For the first year, all the greenery in our home is real. Real wreaths, real accent trees all around the house, real garland inside and out and sprigs of tree trimmings in vases. It seemed like the year to keep it real, in so many ways. It was much easier than digging through boxes in the basement and it felt like the genuine thing to do. It’s amazing how much artificial greenery and trees (yes trees) we have accumulated through the years. And I honestly don’t remember buying hardly any of it.
As a whole, Christmas around the house is more simple this year. The girls decorated the tree and I only got out ONE box of ornaments, leaving many (and most of my favorites) untouched. But when the tree seemed finished to them, I agreed and left the other boxes in storage. It it was a group effort getting the house ready for Christmas and only the most requested items made it out the boxes. Little touches from little hands are everywhere, reminding me of what’s important.
Every year I make more of an effort to take the focus off the stuff, the gifts, the hustle, and the trying to just get it all done. As impossible as this sometimes seems this time of year, we DO make progress. I’ve said to no to many outings, play dates, sleepovers, gatherings, shows, train rides and events – to just be home with my girls. Because this year it feels like the right place to be, at home, together, creating calm, and keeping our days as simple as we can.
Almost all my shopping was done online and wrapping has been an evening event that everyone has done together. Wrapping can be challenging for some around here, as there there is very little actual wrapping paper. Instead there is a pile of creative inspiration – bags to be repurposed, a box of Christmas stamps, fabric, leftover ribbon from other projects, newspaper for tissue paper, gift tags to be made. It’s all about resourcefulness and being creative, two things I love.
I hope you all are finding peace this season. Enjoy these snapshots of these corners of our home filled with silly, simple and little things that are giving me joy right now.
