Slow Christmas Movement

Have you come across references to the “slow Christmas” movement? This year, the slow Christmas concept seems to be showing up just about everywhere my holiday Web searches take me. 

My definition of slow Christmas, or slow living in general, is limited. But I know both are focused on a back-to-nature/back-to-basics approach, taking pleasure in the little things such as creating one’s own handicrafts and food preparations, and soaking in all the warmth that hearth and home can provide. This is a definite draw for me and apparently many others. Especially at holiday time, it has great appeal.

Interesting to me is the fact that, while aiming to simplify, the slow living movement makes plenty of room for gardening and houseplant tending. Those who share information on slow living through video and written pieces almost invariably show their admiration for a special plant or two. More often than not, these are miniature plants that enchant with petite foliage and blooms rather than big and bold flowers. Small and lovely, these plants draw in the eye and promote the kind of reflection that helps us to admire the natural world. They do get us back to nature.

Storms, power outages, and other issues can add a healthy dose of reality to our daydreams about getting back to nature and carrying out our daily lives closer to the way our ancestors did. Sure, it is wonderful to mix up a pie crust with fingertips only, but to do so on Day 5 of seeing by candlelight and being without power to run a modern oven, it is not quite as charming as it may at first seem. But slowing down… well, now that is important. And people are catching on….

I have a neighbor who may or may not be aware of the slow Christmas movement. Either way, the miniature plants she has in her den punctuate her home with just enough greenery to honor this beautiful season. Her miniature plants include a few Peperomias. One has saw-tooth leaf margins, unusual for the Peperomias I know. A few others are a study in peaceful green tones. When I commented on them, my neighbor explained that she had never before kept houseplants, but now they bring her pleasure. They help her focus on what is important, sometimes deterring her from making an extra mad-dash trip to the mall or getting frustrated when her Christmas card list goes missing. 

Surely it was the pandemic that had a hand in sparking my neighbor’s interest in houseplants (miniature plants, specifically) and the interest of so many others in slowing down, being thoughtful, and savoring. The pandemic took away so very much, but one gift it may have given is an appreciation for home. We all stayed home and realized how important our own little nests are. There seems to be a resurgence in people’s desire to make home as pleasant as possible. Houseplants including miniature plants serve a great purpose in doing this. They calm us, they make us remember to care for something… they add life indoors.

The focus on home started early in the pandemic, if you ask me. Do you recall the remote video conferencing from home office to home office? In the early days of 2020, many of those calls started out with all of us and all our “stuff” in each livestream. But take it from one who was on a few of those video calls: Desks seemed to transform quickly from all clutter to clean and calming. Many got decorated with a special houseplant or two… more often than not, miniature plants. People were taking the time to edit their in-home environments so that only the most important things got into focus. Interesting to think that houseplants, and often miniature plants, made the cut… and oh, how they did! While it never went out of style, tending to houseplants became “a thing”… a peaceful, warm, slow living sort of thing. 

During this holiday season, I hope that either one or two seasonal plants, functional plants such as culinary herbs, plants pulled inside from the garden during warmer months, or miniature plants are part of what you see indoors. I hope they help you slow down and take pleasure in the warmth you can find, and create, inside your home. I hope they will help you bear what comes your way, be it harsh weather or other unexpected changes to your daily routine. Colorful plants do this for me. Miniature plants in shades of green have done this for my neighbor. Small trees and bonsais may be more your style. Anything goes, as long as it makes you happy.

Maybe you can check out a few things about the slow Christmas movement. I admit that when I do this, it is usually after a day of rushing about in a very 21^st Century manner. Even so, it brings me to my senses a little, causing me to slow down, enjoy times when I can be creative, and see the beauty in things that I would otherwise miss. And it helps me really experience the holidays. (Happy Holidays.)