Margaret Arnold • December 14, 2024
Precious Treasures, Little Lovelies: Embracing Simpler Holiday Traditions

Downsizing our home and lives has given me the chance to reflect on family and friends holiday traditions. While some traditions have naturally come to an end because of age and distance (a warm goodbye, St. Nick), new ones have emerged. I’ve enjoyed the research, creativity and simplicity these new traditions have brought, all while continuing my Silverish Simplicity practice of “light and variable.”


These practices have embraced a “take your time” approach allowing me to reflect, give with intention and celebrate meaningfully with family and friends.


Here are some of the learnings and highlights:


Precious Treasures Passed On – This year marks the fifth, and possibly final, year of passing down memorable keepsakes to my four children through holiday sorting and decorating and a family dice game. The treasures I’ve discovered while downsizing range from the silly to the significant — family games, formal silver service items from grandparents and cherished Christmas ornaments. Each item has meant enough to be intentional and not throw away, recycle, sell or donate — and they’ve triggered laughter and storytelling.


I also saw and seized a timely opportunity to include a significant regift with a client and friend, along with a small indulgence (more on that next). The item was a meaningful memento from a shared connection, and I hoped the message on it would resonate with her, given her current circumstance and the person who gifted it to me. It did! I received a note of appreciation about the meaningful gift.


Each piece, while used or regifted, falls into the category of precious treasures and has brought me simple joy as they leave my life.


... THey've triggered Laughter and Storytelling ...

Little Lovelies Under the Tree – My earliest memories of gift-giving, outside of an annual gift exchange with my three brothers and two sisters, were Secret Santa games with high school friends, college dorm mates, and work colleagues. Decades later, I recall the simplicity of those small gifts — used and enjoyed without concern for storage or excess.


Over time, gift-giving blossomed without warning to a more mature tradition with “small indulgences” like holiday ornaments, candles, candies, eventually leading to considerable gifts in terms of expense and storage. Today, however, I’ve returned to a simpler, more nostalgic approach — gifts that are small, useable, and full of cheer.


Gift ideas, which come into my life through travel or experiences, are now what I call my “little lovelies.” Spoiler alert: I’ve included a few from this holiday season below.



While I may no longer be a grand gift-giver during the holidays, I hope family and friends enjoy these small tokens of affection, each given with personal meaning, and they find use for them in their lives. I look forward to my ongoing “little lovelies” research for the next holiday season.

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Past Blogs

Maple syrup bottles on the counter with holiday decor.

The Wisdom and Challenge of Simplicity

By Margaret Arnold • January 1, 2026
As I go about my Silverish Simplicity days, I've started mentally categorizing my activities and intentions. Is this a lightbulb moment? Is this extreme? Is this an add-on to an existing idea? Since this is the time of year to look back while looking ahead, I'm sharing a few ideas in the categories below with the warning, dear readers, that they aren't for everyone—but no doubt there is wisdom and a challenge in each of them. Epiphanies After more than five years of downsizing and living more simply, I continue to have epiphanies as I go about my day. They come suddenly and are ideas I can't wait to try. Most challenge me to reduce, reuse, or repurpose and lean towards quality. One recent example: splitting and gifting a gallon of Saint John's Abbey Maple Syrup (one of 24 gallons bottled last season) won in a silent auction. With handmade tags added to glass bottles I had been collecting, this small-batch, limited production liquid gold became perfect gifts for my children (all who have visited the sugar shack) and a few hostesses. Extremes Some things I do to help the environment or save money would make my own family roll their eyes. Toilet paper, for instance. I save dryer lint in empty toilet paper rolls to create fire starters for outdoor bonfires. Saving dryer lint was a trick I learned from a friend way before I was Silverish Simplicity. I added the empty toilet paper roll for a more contained starter (and to keep the lint out of sight). An extra: I challenge myself to use only three perforated squares rather than grabbing half the roll. The cost savings and septic system benefits are real. I won’t go into any greater detail! ... I continue to have epiphanies as i go about my day ...
Christmas tree with white lights in front of a window, indoors.

A Season of Foraging, Layering and Reflection

By Margaret Arnold • December 6, 2025
Five years ago, during the Covid season, my children came home to find tables of sorted items, empty storage closets, and the beginning of a life of simplicity and repurposing. Today, that simplicity—downsizing, repurposing, purchasing quality—continues. It's my go-to, my reset, my happy place. This fall and winter seasons have been busy, so here are some Silverish Simplicity insights: Foraging – For several years now, I've foraged for my own fall and winter outdoor planter decorations: pines, dogwood, sumac, birch. This year was especially fun with the discovery of hard-to-find bittersweet and cutting down our own small balsam fir for the holidays. Best of all, I shared the love of foraging with my daughter and her husband. Layering – I heard about "layering" Christmas décor rather than completely switching out your home, and it matched my intentions perfectly. This year I added touches of the holidays here and there without removing any existing décor. In the process, more than two totes of Christmas decorations moved on to family or Goodwill. With three children purchasing new homes this year, it was the perfect time to pass along items that matched their interests—from prints and books to snowmen and ornaments. It's fun to visit their homes and see these items being used, so it wasn't a complete farewell. ... A perfect time to pass along items that matched their interests ...
Laura Ingalls Wilder Book Collection

Stories in Small Moments: Essays and Simple Living

By Margaret Arnold • October 11, 2025
After nearly 30 blog posts about simple living, I continue to find enjoyment in downsizing and being intentional. This summer reinforced my commitment to simplicity in two ways: first, letting things move on—including my 55-year collection of Laura Ingalls Wilder books to my son's fiancée, a teacher, with whom I discovered a shared love of the series; and secondly, using groceries wisely, experimenting with what's on hand and increasing freezing techniques rather than waste (more on that later). This intentional approach extends to reading, one of life's simplest pleasures. Some of my best memories and connections to people are through reading. Laura Ingalls Wilder's books read in the early 1970s remind me of home upstairs in the girls’ “dormitory” bedroom. The Sound of Music on a family road trip in a GMC motorhome in 1976 gave me moments of escape alongside five siblings. Kate DiCamillo, Gary Paulsen and the Harry Potter series remind me of my children as emerging readers and their well-worn books. Dancing at the Rascal Fair by Ivan Doig and Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner connect me to an early book club of serious readers and friends I still cherish today. This intentional approach extends to reading ...