Ask MM: Holiday Decorations
What is your everyday decorating style? Does that change during the holidays?
M: I have a minimal decorating style. I tend to look for unique items by small businesses or local artists. It takes me SO LONG to decorate a room (or house!), but it makes me appreciate each item. For most holidays, I’ll just change out items that I have displayed on shelves or surfaces. One easy way is with hand towels - I have been gifted festive hand towels and I’ll find ways to incorporate them in the decor, rather than using them in the kitchen.
A: My everyday style is a bit eclectic. Homey, country cottage with plenty of color, lots of plants. Maybe a dash of absent-minded professor thrown in, too.
We do bring out some holiday decorations. Our holiday decor tends to be a mashup of snow, winter, Festivus and a silly Dancing Santa. We all love having a real Christmas tree. My older child enjoys setting up a Christmas village with grandma right after Thanksgiving. It’s their own little tradition, and it signals the start of the holiday season.
We don’t do much for outdoor decorations, though we may try something next year. We saw a home light display that was synced to music and the kiddos wanted to create their own Star Wars themed version.
What is your favorite holiday decoration?
M: My cute little hedgehog tree. I got this small, wooden, tree-shaped shelf from a buy/sell/trade site and painted it myself to look like a snowy tree. Then I put fairy lights around it to make it more christmas-y. To top it off, I add my hedgehog figurines on the shelves (people often give me hedgehog items as gifts).
A: Our Christmas tree. Almost all of our ornaments are meaningful in some way. We started an annual tradition of each picking a special ornament to represent the year. When we hang them up, we remember those moments and those experiences.
I also really love our tree skirt. My mom made it when she was young, and it’s the one we used while I was growing up. She downsized after the kids moved out, and I called first-dibs on the skirt.
Do you decorate for the holidays together with your family or solo?
M: I decorate alone - it gives me a chance to have some creative time.
A: Well… my kids try to help.
When do you start decorating for the holidays and when do you take them down?
M: No consistency around this! I’ll try to get Christmas decorations up sometime in December. Some years I don’t get around to decorating at all - my preferred holiday tradition is baking! :)
A: We generally decorate the first weekend in December, and take things down around New Year, whenever we have an open day. If our tree is still healthy and drinking water, we’ll leave that up longer. I do have one firm rule, though: “No Christmas Music until after Thanksgiving.”
Decorating takeaway tip?
M: Don’t stress yourself out to make your house ‘look’ like the holidays. If that’s enjoyable for you, go all out! If it makes you happy to do it because it makes your family smile, enjoy it! Or recruit them to help you as a family tradition.
If it causes you dread every year, find a way to do less and not feel guilty about it. There are so many ways to make your home feel comfortable and inviting that won’t wear you out every year. For me, minimal decorating makes me happy because I know there aren’t boxes and boxes of decorations stored in my house.
A: Don’t hold onto decorations you don’t like. Choose the pieces that bring you joy, and get rid of the rest. Extra boxes to sort through and store just add to the mess and stress.
As part of my decluttering journey this year, I finally said goodbye to two bags full of misc holiday decorations. Deep down I knew that they would never see the light of day in my home. I’m not certain where some of the items even came from. Gremlins maybe. We also made a point to organize our boxes better, so they took up less space and we could find everything more easily.
