Welcome to the weekend coffee share! Can I get you a cup of coffee? Tea? Or perhaps some hot cocoa?

It’s the Christmas week. We did our main celebration on Christmas Eve, and a smaller on Christmas Day.

My daughter and I both have a minimalistic mindset. We appreciate time together and shared activities like baking, cooking, reading, and crafting together. We made several gingerbread houses, baked traditional Christmas pastries, and this year my daughter learned how to make Swedish meatballs (I was there instructing her how to do it, but she did all the work herself). I love how doing these things together creates time for conversations about any and all topic there is. It is when we do things together and our hands are busy my teenage daughter feel comfortable to talk to me about what’s on her mind. I am so grateful for these moments.

We are not big on gifts. My daughter did in fact not wish for any material items at all this Christmas, a blessing since our 55kvm/592 sqft apartment doesn’t need more stuff. (We practice one item in, one item out.) I wouldn’t say that we are hardcore minimalists, but we are mindful when it comes to material things, asking ourselves if we really need an item before purchasing. I personally love how easy our home is to keep clean, and how calm and peaceful it feels without clutter. We each have our own room, and then there’s a kitchen/living-room area where we can hang out and enjoy each others company.

My daughter only wished for activities she wanted to do on her Christmas break, and food she wanted to learn to cook. .. but I did get her some crafting material that I knew she would appreciate. I also got her a guide book about how to keep a sketch journal (you see, not hardcore minimalists ;) She loves sketching and started to read it right away, and she already tried some of the suggestions.

We are enjoying our holiday break immensely, and there’s two more weeks to go! It is by all means a stress-free holiday in our home, choosing to do the things that nourishes our souls. We’ve even seen the sun a few days!

How are you doing? I hope all is well in your world and that your Christmas is spent exactly the way you prefer. Thank you Natalie for hosting the weekend coffee share!

Maria