Inaugural Post

Happy Holidays, all! My name is Nicole, and me and my colleague are going to be blogging for the first time about our Simplify the Holiday efforts.
We're aiming to give tips that appeal to a broad array of people, commentary, et al. On a larger scale, we'd like to show that it is possible to implement New American Dream's Simplify the Holidays tips to create a holiday season that focuses 'more on what matters'. I, specifically, am new to the whole notion of simplifying the holidays. I'm originally from Orlando, Florida, which is known for it's abundance of malls and consumerism around every corner. Suffice to say, 'stuff' has tended to be a large part of my holiday season.
We want to bring the human aspect to the forefront of this blog, as opposed to claiming we're perfect Simplify the Holidays folks or anything. We'd like people to see how we go through the process, and thus be inspired to take the steps in their own lives.
The overabundance that permeates so many facets of life during the holiday season is something I have a tough time with.A few years back, after returning to the states for the holidays from studying abroad in Switzerland, I remember being overwhelmed by the huge scale of a us supermarket. Santas and candy canes everywhere, I found myself staring at a wall of Santa-themed liter-sized Coke bottles: every single shelve was Coke! I couldn't fathom how so much soda was going to be consumed during the holidays, and just the massive scale on which it was produced for my local supermarket was too much. That aside, it's such an unhealthy beverage...ho hum!
We hope that you'll stay along for our journey of simplifying our holiday season. A great place to look for resources, and something that has become a big part of my holiday season, is http://www.simplifytheholidays.org/. There you will find tons of great ways to put the focus back on family, friend and FUN this holiday season!

Nicole