Less is More

It is 2011 which is hard to believe considering it seems like just yesterday that so many were sure that things were to go awry come 2000 aka Y2K.  But , time kept on ticking and another decade has come and gone.  It is interesting because we are starting another decade in the sense of calendar years, but I am also starting another decade of my life.  I feel a sense of excitement about the starting of both new decades.

I am not one to make New Year's Resolutions, nor do I plan to this year.  I do feel like this year holds a lot of potential in the Bruski household.  There are some exciting changes on the horizon that I am looking forward to see unfold.  I just feel so good about 2011 and I will do my part to keep that good feeling going.  I believe that attitude is THE most important part of the outcome of your day to day life.  I hope I can instill that in my boys as well.

The attitude that I want to keep at the forefront of my mind this year is that less is more.  This could go many different directions, but to begin with, our family is going to slow down.  Maybe the success of a simpler Christmas has spurred this idea on, but I feel that we need more of a sense of simplicity in our home.  In order to simplify we will likely have to turn down activities or invites,  prioritize with much more scrutiny and be intentional on doing the things that truly matter.  Another way I plan to simplify is by decluttering our house and being more picky about what comes into our home by considering: Do we really NEED it?  Will it add to our home or simply take up space?

I can't wait to see what this year holds for us.  Soon I am going to attempt to recap what the last decade has brought our way.  It's kind of fun to reminisce and evaluate where you have been and where you would like to go.

This year will be super busy, but by intentionally focusing on making our life simpler in the areas that we can control, I think I will be able to embrace more of the carefree attitude that my two redheads have mastered so well!

Blurry, but this captures the personality of my boys so well!

Christmas Simplified

I can truly say that we had the best Christmas that I remember in years.  SO many lessons were learned this Christmas from various events that happened. Each lesson learned helped to make this Christmas fabulous! I really am just journaling this for myself so that I can remember how making Christmas simpler this year helped to make it one of the best on record. This post is rather long so consider this fair warning.

To begin with; going into the season I made the commitment to myself that I would not over commit myself or try to over extend myself.  I began by simplifying my decorations.  I have yet to take them down, but I bet I will thank myself when it comes time to take them down as well. Since I originally started this post I have taken them down and as we were hauling things up to the attic I was very glad at how quickly I was able to get everything put away,. I cut down on how many sweets and goodies I cooked.  And last I let go of many expectations  for Christmas.  In years past I have expected my children to act perfectly as we madly rush from place to place and spend time with  friends and family.  I expect them to act overly thankful and happy with each gift, which is different from grateful I have now realized.  In years past I have expected to be able to jam pack our days leading up to Christmas with happy Christmas activities that will get us in  the Christmas mood, when all they really do (in such large quantities anyways) is cause burnout.

This year I listed all the activities I had done in the past and then choose my favorite 5 and stuck with those.  I turned down many invitations for holiday parties and such and just stuck to a few get togethers and mostly family time.

As Christmas grew closer I was letting myself fall back into old habits of hustle bustle and began to find myself very frazzled over all the things that needed to be done before Christmas.  A few days before Christmas Koen became very ill and we had a couple of very scary days wondering what the outcome would be.  This really gave me a reality check and I quickly realized what was important.

When Christmas did arrive I was so thankful for a healthy (mostly) family and what a miracle that was considering what had happened just earlier that week.  As an adult, I do not believe I have had a happier Christmas.  I was just truly overjoyed to be with my family and nothing else seemed to matter.

I did not get all of my Christmas cards out due to Koen's sickness, but I did get some out to mostly those that live away and that don't get to see the boys often as I included their picture in the Christmas card.

Like I said before I wanted to journal this in order to remember my feelings of this Christmas and keep things in perspective for years to come!

I didn't take hardly any pictures on Christmas, which I kind of regret, but I do have very good memories of my own, so I am OK with that.  Here are a few I did get.