderful on Christmas Day – and start preparing dinner. I shared a post about Our Vegetarian Christmas Feast earlier this week.

Another bonus of having a quiet Christmas and a simple dinner is that the clear up afterwards doesn’t take long! Pretty much all the plates, pots and pans fit in a single load in the dishwasher.

So we were able to cuddle up on the sofa and enjoy our new books. I asked for a text on designing knitting patterns, whilst George is keen to expand his woodworking skills. Periodically we looked up from our books to share interesting facts, reflect on all that has happened in 2022 and consider our goals and hopes for 2023.

I took the dogs out again before dark, and paused for a moment to consider how fortunate I am to be able to enjoy Christmas in a way that appeals to me, in my comfortable home, with my wonderful husband. I have my health and security. I know that there are many, many people in the UK and around the world who do not enjoy these ideals.

So, I hope that you were able to enjoy Christmas in a way that serves you and your values. I would love to read about your ideal Christmas Day – please leave me a comment!

A final thought. At this time of year, when so many are focused on gifting material possessions or picking up bargains in the Boxing Day sales, perhaps take a moment to consider how rich you are in other ways. Do all these new things actually add value to your life? Or do they just add more clutter to your home?