Dec 3, 2018

Freeschoolin': Celebrations

How our freeschoolin'family celebrates the holidays!

What we don't do Holiday Shopping Other than for Hope, we don't really buy for the holidays; we prefer presence over presents. Hope is still defining for herself what the holidays mean to her. She likes wrapped packages and toys and we make sure she finds these things under the tree and in her stocking. This year Hope is keen on making presents for us and has even made her own wrapping paper out of foil we saved from an organic chocolate bar. Our stockings contain a few things we need anyway like flashlights and other camp items, pens, notepads and other small, useful things. Never filled to the brim. Our budget is under $200 for our entire holiday celebration, including Hope's gifts. Over Indulgence In the winter our immune systems have a workout keeping us healthy and warm here in Ontario, Canada, so we refrain from excessive intake of sugar to keep healthy throughout the holidays. We do have a few organic treats in our stockings and a nice holiday meal, but we don't consume much more than any other time of year so our bodies are not being shocked by the sugar imbalance. I don't drink (health choice since 2016) and Freeschoolin' Daddy rarely does, so over indulging with Alchohol is a non-issue.

Crowds There are so many amazing local events and meetups this time of year. It is seriously wonderful to see so many families gather for holiday fun in the community. Our family is very energy sensitive so while the activities can often sound great, many events are just too intense for us to attend. Hope included. We also prefer to avoid venues that hand out candy canes and serve food we don't eat like the various Santa Claus Parades throughout our area. Speaking of Santa With my firstborn, I went Santa all the way. I myself was raised with Santa and it was the only good part of my childhood I remember clearly. But when it came to lying to Hope and then her finding out we'd lied for years, we just couldn't see how that was part of a healthy relationship, however well intended. So we opted for the truth and we've lost none of the magic in our lives. No Santa necessary.

What we do do ( hee hee) Zero Waste/Minimalism Any throw away traditions are being thrown away by our family. Things like wrapping paper, decorations and dinner (Christmas) crackers. We organize our decorations box every year and let go of anything we don't need or want. We've eliminated down to half of what we used to store every year! It's crazy what we kept that we didn't use or care for. I can't even remember what was tossed! Making We make swags, garlands and wreaths created from greenery on our land, ornaments from baking soda clay and baked goods with real Maple Syrup instead of sugar. Wrapping paper is reused paper bags and packaging painted festively. We even made a holiday countdown calendar! (See Below)

Time Spent Our plans include fun outings with friends, adventures together as a family and lots of opportunity for quality time at home doing crafts, baking and enjoying the simple moments. We also are going to volunteer at a Christmas Dinner for the Homeless in Barrie, something we're all very thankful to be able to participate in.

What we also don't do

JUDGE. Your family does your thing, my family does mine and we meet in the middle with respect for each other and gratitude for the freedom of choice.

Our Unschooled Week