Now, I would LOVE to have a perfectly decorated house right now. I would love to have a big tree that smells wonderful, and the halls to be deck and boughs of holly, and beautiful Christmas cards that I made myself, and a stack of perfect presents for Scout and Alex … and yes, for me … I’d love everything to be coordinated and putting Martha Stewart and the mother of Red – Soon to be Mrs. Tater to shame.
But, I also love not having migraines, I also love not having a credit card balance for the first time in 11 years, I love having two vehicles paid off, I love knowing that I didn’t kill a tree just to look at it for a month and then have to vacuum the needles off the floor. (Hotfessional will totally understand.)
Who am I kidding? I don’t do the vacuuming in this house.
(That bit of honesty is so Scout will continue to love me.)
A couple of years ago, we decided to not put up our big tree. We didn’t have room for it and we decided we’d rather not spent a month cussing that the tree was taking up space in our living room. Scout went out and bought an 18 inch silver prelit tree, and I perversely love it more than any other tree I have ever had. We decided this year, even though we have the room, that it would just be easier to not be pulling the Kaiser out of the tree – so we again are using tiny tree. (I’ll post a picture at some point, but right now the tree is sitting on a builtin with a bunch of DVDs around it – and while I’m working on not being all clenched about perfection – I would like you to think I can keep a somewhat pretty home – hahahaha.)
Otherwise, decorating will be simple – we’ll get the decorations all in one place (they are scattered through the house because of weird labeling while we were moving – a whole other story) – we will get them up – and we won’t spend any more money on decorations this year. Okay – other than the 6 dollars spent on stocking hangers.
Tell me, are you a minimalist at Christmas or do you all out decorate? Are you happy with your choice?
26 Comments
Veronica
I have a real tree. I call him Fred (please, don’t ask K?). He is in a pot and was supposed to have grown this last year. Instead, poor thing, he got a little neglected and a month out from Xmas I have a slightly sick conifer in a too small pot. Oooops.
I think I will put up tinsel and stuff about the place, but no lights because no one would see them.
Hey nearly 55,000 words! That is fantastic.
SJSFalter
My decorating has been limited this year, I just do not have the ambition nor do I think its that important. We have our tree, the boys advent calendars and a wreath on the door. Simple is good.
I put lights on our balcony one year and found it was so not worth the hassle. Taking them down and fighting with burnt out bulbs gave me more work that I could have possibly imagined. Same thing with the stairwell. Never again.
Random Ramblings
I am finding the tradition of decorating with the kids to be half the fun of the season. In a way to distract them from the minimal “gifts” they will be getting this year. We have had a cut in our income, so there is a change in that.
We are not buying any new decorations (besides one ornament for each person), but it is a lot of fun for them to see all the decorations we have collected over the years. Fake tree (five years old), ornaments (one for each year), etc. We wont be putting much/anything up outside, but small decorations and knickknacks around the house.
This may also be more because of the difference in our kids age…mine are 8 and 5. Or do you think you’ll continue to keep the decorations simple as he gets older???
Amanda
I’m not sure if I’ll even have a tree this year. We didn’t bring anything except clothes to Palembang. Your post has me thinking about this now…..to tree or not to tree….
the dragonfly
Here in Germany we have a tiny apartment, so I bought a 4-1/2 foot tree. I didn’t pull out any of the other decorations, although I may put some lights in the window. With the Little Mister learning mobility (not even close to crawling yet, but he gets all over by rolling!) I’d rather keep the furnishing sparse at least in the living room. 🙂
Red
Heh – Mother of Red will be glad to know she’s included with Martha Stewart on Christmas decorations (although hopefully not in other ways).
I love Christmas decorations — which I’m sure comes in part from loving all the decorating traditions growing up. I’m a big believer in building slowly, though. I think they mean more that way b/c they have individual stories instead of being just the Style of a particular year.
Mother of Red has lots and lots of pretty decorations, but she’s been married for almost 40 years and had time to collect them. Still, one of the best decorations is a Christmas tree she built out of 2x4s, chicken wire and the pinecones they collected from road trips when those were the only souveniers they could afford. (The tree is 6 foot tall, so that’s alot of pinecones!)
Right now at Tater’s house I have a 4.5ft tree up on a table. Most of the decorations we’ve collected are boxed up in the closet, so I made new garland this year out of baby blanket binding and quilting scraps. With the lights and the few ornaments I found, I think it looks very pretty. It took me about 30 min to decorate this year and I think I spent $12 on some new ornaments when I was at the parents’. With the stuff out of the garage, though, it still looks pretty Christmassy.
I’ll send cards, too — lots and lots of cards based on the number of boxes I bought last year after the holidays 🙂 We’ll see how that goes.
MP
We used to do the small artificial tree..I had NEVER in my life had a real tree. The last couple years we had a large live tree..first in my life and I was thrilled. This year with the puppy and all we are thinking about getting a small real potted tree that we can then plant in the yard..killing two birds with one stone.
Flutter
I do a classy, yet full out Christmas, real tree. Since we live in the hellmouth it makes me happy to pretend it’s winter.
Linda
I used to be Martha Stewart but then I had an intervention…. so now it’s a tree, stockings and cookies (still working on not needing to back fourteen hundred thirty cookies for six people)…. Maybe I’ll put up a string of lights outside this year, but really, I just said “Maybe” In momspeak that is NO.
