40-Day Christmas Challenge | Day 20: Choose One Thing You're Not Doing • Everyday Cheapskate

We’ve spent 19 days getting ready for Christmas.

Today we’re going to accomplish something by not doing something.

I realize this is not how most Christmas planning works.

Usually we make lists. Then more lists. Then we remember things that aren’t on the lists and add those too.

Eventually Christmas has somehow become a group project and we’re the only person who showed up to do the work.

So today we’re taking something off.

Today’s Challenge

Choose one Christmas task, obligation, purchase or expectation you can let go of this year.

Not because you’re lazy. Not because Christmas doesn’t matter.

Because your time, money and energy do.

And we’ve already decided where we want those things to go.

Do This Today

1. Look for the thing you’re already dreading.

You probably know what it is.

The party you don’t really want to attend.

The elaborate dessert nobody particularly cares about.

The decorating project that’s going to eat an entire Saturday.

The gift exchange that’s become more obligation than fun.

The cards you keep telling yourself you’re going to send even though you don’t actually want to send them.

The extra purchase that somehow got added because that’s what you always buy.

What’s making you tired just thinking about it? Start there.

2. Ask one question.

What would actually happen if I didn’t do this?

Not: What will people think?

Not: But we’ve always…

What would actually happen?

Maybe the answer is that you’d genuinely miss it. Fine. Keep it.

But perhaps the answer is:

Nobody would notice.

Someone might be disappointed for five minutes.

We’d buy dessert instead.

I’d save $100.

I’d get an afternoon back.

I’d stop resenting something that’s supposed to be part of Christmas.

Useful information.

3. Take one thing off.

Now actually do it.

Cross it off the list.

Delete it from the calendar.

Send the polite decline.

Don’t buy it.

Tell the family you’re doing something differently this year.

Or make it small enough that it stops being a production.

Merely identifying something you don’t want to do and then continuing to do it exactly the same way isn’t quite what I had in mind. Nice try.

Quick Win

Finish this sentence:

This Christmas, I am giving myself permission not to ____________________.

There.

You Don’t Have to Cancel It. You Can Shrink It.

Sometimes the answer isn’t no. It’s less.

You don’t have to stop decorating. Maybe you decorate fewer rooms.

You don’t have to stop baking. Maybe you make two favorites instead of eight.

You don’t have to abandon Christmas dinner. Buy the rolls. Ask someone else to bring dessert.

You don’t have to quit exchanging gifts with friends. Maybe the group decides on something simpler.

Simplifying counts. The goal isn’t deprivation. It’s getting the effort back in proportion to how much the thing actually matters.

Go Back to Your Christmas Three

Remember Day 3? You chose three things you especially wanted to protect this Christmas. Here’s where that little exercise starts earning its keep.

Look at the thing you’re considering dropping. Does it support one of your Christmas Three?

If it does, maybe it deserves to stay. If it doesn’t, and it’s taking money, time or energy away from something that does matter, there’s your answer.

This is exactly why we decided what mattered before Christmas got busy.

What If Someone Else Cares About It?

Then don’t simply announce that Christmas has been reorganized and everyone should adjust accordingly.

Talk about it.

Maybe the thing stays, but somebody else takes responsibility for it.

If everyone desperately wants the elaborate dessert but the person making it would happily never see another mixing bowl, perhaps someone else can make the dessert.

Something the family values doesn’t automatically have to remain one person’s job forever.

Keep the thing if it matters. Move the work if that’s what needs changing.

Don’t Immediately Fill the Hole

This part matters.

You cancel something. Excellent.

Then you look at the newly empty afternoon and think:

Oh good. Now I can finish shopping, reorganize the wrapping supplies and make those three things I saw online.

No. We did not create free time so Christmas could repossess it.

Remember the margin you protected back on Day 5?

Leave some of it alone. Empty space is allowed to remain empty.

Why It Matters

There are two ways to make Christmas fit your life: Find more time, money and energy. Or require a little less of yourself. Guess which one is easier.

Every time you remove something that doesn’t matter very much, you make room for something that does.

Maybe that’s family. Maybe it’s generosity. Maybe it’s worship. Maybe it’s sleep. Maybe it’s sitting in your own living room enjoying the tree instead of rushing out the door again.

That’s not doing Christmas badly. That may be doing it better.

Your Turn

What’s one Christmas thing you’ve stopped doing and discovered Christmas survived just fine? Or is there something you’re considering letting go of this year? Tell us in the comments. Your answer may give somebody else permission to stop doing the very same thing.