Changing Hawaii

By Diane Yukihiro Chang

Friday, December 4, 1998

---

The real joy
of Christmas is,
well, simple

BEFORE working yourself into a frenzy this yuletide season, go to the bookstore for a copy of "Simplify Your Christmas: 100 Ways to Reduce the Stress and Recapture the Joy of the Holidays," a new offering by Elaine St. James.

If you're like me -- tired of ever-increasing cars, calories, commercialism and material greed that dominate this time of year -- peruse the primer and take some of its suggestions to heart.

St. James, who is something of a "Simplify Your Life" guru, and her followers have come up with 100 charming ways to uncomplicate the month of December.

Of these, my favorites include:

Shunning those women's magazines that tell you how to bake all kinds of cookies or decorate your house for the holidays. Overall, these articles are unrealistic, stress-inducing and make you feel like a dropout from the Martha Stewart School of Overachieving Homemakers.

Asking your family members to make lists of the five things they like most and five things they like least about Christmas. This can help weed out underappreciated tasks, foods and traditions.

Leaving personal messages on little note cards for at least three people each day throughout the season. "While (my friend Holly) is waiting in line at the bank, she'll write, 'You look great in blue,' and leave the tag with the teller. Another time she wrote, 'Thanks for remembering my order,' and left it next to her plate for the waitress to find. Months later, when she came in for lunch, the waitress remembered her and showed her the holiday card still posted at her work station."

Rethinking the custom of buying a big tree that must then be 1) wrestled onto the family car, 2) dragged into the house (shedding needles all the way), 3) considered a fire hazard while turning brown and 4) wrestled back onto the family car for recycling.

Paring down that Christmas card list. Instead, mail few or no cards at all, or send greetings via the Internet.

Boycotting the current in-demand toy. This year, it's the furry, talking Furby doll; before that it was Tickle Me Elmo, Tamagotchi, etc. "Come to your senses. Is this the Christmas message we want to give our children? Is it really worth risking life, limb and wallet to buy your child a toy that's in demand only because an incredibly expensive and disingenuous ad campaign has made it so?"

Here are a couple more of my own hints for a less stressful holiday in paradise:

Go shopping when few others are. This means later in the morning (near lunchtime) at craft fairs, and about 8 p.m. at major shopping centers. Parking is easier to find, there are fewer people to maneuver around and the salespeople are extremely responsive -- they want to get you out of there so they can go home, too.

When in doubt, giving moolah so the recipients can buy what they really want.

FINALLY, if you actually have the option of cutting back on holiday overabundance, it doesn't hurt to be grateful, especially in this crummy economy where many island families are worried if they'll even have a decent meal or a place to live from day to day. For them, here's a pitch for worthy causes, such as the Star-Bulletin's Good Neighbor Fund.

Oh, here's one more money-saving tip to "Simplify the Holidays" -- at least for next time: Wait until the after-Christmas sales to buy St. James' book. Then take a whole year to read, contemplate and plan a less stressful yuletide in 1999.

---

Diane Yukihiro Chang's column runs Monday and Friday.
She can be reached by phone at 525-8607, via e-mail at
DianeChang@aol.com, or by fax at 523-7863.