Kellan
I usually go all out – I wish I was a minimalist! Take care. Kellan
Audubon Ron
Love the ?¢‚Ǩ?ìNO DEBT?¢‚Ǩ¬ù thing. I am very proud of you.
Yes my dear, I am a card carrying minimalist. When my wife first moved into my pad she said, ?¢‚Ǩ?ìLooks like an operating room in here.?¢‚Ǩ¬ù I went so far as refuse to hang pictures. Just an inch or two on the psycho-sterile side I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢d say.
Now my wife?¢‚Ǩ¬¶we had visitors from San Fran recently. I said to my buddy, ?¢‚Ǩ?ìHere are clean towels for you and the Mrs.; you can use this guest bath.?¢‚Ǩ¬ù A minute later my friend comes back and says, ?¢‚Ǩ?ìYou got another bathroom??¢‚Ǩ¬ù I said, ?¢‚Ǩ?ìSure, why??¢‚Ǩ¬ù He said, ?¢‚Ǩ?ìYou got workout machinery in the bathtub.?¢‚Ǩ¬ù WTF? Sure enough, there was a cross country ski machine in there I never saw before.
Hallie
I love all things XMAS related – I am self admitted XMAS Whore! I am actually starting to develop a nervous tic cuz John wants me to wait until it’s ACTUALLY December before I mail my cards. BAH FREAKIN HUMBUG!!
Btw, Ambien does NOTHING for you? How sad… I’m so sorry for you 🙂
(I am not only a Xmas whore, I am an Ambien whore…and proud of it!)
Hallie
http://wonderfulworldofweiners.blogspot.com/
MamaGeek
I flip flop. This year we’re going all out. All. Out. Last year, we totally minimalized.
HOW DO you get out of vacuming? WOW.
Audubon Ron
OMG, I didn’t know who Ron White was so I looked him up on You Tube and now I’m sitting in my office peeing my pants.
You’re a little rascal getting me hooked on this crazy man.
Do I have your email?
LSM
I know I have proclaimed a desire to simplify, but I’ll admit I don’t do that in the decorating department. Real tree, ornament collection, lots of other “in house” decorations including Snow Village and one full-size artficial tree upstairs in the gameroom that’s fully decorated and some smaller artificial ones with just lights in other locals. We also will have outside lights as soon as I can persuade my husband to hang them.
Ewokmama
We haven’t done anything for years, as we generally go out of town for the holidays. We are staying home this year but still don’t plan on decorating. My husband wants to get a small potted palm and decorate that but the reality is that he is too lazy to go shopping for a tree so it is unlikely to happen. 😛
Julie
We have a fake tree. I have asthma and can’t have a real one.
We are minimalists because we a toddler, who destroys anything nice.
Someday, we will go all out.
We do the lights thing outside though.
BeeRepartee
Hello!! Sorry I’ve been awol. Ironically, decorating the house and baking. hahaha.
Okay, all out decor here. I remember having toddlers and we set up a table and set up a small tree we purchased in a pot to replant later. It looked huge in the front window, with the table hitting below the window sill while little fingers were kept a safe reach away.
Tradition for our house is the day after Thanksgiving, play the Christmas music, bake and decorate. This can last days when you reemerge covered in flour, 8lbs heavier, and lit up like, well, a Christmas tree.
the fruitfemme
I am so with you on the minimalist christmas. At least a not obscenely expensive christmas! Look at the world–who can afford all the cheap, disposable, lead-lined, red & green christmas crap the store has to offer?!
Stay strong
the egel nest
I love being Jewish…I don’t have to worry about putting up decorations at all 🙂
I suppose that makes me a decorating minimalist lol
Bradley
The Egel Nest
Arkie Mama
I’d say we’re probably more minimalist.
We’ve used the same artificial tree for the past four years. (I’m horribly allergic to real ones.)
The ornaments are either from our respective childhoods or the places we’ve visited. (No matching stuff for us!)
We have cutout paper reindeer, snowmen and Christmas trees hanging across the mantel (all drawn by our 4-year-old) and a couple of candles.
Sarcastic Mom
I like putting up my pretties at Christmas. There is something about the smell and look of my tree, the bright red of my poinsettias, and the shiny blinking lights that feels magical to me.
magpie
Half way in between – one tree, decked to the nines, and a wreath on the door, and nothing else. Oh, I tend to tuck cards onto the window.
I do love having a tree though.
Jennifer
Since having kids, I haven’t had the energy to decorate! We put up the tree and some decorations, but it’s not nearly as extensive as I imagine it should be.
Sabrina
I love christmas decorations. I love candles, lights, the smell of pine trees, tinsel, ornaments, etc. But do you what I like even more? A no hassle christmas. And less clean up on December 26th. So to get my christmas fix, I visit my martha stuart like friends homes. I get the pleasure of Christmas decorations without the hassle and clean up. Ahhh bliss.
Mrs. Flipphead
All we had was a tree for a couple of years and then one year, no tree at all (Older son was too mobile and the cats liked to try and climb it). Then the next year, I bought a big pack of cheap plastic ornaments (surprisingly pretty with the lights twinkling off of them–they were fake “glass”). At least it was a tree, kind of festive and Older Son and Younger Son were both mesmerized. I figure if they are happy, who cares about Martha Stewart and her psycho-ness? In fact, they might have been K-mart Martha Stewart ornaments…mmm…probably not.