This is an atypical year for our family by far, hopping around from city to city, settling in to new neighborhoods for a month at a time, traveling with only what can fit in our SUV. So, it’s no surprise that our Christmas was different for us as well.

Over the last few years, we’ve sought to scale down on the commercialism of the Christmas season, and this year has been a fantastic opportunity to continue the trend.

It was our first year to have a “White Christmas,” and so it felt like Jack Frost took care of all the decorating necessary! We didn’t decorate our home AT ALL and really only got one gift for each child. However, the month still felt quite festive and memorable.

We did love sending out a couple cards and little gifts to our close relatives and receiving Christmas cards to have friendly faces smiling at us from our fridge.

But Christmas really has come and gone, and this was a neat experience for me to see how scaling totally back has beautiful rewards.

There’s no “escaping Christmas.” Without much intentionality or planning, special, meaningful events seemed to pop up everywhere and allowed our children to experience the joy and festive spirit of the season.

A few things that made this month special:

• Christmas Caroling with Amy Badger’s family
• Ice Skating with Santa at Cottonwood Rec Center, thanks to Jessica Baker’s Invite
• Hot Chocolate and Ornament Decorating at Jessica’s
• Making a Cool Snowman outside
• Going sledding at Sugarhouse Park
• Watching the Piano Guys Christmas Concert at Energy Solutions Arena
• Receiving thoughtful gifts from family
• Christmas Eve Service at K2