Hey Guys! I decided that before it officially hit February that I should talk about my New Years' Resolution and how I've managed to keep up with it! Why is there a picture of a Christmas tree below? Let me explain.

I was super late posting my annual holiday post. This frustrated me to no end, and now that there is a picture of our 2015 tree on the blog I can rest a little easier at night. I wanted to place our Christmas decor before we traveled to Illinois for Thanksgiving (but my hubby insisted that it was WAY too early, and that I was a crazy person) so naturally I listened to him and waited.

When Brandon finally assembled our black pre-lit tree, he noticed that the top lights wouldn't come on. I was devastated. He fiddled with them for a while, and finally decided that we needed to get more. My thought was that we could just get one small strand for the top. When I sent him a link to order it (what I thought to be an appropriate size strand for only 1/3 of a tree) somehow our signals got crossed because Brandon unstrung the entire tree in anticipation for the new lights. Now if you have a pre-lit tree, you know that each branch is meticulously wrapped and the light strands are in fact a circle and not a line, so once they were off, it was a dreadful idea to even attempt putting them back on. At some point during this time, we also decided to purchase a second "basement tree" a' la' Brandon's parents house, despite the fact that our basement was still lined in boxes. In fact, that's what you see above, our complementary slimline Christmas tree. 

When the new lights came, Brandon strung the tree and we both agreed that it wasn't going to be enough lights, so we ordered another strand. This is when Lasership (for heaven's sake Amazon, please stop using them) dropped the ball and failed to deliver our lights. So naturally Brandon canceled the order. Then the week of Christmas I had what I like to refer to as a "Come to Jesus Moment" (appropriate considering it was his birthday and all) and thought to myself, "You know what self? This IS ENOUGH! You are ridiculous. Simplify and make this work! After all, it's what you do best. Who cares if you don't have an extra 100 lights on your tree? Be thankful you have a tree, a loving hubby,a sweet pup (note the three stockings) and a beautiful home to put it all in."

That was it! I could feel that I was on to something. On December 23, I decided to fully decorate both trees and place one in the entry, and one in the living room. That night I also decided that for 2016 my New Years' Resolution wasn't going to be to exercise more, save more, or blog more. (I want to do all of these things, but somehow as resolutions they always seem less concrete and less attainable.) This year it was going to be:

"Learn how to simplify 

in all things that I do. 

Learn what is necessary. 

Learn what I can do without."

This, my friends, is something I feel that I can stick to. No empty promises, just sorting out my life and getting rid of the unnecessary. I can stop acquiring things just to have them, I can get rid of the miscellaneous stuff that we've miraculously been able to live without for the last 10 months. I can spend less time shopping and more time doing. I can remove the emotion and physical clutter from my life so that I can see God's blessings more clearly! I know that it won't be easy (no New Year's Resolution ever is) but this is something I feel that I can slowly achieve by reminding myself of  this lesson daily, and using this mantra to actually accomplish my outstanding goals. Complex tasks seem less difficult when we break them down into smaller, more manageable tasks, so why not simplify?

So yes, my holiday post was VERY late, and my Christmas trees are STILL up. (I reconcile that decision in my head because I didn't get to enjoy them decorated as long as everyone else.) But know this - I'm not ashamed! I'm happy, and I'm learning to go little easier on myself. So far, I've already begun limiting my purchases to things that I need, and if I buy something home related I must have a definite plan and timeline for its installation. Designers hoard pretty things, and I am no exception.

Finally I can get out of Target without walking the entire store AND I can purchase only what I intended to get (a miracle indeed). I've also been dropping off huge blue bags to Goodwill (instead of shopping there), and recently started a bullet journal to organize my ideas so that I don't waste time constantly thinking about them.  I consider all these small triumphs a very big start! 

Next I want to focus on organization and being more decisive about our home. Side note, does that tree look any less beautiful with only one stand of lights? I didn't think so! Also, share your New Years' Resolutions with me! Now that you're a month in, how is it going? I'd love to hear from you!

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I can't wait to share this year with you (and some other things I've been holding on to from the one past). Sometimes I get so stressed about the fact that I haven't updated my blog, and then I remember that unlike other bloggers that I follow and admire, blogging is not my full time job. I have bills and student loans to pay and none of that gets done here. In fact, I generate zero income from my blog, so I have to stop being so dang hard on myself! Not to say that I don't have any ideas, (I have SO many) just very limited time. And for now, I have to be okay with that. My hope is that once I get more into my life simplification process, blogging will become much easier. Thanks for tuning in. xoxo -  Rae