Simple Holiday Décor

 

With all of the decluttering I have done in the last few years I have far less Christmas décor than what I used to and I absolutely love it!  It used to take me all day, sometimes more than one day, to decorate for Christmas but now I can to it in about an hour or two and the house is just as festive, in my opinion, as it has always been.  I don’t miss anything I let go of either.

 

When I did my last round of decluttering I was able to test the string of lights I had for my tree so I knew going into it this year that I had functioning lights.  At least I thought that at the time, however by the time I got ready to decorate the tree only half of the lights on that pre-tested string weren’t working.  Because I also had two brand new strings I had picked up at Home Depot on clearance a couple years ago still in the box (that I assumed worked) as my back up lights I was able to toss out the faulty ones and use one of the new strings.

 

This year I swapped the table with the stereo on it with my maternal great grandmother’s side table with in order to accommodate the tree.  Other than that, I left everything else in place.  I dusted and vacuumed everything before I put up the tree.  I think it looks perfect decorated with ornaments my paternal grandparents used on their tree along with my own that I have accumulated over the years.

 

The fireplace mantle is another focal point I like to decorate and I try to do something a little bit differently each year.  Again simple, but festive.

 

On my sofa I switched out the Fall pillow covers for the Christmas ones I made several years ago.  They are easy to wash and iron and the pillow inserts are simply travel size pillows I picked up at Wal-Mart for about $3 each.  I also added a winter themed throw to the back of the sofa.

 

Upstairs

Downstairs

In my bathrooms I added Christmas themed towels to my regular set up along with appropriate soap dispensers and lotions from Bath & Body Works.  I reuse these each year and make my own foaming hand soap solution to refill the dispensers.  I got the cute little towels at Honk’s 99¢ store back when my girls were just babies.  Like most of my holiday décor I’ve had them a long time!

 

In the kitchen

I repeated the Christmas theme with a soap dispenser and hanging dish towel in my kitchen as well.  I added the two red dish towels I keep in my china cabinet off season to the kitchen drawer.  I also added a quilted holiday table matte and a balsam scented candle to the dining room table.

 

Once again, I did not purchase any new holiday décor.  Instead, I opted to use only what I already had on hand.  If I decide I do want to add something new I told myself I will need to make it myself using things I already have in my house.  No new purchases.  I like that.  And I love how my home looks and feels right now.  It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!