Approaching Christmas with Simplicity

Thank you to everyone who left comments on how you handle social media. It was really good to see that I am not the only one who finds it unbearable at times and feels the need to pare down. I am still loving being fairly social media free - I'm getting so much more done in a day which makes me realise how much of a time-waster it was for me.

So my daughter wrote her SAT on Saturday at this beautiful school (pictured below) in Shropshire. She thinks it went really well apart from the maths section but we are planning to sit again in March to improve on whatever score she gets. I believe results come out on the 14th for the multiple-choice section and essay comes out a few days later.  

While she was busy with her SAT (which is a gruelling 5 hours long for those who don't know the American SAT system) the rest of us took advantage of being in a different county and visited a delightful NT property called SunnyCroft.

I was so inspired by this property and that's because the owners from Victorian through to WW2 times observed lived a self-sufficient and thrifty lifestyle. This lifestyle was observed because it was either a normal way of life or as in the case of WW2 of necessity. Whatever the motivation, the simplicity and down-to-earth nature of the lives lived in this home appealed to me. 

This make-do-and-mend history of the house has been reflected by the National Trust in the way they have chosen to decorate the house this Christmas. Plain paper packages, handcrafted decorations, the use of items gathered from the countryside or your own garden...just beautiful.

With simplicity and getting-back-to basics being at the forefront of my mind at the moment I took great inspiration from this house and from the attitudes of its 'yesteryear' occupants. My daughter was likewise inspired and we decided that this year was going to be a 'Sunnycroft' Christmas.

We have always made a conscious effort in our home to keep things simple, to focus on the true meaning of Christmas and to reject the commercialism that the world offers but visiting this house was a really good reminder that simplicity is far more attractive than the gaudiness that is offered in every television advert and every marketing message and ploy that assaults us earlier and earlier each year.

I find that our culture seems to be more and more influenced to have a staged picture-perfect Christmas. My own girls started to slip into this idea of what Christmas should be, it's a subtle message that is fed to us through perfect Pinterest pins, Instagram staged pics and of course those warm, fuzzy Christmas movies. The idea that people see Christmas as that one big event that absolutely has to be perfect and deliver a movie-perfect experience is just ludicrous to my way of thinking. The money that is spent and the debt acquired to achieve this just heartbreaking. 

It is all completely opposite to the very way Jesus arrived in this world, humbly and simply. In fact these days most people leave Jesus out of Christmas altogether. I feel like I have to be purposeful if it the simple things that want to embrace in this life. I need to actively put away from myself the messages that are drip-fed to us every day. After walking through this house my daughter, who is 20, turned to me and said, "I really wish that life was still as simple as it once was, it seemed to have been a more meaningful way to live, to care about each other and about people, to grow your own and embrace the simple things in life.'

My sentiments exactly! Wishing you all a beautiful, meaningful and simple Advent.