How to Declutter Christmas

By CL Bledsoe — NOT ANOTHER TV DAD

The winter holidays can be an ordeal. First off, there’s all the cooking and decorating, the expense of gifts, travelling in winter, seasonal depression, etcetera. These things can be wonderful experiences or onerous time-sucks, depending on circumstances. For a lot of people, the winter holidays mean having to travel to spend time with people they don’t really have anything in common with, maybe don’t even like, or have been scarred by. Or, if they eschew the ordeal, they get to feel guilty and weird. There’s just too much baggage for some of us to enjoy the holidays. So, we need to declutter.

But first, we have to determine what makes the holidays enjoyable and worthwhile. I’ve compiled a brief list to help, in no particular order:

1. Dessert.
Let’s not get territorial. Any dessert will do. We can debate about the merits of cake vs. pie, but let us not forget cookies. Or bars and brownies. Or even ice cream. The point is, we don’t need a massive feast. Of course, desserts can actually be some of the hardest things to bake. So, if you aren’t feeling the baking, have you seen Oreos? They’ve got like twenty different flavors.

2. Seeing loved ones but also not.
There’s a decent chance the only reason you or they are traveling is out of guilt. This sounds like a…