Cherie Lowe - Keep the Happy in Your Holidays: 21 Ways to Save Time, Money, and Your Sanity This Christmas Season

I TS THE MOST WONDERFUL time of the year! The lyrics and chipper tune blared through the little speaker sitting on my kitchen counter, and I choked back a cynical response of Yeah, right. While Im far from a ScroogeI love so many things about the holiday seasonId found myself once again buried in to-do lists, receipts, recipes, and an overbooked calendar.

My soul longed for a silent night while my body just yearned for a good nights sleepand to wake up on January 2 when it was all over. As I agonized about which task to tackle first, I began to wonder, Why, oh why, do I put our family, our budget, and my personal sanity through the same crazy cycle each and every year? Christmas popped up on my calendar every December 25, and yet the busyness of the season and the extra, unbudgeted expenses somehow always surprised me.

Maybe youre a little bit like me. Maybe you long for something different this holiday seasonto truly enjoy the miracle and wonder of celebrating the birth of Jesus without the hassle, overspending, and calendar chaos. Maybe you wonder

• how you can keep your traditions intact without turning into a green-eyed, heartless Grinch;
• how you can pass on your love of Christmas to your children without spawning present-grubbing fiends;
• how you can display your appreciation of Gods generous gift of His Son without spending money you dont have.

I had to face these questions head-on and completely rethink Christmas when our family launched into a journey of paying off over $127K in debt. (Its okay to rub your eyes. The number is indeed correct. We both had and then paid off that grand whopping total of debt. Intrigued? I share the full story in my book Slaying the Debt Dragon, along with lessons we learned, practical strategies, and money-saving tips to help families through their own debt-slaying journeys.)

Everything I had thought was necessary to celebrate Christmasfrom the decorations to holiday meals, from Christmas cards to teacher giftswas placed on the chopping block. I began the soul-searching process of picking through long-held family rituals and cultural expectations to question what was truly necessary and what our family could do without.

I admit it. At first I threw myself a great big, old-fashioned, four-year-old-style pity party. I thought Christmas would be absolutely no fun without all the extra outings, bells and whistles, and opportunities to bless others with good gifts. Six years later, my heart is filled with gratitude when I think about those early days of sacrifice.

Of course, its probably no surprise to you that each year God extended His great and wonderful loving-kindness to our family, providing in both the miraculous and the mundane. And Christmas? It was still filled with wonder and joy, no matter how much (or little) we spent.

By following the twenty-one tips in this little book, our family has discovered the freedom of celebrating the arrival of Gods greatest gift without wearing ourselves out or drowning in more debt. I am excited to unpack the lessons I learned by celebrating four holiday seasons on a very tight budgetand the last two with the firm resolve to keep our commitment to stay out of debt. From practical tips like deciding which items you should buy on Black Friday (spoiler alert: if youre shopping for gifts, youre probably doing it wrong) and how to save on travel costs to more difficult topics like navigating relationships and determining how much to spend on gifts, I want to help you save money, time, and your sanity this year.

I know firsthand how easy it is to get carried away with the spirit of the seasonoverextending our time commitments and dollars. My heart longs for you to realize that you can still celebrate, bless others, and truly enjoy Christmas while spending and doing less. I pray that you gain a little hope through these pages, knowing that Christmas is so much more than gifts and groceries, programs and parties.

Those who know me well know I am a big fan of all things free. So as an added bonus, Im excited to include a few of my favorite money-saving resources throughout the book. You can also download a number of free printable versions from www.slayingthedebtdragon.com/happyholidays .

I LOVE NOTHING MORE than sharing a great deal with the people I love and those who follow my blog, Queen of Free. One of my spiritual gifts is bargaining. (I just cant quite seem to find it in 1 Corinthians 12.) Im a ninja when it comes to scoring great deals off the clearance rack, slicing prices, and locating free shipping codes. Somehow during the holiday season, my skills are brought to an all-time high. Think of it as Spidey shopping sense on a strongly caffeinated, peppermint- and gingerbread-scented, Christmas-carol-sound-tracked warp drive. In mid-November, I begin to share with my readers some of the best deals I can find on everything from toys to KitchenAids, tablets to stocking stuffers.

But every year, I experience more than a twinge of guilt and a mite of fear. You see, the last thing I ever want anyone to do is to go into debt, whether during the Christmas season or any other time of the year. I know what the chains of debt feel liketo the tune of over $127K. Ive been held down by their viselike grip, kept from my purpose in life. Ive nearly drowned in the overwhelming waves of fear they kicked up. Ive felt as if I were suffocating in their far-reaching tendrils, which spread into every area of lifemy marriage, my parenting, my sense of peace and joy, my relationship with God.