Celebrating with Intention
For Graceful Spaces Co-Founder Christina Lee, celebrating the season is all about embracing the holidays—with intention.
The Lee family Christmas is as festive as they come.
Wrapping paper flying, holiday jammies, surprises from Santa that no one *truly* needed (gasp!).
“I personally love to give gifts,” says Graceful Spaces Co-Founder Christina Lee. “I also love to receive gifts. There is so much love in the act of giving—even when it’s something you may not truly need.”
Christina is an advocate for simplicity and order, but she also loves the abundance of the holidays and all that they entail. How does she reconcile the two? For her family, it’s not about limiting, but rather being intentional with how they celebrate.
Create a holiday inspiration board.
This is a great activity to do with the kids. As a family, we get online and we pick out images that represent what we want our holidays to look like. We print them or copy them to a holiday inspiration board (or bucket list). Goals we make as a family include a set amount of game nights, ways to give back in our community (we’ll spend at least one afternoon sorting through items at home to donate), a list of holiday movies we want to watch together and friends we want to see. Want some inspiration? See Rebecka’s tips for intentionally connecting.
Make the wishlist into a game.
We challenge each other to meet different criteria each year when shopping for presents. This year, we’ll each get two fun gifts and two necessary gifts.
Click here to see our Holiday Gift Guide (including gifts you may not have thought about!)
Give from the heart.
Over the years, I’ve received some special gifts that I wouldn’t have chosen for myself, but I keep them because they were given as expressions of love at a time that meant the world to me. It’s easy in the hustle of the holidays to lose the foundation of love when we are giving. Without intending to, we reduce the act of giving to checking off a list and coming from a place of urgency or obligation rather than heartfelt appreciation.
Sit with your list before you start shopping.
Making lists is the best way for me to clear my mind—but at Christmas, I take an extra step and think about my list for a few days. I’ll go through photos on my phone and write down the things that make my loved ones so special to me. Sometimes that exercise alone produces great ideas that wouldn’t have occurred to me otherwise.
The team gathered to put together our gift guide, item to serve a purpose, express a sincere sentiment and spark a smile.
Enlist the kids to create gifts with lasting power.
Have your kids write letters to their loved ones, recounting a favorite memory or listing 10 things about them that make your kids smile. This makes for a great activity on holiday break, and can be framed as a gift or simply sent through the mail.
Stretch yourself to embrace unexpected surprises.
Some of my most treasured gifts are items I didn’t need—or know I wanted! Sometimes we can appreciate the act and let go of the item, but other times, the physical item brings such good feelings and memories that it’s worth creating space to keep it nearby. Consider who gave the item and why. Was it clearly something someone thought hard about? Keep it and see if you can find a natural place for it in your life. Was it a bulk gift given to a group or a white elephant gift? Likely you can let that go.
Hang on to duplicates.
I keep a “gift bucket” in our home for those occasions when we need a fast birthday party present. If we receive a duplicate item at the holidays, I’ll put it into that bucket.
Want to avoid duplicates? Click here to see our favorite app including Elfster, an app that allows friends and family to mark gifts as “purchased”.
Say thanks—one way or another!
My girls love a checklist as much as I do, so we make a special thank-you list to track how we’ve expressed gratitude for each of our gifts. Mailing items isn’t my strength, so we have options for calling, FaceTime videos, saying thanks in person or writing a note.
