Holidays and Minimalism -- Mutually Exclusive Events?

We are in that sketchy period between Halloween and Thanksgiving now.  You are ABOUT to toss that pumpkin, rationalizing that it is STILL harvest-y, so maybe it should stay for a week or two?  Even though it's rotting and leaking pumpkin exudate on the table.  

And what about Thanksgiving decorations?  My mother certainly never brought out any the day after All Hallow's Eve.  I can't recall any stuffed pilgrims frolicking on her tablescape.  In fact, she didn't have a tablescape.  She would have no idea what the hell a tablescape is anyway, were she still here at my Turkey Day table.  

Each year we talk about holiday creep.  My younger son's birthday is the day after Halloween, and when we are enjoying the celebration of his birth and a "Holly Jolly Christmas" pipes in over the speakers at the trampoline park, he threatened a coup.  "I am barely even BORN in November, and today I have to hear Christmas music?"

I love Christmas, but when it shows up in the eleventh month, it is gross.  Can we at least enjoy our week off from school to celebrate a holiday that is so politically muted (no pilgrims and Indians at the elementary Thanksgiving feast anymore??) that we only know mashed potatoes and big college football games are a part of some mystery four day fest? 

We at Cowtown Minimalist hope that THIS year, you will find it in your heart to enjoy one holiday at a time.  You can do this by minimizing the amount of excess you drag out and the hoopla you feel obliged to participate in.  

I have a friend who jokes (but longingly hopes) that the family Christmas decorating should be accomplished by opening a drawer, pulling out a snowman, a Nativity scene, and hanging the stockings up by the chimney with *sorta* care.  Oh, and a tree in the corner so everyone knows where to drop off the loot.  That's it.  Would their Christmas suck if they did that?  I doubt it.  

Pinterest, Hallmark, and Hobby Lobby  all encourage, dare I say inSIST, that we make memories (although Hobby Lobby won't help us make them on Sundays) through festive decor, clothing and that godforsaken troublesome elf.   No No No!  That isn't how a relaxing holiday is supposed to go.  You're frantically waking at 6 am because you forgot to move the friggin elf to another impish hiding spot.   Don't even talk to me about Black Friday or Thursday or Wednesday night or whatever.  I used to participate in the shopping fun, but once the lines outside of Target started forming Halloween night, I started skipping it.  I think I am still ok.  

So take stock of your Christmas cheer now.  As you sort through your Christmas boxes in the next week or two, try to display what is memorable and truly has meaning for you.  Maybe even keep the garbage can handy for pitching out some of the stuff that usually stays in the box anyway because you really don't care about the reindeer salt and pepper shakers.  The kids will still have a happy Christmas even if your house doesn't look like a Santa junkyard. Promise.