The Most Wonderful Time of the Year is Here!
Confession: I have a complicated relationship with Christmas. As a parent, I always struggled with the Santa thing (like, why does he get all the glory and I do all the work?), plus the craziness of added obligations and celebrations, the over-the-top consumerism in your face all the time, and the shear exhaustion of making the magic happen.
Yet, I still love it!
I love having family traditions that my kids look forward to each year. And I love having special decor that invokes those memories and nostalgia of years past. Over the years, I've worked on honing our Christmases to some key decor and really narrowing in on the traditions and decor that have the most sentimental impact for the least amount of work. For instance, as much as I wish I was a baking and cookie decorating wiz, I let that activity go long ago because it was stressful and I didn't enjoy it.
And since I just finished decorating for the season, I thought it would be fun to take a little tour of our yearly decor as it has come to be. I don't often add new things to the lineup. This means I'm not usually on top of the decorating trends, so you won't find out this year's most sought after Christmas decor in this post. Instead I focus on special things that have meaning or have become meaningful because they are "our" Christmas. I've been careful to curate what I buy because you have to store that stuff for 11 months of the year! So for anything new to come into the house, it has to be pretty special.
Hand-Decorated Stockings
I love a Christmas craft! There's no easier way to make something unique and special to your family than to make it yourself! Years ago, I bought some white felt stockings and added our initials cut out of felt with a hand stitch detail. Then I added some homemade pom poms from my huge stash of leftover Cozy yarn. Over the years, I've updated them with new color pom poms and this year I added Willow's puppy stocking with a felt dog bone.
I really enjoy crafting with felt, and especially because I associate it with a lot of my grandmother's Christmas decor I grew up with. I first started my felt crafting when I purchased a Christmas countdown kit from Sugar House Shop on Etsy when my daughter was born. The kids love it and look forward to its appearance every year. Of course, I ended up customizing it to a completely different scene and characters, so there's not a version of this in her store, but the patterns are very cute as is! I even made the Halloween one a few years ago and managed to not deviate too much from the pattern (sometimes I can't help it!).
Vintage Aluminum Christmas Tree
Unfortunately I'm highly allergic to pine and pine-like things. Outdoors, I can mostly handle it. But whenever there's real greenery indoors, within 24 hours my head is completely congested and my eyes are burning. It really puts a damper on my Christmas spirit. So I've lived a life of faux Christmas greenery, and when it came to buying my very first Christmas tree as an adult, I thought I might as well lean into it and go with a midcentury vintage aluminum tree.
I purchased it on Ebay when I was in grad school 20 years ago. (20?! I can hardly believe it). It was my very first Christmas tree, and I had no kids, and lived in the desert. It was perfect for me at the time, and I've only grown to love it more over the years. Now, it's our "downstairs" tree. It really looks its best when it has more of a curated midcentury color theme to it, and it sits under our living room disco ball with a color wheel. It's so sparkly and festive on those dark winter evenings.
Last year was the first year I went with all vintage ornaments. I had been collecting them one set at a time over the years from antique and thrift shops. But because I had little kids, and they are all made of glass, I never dared go all-in on the vintage ornaments until they were old enough to be trusted. Alas, this year, I'm back to my more basic ornaments thanks to a new puppy in the mix. But she's been very good with the tree and next year I'll be back to the beautiful all-vintage tree.
The Family Tree
The aluminum tree has a soft spot in my heart, but it's a little more delicate than is ideal for young kids, which is why we now have a separate (faux) Christmas tree. I love this one just as much! Currently it lives in the upstairs playroom/guest room. This one is 100% decorated by the kids. I just put it up and put the lights on and let them loose.
All of the ornaments are the special ones collected over the years, made by the kids, or gifted to us by friends and family. Jay and I always buy an ornament when we travel someplace special to add to the tree - like from our trips to Iceland and Peru, and my trip to Italy. Nothing about this tree is "designed" or trendy. It's literally a mishmash of everything, with a Santa topper my son picked out from Target a few years ago because he just fell in love with it.
Vintage Santas
I didn't set out to have a collection of Santas. But my parents did. My love of Christmas traditions definitely has its roots in my own childhood. In fact, the book basket idea (coming up) came from my mom. My parents collected these figurines of Santas over the years when I was younger, then they gifted their whole collection to my kids to enjoy at our house each year.
Ok now. Listen, I highly recommend treading carefully when doing something like this to your adult kids. As much as we love these Santas, gifting someone an entire collection can be a little daunting for the receiver. The first year we had them, I was indeed a little overwhelmed by being the caretaker of this gift. I mean, they are meant for the kids, but I'm the one tasked with safely storing them and making sure they are put out every year. Plus, the fun part of a collection is the act of collecting - the picking and choosing of special pieces. Sometimes, this is where traditions can really go sideways into obligation. It's a fine line, my friends.
But once I acclimated to the initial influx of Santas, this collection became a favorite for the kids and I let them help arrange the "army of Santas." I have even added 2 Santas of my own: big blow-mold Santa that hangs out by the fireplace, and a little hand painted weeble-wobble type Santa that caught my attention at an antique store.
The Basket of Holiday Books Tradition
I recorded a quick video for Instagram of book basket tradition, and I'm posting it here in case you missed it!
We love reading these books together every night during Christmas.
Odds and Ends
Some other fun things I like to put up during the holidays are my kids' holiday crafts from years' past. Sometimes I frame them, but sometimes I just add them to the fridge with magnets. It's a great way to keep some special art pieces without having them in a book or box and getting to enjoy them out for a little bit each year. This is one of my daughter's first Christmas drawing, we call "Ru-john the Dejected Reindeer." For context, she was calling Rudolph "Ru-john" when she was three. It makes me laugh so much and I love having this memory of her funny toddler-ism as part of the decor.
And of course, I add a little bling to the Speakeasy Bar Closet. Some mercury glass Christmas trees and super delicate glass garland. Just a little festive decor when you're making a festive Christmas cocktail.
A Warm and Cozy Holiday
Thanks for coming along on the holiday decor tour! Even when the holidays get overwhelming and too hectic, I always look forward to sitting in my living room under the glow of the color wheel and enjoying the special pieces each year. I hope you enjoyed this little peek into our holiday home.
Let me know what your favorite decor traditions you have for your family - I love seeing everyone's unique family traditions.
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