Natural And Simple Holiday Decorating

Holiday

Dec. 1

As we get closer to the holidays, it feels both exciting and stressful, doesn’t it? I love this time of year, but it’s easy to go overboard on decorating, shopping, entertaining and feasting. It can be a lot!

So, how about just keeping the good parts and taming down the rest?

It can be pretty liberating to simplify your decorating by scaling back on the sheer amount of decor you bring out (and certainly the amount of new decor you buy). Look, no one is in a contest to see whose place looks like it could be on a magazine cover! The whole point of decorating is simply to create that spark of magic that puts you and everyone else into a calm and grateful and joyous mood. A thousand twinkle lights and 200 red balls in vases aren’t necessary to achieve that!

You also don’t need to purchase expensive man-made ornaments and bows and wreaths and garlands. Store-bought trendy seasonal items can get pricey and it’s all too easy to accumulate a lot of things that take up storage space most of the year! January. Making your own - espeically with natural items - is a fun way to have something fresh every year. Bringing sweet-smelling greenery and wood and cones indoors is such an organic and tactile way to elicit that magic you’re going for. And cozying up with a blanket and your favourite holiday movie while doing a little DIY’ing is a great way to slow things down and enjoy the moment.

So head to the nearest forest trail (not on private property!) with clippers, or scout your local nursery and farmers’ markets. Look for fir and pine and other green boughs as well as pretty sticks and small birch branches that have come down from previous storms. Stock up as well on oranges, cranberries, lemons, limes, apples, herbs and cinnamon sticks. Oh, and popcorn of course!