Happy New Year! It’s a time for renewal. But that’s a post for another day….
Today, I wanted to discuss Christmas decor and the abundance of it! Around now, or soon, or in a few weeks for some, it’ll be time to put away the Christmas decorations. Everything will get stored back into containers of some kind and put into storage until next year. It got me wondering, when was the last time you sorted through your Christmas decor?
You can sort through your holiday decorations the same as we organize a closet, drawer or whole room. It’s the same steps. Although, the question “does it serve a purpose?” may not apply so often. This focuses more on “do you LOVE it?”
My husband and I made a decision many years ago to not have or purchase packages of mulitple Christmas decorations – like the matched set of glass balls. Each decoration should mean something, be unique, have a memory attached, or just be adorable. We need to love it. This was before I started minimizing, but I find it interesting that we were using a minimalist mindset about our decor back then.
A few years ago, my daughter moved out and that year at Christmas time she was talking about having a bare tree. When we put up our decor, we again went through our decorations looking for pieces to give to her, and I have seen several of those pieces still on her tree to this day.
Last Christmas, we became empty-nesters. It was an opporutinity to go through the decor yet again.
We have discussed for a few years that all of our decorations tend to congregate around the living room. We both thought it would be nice to add something to the front entrance. We found a great deal on a pencil tree. WE. LOVE. IT. We divided the decorations between our four foot wreath in our living room and the tree in the entrance.
We then admitted things were looking a bit sparse. LOL. We have agreed to purchase new decorations slowly, answering the questions – Do we love it? And, does it provide a memory? We can love it without it providing a memory, but it can’t provide a memory unless we love it. Follow that?
Anywho, back to my point. Our decorations all mean something to us. We find ourselves often pointing them out, touching them, and talking about them. It’s lovely.
I will admit that some of our discussion has been that my minimalist mind really struggled with buying a tree and the ensuing need for a few more decorations. But, we have reduced reduced reduced for years. And this wasn’t a spare of the moment purchase, we had discussed adding something to that area for a long time as well. So, I shut off my guilt brain, and fully appreciate and love our entrance way. It makes me smile everytime I look at it. So for us, it was right.
If you have too much decor to fully appreciate what you have, then you have too much. I read about a home that had 31 Christmas trees. If they fully appreciate every tree and the decor on it, all the power to them, but somehow I doubt they could remember or truly appreicate what’s on all those trees.
Consider simplifying your next year’s Christmas, by taking the time to sort through and be thoughtful about your decorations as you put things away this year. If you have decor that doesn’t bring you joy, is broken, has a bad memory – it’s time to let it go.
Not sure where to start? I’m happy to help.