Out of Chaos an organizing newsletter
Take One Thing Off
My mother was fond of quoting Coco Chanel: “Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take one thing off.” The idea was to be simple, chic, stylish, not overdone, or to employ the French phrase: de trop. In my newsletter, Adding Subtraction I discussed how to apply this principal to other things in your life to find out where less could add up to more. This year, I’m going one step further: I’m going to approach the holidays the way Chanel approached her ensemble, I’m going for simplicity by way of elimination.
First victim: Thanksgiving Brussels sprouts. It doesn’t matter that they are in season, healthy, organic and local. It doesn’t matter that I’ve found a wonderful recipe that will actually make my husband like them. The truth is, no one will miss them. So why make my To Do list longer?
It’s a very slippery slope with the holidays. You see something in a magazine, or you have an idea, and then the kids like it or it turns out well, and suddenly you have a tradition of making cinnamon buns on Christmas Eve so that you can all enjoy them on Christmas morning. (And oh, how you wish you’d never started with the Buche De Noel!) You want to have traditions, but remember that you are in charge of creating the traditions, and you don’t want to start so many or make them so labor intensive that you ruin the holidays for yourself.
The bottom line is that you want the holidays to be relaxed and fun, a time to be with family, not a marathon of chores and projects. What can you take off your list? Do you really need to iron the tablecloth? Would anybody but you know if you bought the applesauce for the latkes? Will anybody notice if there is no ribbon candy? Do the kids really need a gift for every night of Hanukkah?
This year I’m going to try to do less and buy less—but be more present.
Who’s in?