Last year Australian’s spent 43 billion on Christmas. This included 17 billion on food and 2.4 billion in tax-deductible giving.

“If Australians gave even just one dollar out of every hundred spent this
Christmas to someone living in poverty that would raise $400 million.”
– TEAR Australia

I actually love Christmas and buying presents for people, but because of a tight budget and broader global perspective, we are trying to approach Christmas simply. Christmas doesn’t have to be ridiculously excessive or too commercial, it can be wonderfully simple.

This year our Christmas present list is very small, consisting of Amy, her cousins, our neighbour, a donation to the UN and getting on board with the Random Acts of Christmas initiative. When thinking about what type of presents to buy for Amy’s older cousins, I didn’t want to get them another thing. They already have so much and in recent years, we have tried to give people experiences and memories over things.

With this in mind, Amy’s 6 and 4 year-old cousins will be getting a cooking experience to share with their mum (inspired by this list of non-toy gifts.) In cahoots with my brother and his fiancé, we have put together the ingredience for some chocolate chip cookies along with some accessories they can use again. Simplifying life doesn’t mean boring, it means being creative in the small things as well as the big. What’s one thing you can do this Christmas to simplify?

The recipe we’re using is from the Sweetest Menu, because I know the author and have experienced how yummy these cookies are.

“Live simply so others can simply live.”
– Mahatma Gandhi

Love Jess xxoo

PS – If you know Amy’s older cousins, don’t tell them what their present is… haha.