As you grow older, the holidays can lose their magic if you’re not careful. You know that magical feeling — excitement and wonder — as if anything can happen. Once in a while, a Christmas song will take me back to when I was young, sleeping on the floor by my bedroom door across from my brother’s room, hoping to get a glimpse of Santa. We would stay up as late as our little eyelids could muster the strength to stay open. One year my brother swore he heard Santa’s reindeer on the roof.
Nowadays, my husband and I spend the holidays traveling to the family that has moved out of state. So we must work hard to keep the sense of wonder alive for ourselves at home.
I will admit the holidays are the time of year when I consider it could be fun to experience Christmas again through the eyes of a child. Don’t get me wrong — I have little desire to switch places with any of those poor souls getting up early in the morning when they forget to move the Elf on a Shelf. But it’s adorable to watch that excitement sparkle in their children’s eyes because they still believe in the magic.
In a child-centric society, it’s easy to forget that there are many benefits to being childfree during the holidays. Here are my favorite things about being childfree at this time of year:
Decorations Done My Way
It would be easy for my husband and me to skip decorating our house for Christmas as we do not have little kids running around demanding we put a blow-up Grinch in our front yard. But it doesn’t truly feel like Christmas to me until our flickering candles glow in the windows. As a child, I loved multi-colored lights on the Christmas tree, but these days, I want my house to look like Joanna Gaines stopped by to decorate in Magnolia style for HGTV.
Create My Traditions
In a childfree house, we do not have to stick to the same old traditions year after year. We can switch it up because we don’t answer to anyone but ourselves! There’s excitement about creating your own rules. Our holidays change every year, and we can do whatever we want because we’re not tied down! We can go away for a holiday, and no one cries because Santa won’t be able to find us. We can stay home and bake Christmas cookies for ourselves or family/friends. Or we can keep it low-key and sit by the fire, smell the fresh scent of pine, open our stockings and watch a Christmas movie on TV.
Travel
Speaking of traveling — I do like hosting on the holidays, but there is something nice about spending the holiday on the road and going away, too. Most of our family lives out of state, so if we’re not traveling for Thanksgiving, we’re likely traveling for Christmas. It’s nice because I get a lot of time off from my job around the holidays. We can typically extend this time away as a mini-vacation.
Sleep in and leisurely open presents
My husband’s family makes a big deal out of Christmas Eve, where we all wear special Christmas pajamas and stay up late. Because no littles are running around looking for presents in the early morning, we can sleep in late and leisurely open presents while sipping our coffee. At my parents’ house, Christmas morning breakfast is a big deal, and nothing beats waking up late to the smell of Taylor Ham cooking on the stove.
There are many benefits to being childfree during the holidays. Have I missed any? What are your favorite childfree traditions? Let me know in the comments below.