When you simplify any aspect of your life, I believe you can become naturally more in tune with the natural environment around you. Shopping for food in season automatically reduces food bills - as well as meaning that you can grow a lot of the produce yourself - as the climate will accommodate those fruit and veg that are naturally used to growing in the environment at certain times of the year.
Sewing and knitting are both pursuits I have done much more this year. I still have to 'make friends' with my sewing machine - it is a little scary, but fixing clothes and knitting gifts have been a highlight! I guess it is the satisfaction that comes with growing or fixing something yourself that makes it so rewarding and beats the act of going shopping and paying for goods any time!
My favourite activity has been creating (and then watching) activities for the children, once more often defined by the seasons. Playing with ice and snow in the early months of the year; making Easter decorations with eggs in the spring; being in the woods and by the sea for much of the summer building dams or sandcastles or dens - all great fun for hours! Then later in the year, foraging for fruit in late summer, doing more creative projects at home such as dressing up, making cards and beautiful pictures, whether that be for a birthday or Halloween or some other seasonal festivity. Lately we have had great fun collecting autumn leaves for garlands - all the family involved in finding an array of colours from greens, to yellows, oranges and reds and even some rich dark brown leaves. They have all been put to dry in the utility room and are now ready for stringing and hanging up in the house.
We have now come to that part of the year which involves much creating in the home, from decorating the tree, to preparing and cooking festive food, making and finding gifts and catching up with friends and family: Preparing for Christmas. Today is our tree day, as we have come to have a family tradition of putting up the tree around the second weekend of December. My husband and children would happily have the tree up on the first day of the month, but I like to eke out all the celebrations, doing one thing at a time in the build-up to Christmas Day. Anyway, the decision was made on Friday by our 3-year-old daughter: "Daddy, we going to get our Christmas tree today or tomorrow" - was her announcement on the way back from the child-minders; being exposed to Christmas trees and houses lit up with lights galore in the neighbourhood had made her mind up that it is time! So today we will choose our tree from a local garden centre (this I am afraid is an item we don't save money on: we have considered a good artificial tree which after the initial expense would last many years - but it's just not the same). My favourite part of the day is putting on the Christmas music in the afternoon, fetching the decorations from the loft and allowing the children to place the ornaments where they choose to. This means we end up with not a shop-window designer tree but one that has given our children much pleasure and satisfaction and a home-made feeling that we love.
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