Have You Started Planning for Christmas Yet?

The Violet Orchid Edit Christmas Series — Part One

Have you started planning for Christmas yet?

 

Because what if I told you that I have already done most of my Christmas shopping for this year?

Yes. Already.

And before you think I have suddenly become one of those extremely organized women who has a Christmas closet, matching storage bins and gifts wrapped by October—absolutely not. 😂

This is actually an intervention.

For myself.

Because for the greater part of my adult life, Christmas has gone something like this:

December arrives. I realize Christmas is approximately five minutes away. I panic. I start buying. I remember someone else I need to shop for. I buy something else. Then I see something cute for myself because apparently Christmas shopping for other people means I also deserve a present.

Then comes the YOLO spending.

It's Christmas!

I'll figure it out in January.

Just put it on the card.

And then January comes.

And January Diedre would like a WORD with December Diedre.

Because the Christmas decorations come down, the holiday magic disappears, and somehow those credit card balances are still very much here.

I've been doing some version of this for probably the last 20 years.

But this year, I'm trying something different.

I'm Trying to Beat the Christmas Rush

This year, I started Christmas shopping ridiculously early.

Not because I'm trying to rush through the season, but because I actually want to enjoy it.

I want a slower Christmas.

A more intentional Christmas.

A Christmas where I'm not frantically ordering things on December 20th, paying extra for shipping, standing in ridiculously long lines or throwing random things into my cart because I suddenly remembered I needed one more gift.

Because I've realized something about myself:

When I'm in a pinch, I panic buy.

And when I panic buy, I overspend.

When there's no time to compare prices, wait for a sale or really think about whether someone actually needs something, convenience wins.

And convenience can get expensive.

Especially right now, when so many of us are already feeling the effects of rising prices.

So part of my Christmas planning this year is about avoiding that last-minute spending cycle altogether.

But I'm Also Thinking About Overconsumption

There's another part of this that has been weighing on me lately.

Do we really need all this stuff?

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE Christmas.

I love the decorations. I love picking out gifts. I love creating traditions. I love making my home feel magical. And now that I have children? Girl.

I want ALL THE MAGIC.

But I don't want creating magical childhood memories to automatically mean buying an excessive amount of things.

Because sometimes we're buying simply because we've convinced ourselves that Christmas has to look a certain way.

The overflowing tree.

The piles of presents.

The matching everything.

The stocking stuffers that are really just...stuff.

And before we know it, we've spent hundreds—or thousands—of dollars on things that might barely be remembered a few months later.

I'm trying to become more conscious of that.

Not anti-Christmas.

Not anti-gifts.

Just more intentional.

Motherhood Changed the Way I Think About Money

This is probably the biggest difference for me.

I'm not just thinking about what I want Christmas to look like this year.

I'm thinking about what I want our life to look like 10, 20 and 30 years from now.

I spent 10 years trying to become a mother.

Ten years.

And becoming a mom later than I would have liked also means I became a mother at a point in my life when I'm more financially stable than I've ever been—and much more aware of how the decisions I make today can affect our future.

Now I'm thinking about retirement.

I'm thinking about eliminating debt.

I'm thinking about investments.

I'm thinking about making sure my children have a head start, whatever they decide they want their futures to look like.

College?

A business?

A home?

Travel?

Something that doesn't even exist yet?

I don't know.

What I do know is that I don't want to spend the next 20 years buying things to create the appearance of a beautiful life while sacrificing the financial security that could actually help us build one.

And whew.

That's something I've had to learn as I go.

Nobody Really Tells You About All of This

There are so many expenses that come with adulthood that I don't remember anyone preparing me for.

Then you become a homeowner.

A wife.

A mother.

And suddenly you're thinking about retirement accounts, emergency funds, childcare, insurance, property taxes, college savings, home repairs, vacations, birthdays, Christmas and approximately 700 other things.

And somehow we're supposed to know how to balance all of it.

I didn't.

I'm still learning.

A huge part of motherhood for me has been realizing that giving my children the best version of me doesn't always mean giving them more.

Sometimes it means giving them a mother who isn't financially stressed.

A mother who isn't overwhelmed.

A mother who isn't spending January trying to recover from December.

A mother who can be present because she planned ahead.

And maybe that's part of the Christmas magic too.

So This Year, We're Doing Christmas Differently

I've started shopping early.

I'm making lists.

I'm setting limits.

I'm paying attention to what I'm buying instead of just buying for the sake of buying.

I'm trying to avoid last-minute panic purchases.

And I'm reminding myself that my children do not need an overflowing room of presents to know that Christmas was magical.

They need traditions.

They need experiences.

They need Christmas music playing in the kitchen.

They need cookies and pajamas and lights and movies and laughter.

They need their mama sitting on the floor with them instead of stressed out somewhere wondering how much money she just spent.

And I need January to arrive without a Christmas financial hangover.

So yes, girl.

I've already started Christmas shopping.

And this year, my goal isn't to create the biggest Christmas.

It's to create an intentional one.

One that feels magical in December—and still feels good when the credit card statement arrives in January.

Welcome to the Christmas Series 🎄

Over the next few months, I'm bringing you along as I plan Christmas earlier, spend more intentionally and try to create a beautiful holiday season without getting swept up in the pressure to constantly buy more.

We'll talk gifts, budgeting, traditions, decorating, hosting, Christmas with little ones and all the cozy things in between.

Because maybe the goal isn't more Christmas.

Maybe it's more of what actually matters at Christmas.

With love,
Diedre
The Violet Orchid Edit