I deep-cleaned my kitchen and living room yesterday for the first time in it’stooembarrassingtoadmithowlong for two reasons:
1) I haven’t had the energy or desire to do anything housewifely since I got pregnant and was falling asleep every half hour and wanting to vomit just as often, and then we went out of town for several days for Thanksgiving, and then when we got home I ended up with a monster case of the common cold. I’m finally feeling more like myself again AND I had an unexpected week off work to do something about it. Mopping the floor has never felt so good.
2) I really wanted to decorate for Christmas, but I couldn’t justify doing it with the house looking so disastrous. Christmas is supposed to feel sparkly and new and festive, not cobwebby and sticky and gross.
Two days ago I stopped blowing my nose constantly, rolled up my sleeves, busted out the elbow grease, and got to work. Most of the house was clean by yesterday afternoon (still need to vacuum the guest room, scrub the bathroom floor, and do something about the black hole that is our bedroom) and I felt comfortable starting to deck the halls and other rooms too.
EXCEPT…
When I pulled our holiday stuff out of the hall closet, I was immensely disappointed. I hadn’t remembered how little we had in the way of Christmassy things. An advent wall hanging my mother made. Red balls and lights for the tree. Some fake icicle garland thingies. A cinnamon scented candle. That’s pretty much it.
I was so sad.
I hung the advent calendar, put the candle on the kitchen counter, and set everything else aside for decorating the tree we will eventually get. It feels more like December now that we can count down the days till Christmas by hanging jingle bells on a quilted tree, but it doesn’t feel like enough somehow.
And did I mention that our Halloween pumpkins are still hanging out by the TV? We never got around to carving them and they’re still in great shape, but they’re much too big to cook and turn into pies.
I need help. What Christmas decorations are your favorites? How do you make your home feel a little more festive this time of year? Any and all suggestions are welcome, because I’m seriously considering carving a reindeer into one of those pumpkins and I’m just not sure if that would convey the spirit I’m looking for…
I feel stupid, but I totally missed the announcement on Halloween.
That's awesome news! Congrats. I will be home for like a month starting the 13th. We must surely get together.
Thanks! And yes. There will be getting togetherness. Oh yes, there will.
I like picking one specific spot to really focus on decorating. In our home right now, it's the fireplace. I have a couple of ceramic moose up there, a wooden nutcracker, some cool antique candlesticks, and a big loop of evergreen stuffed full of holly berries and pinecones. Nothing fancy or too fussy, and I love it. Plus the stockings. Stockings always feel so Christmasy to me.
I have other decorations around my house here and there, but the mantle is really where I feel like if it's decorated, it makes the whole house look Christmasy, because it's such a focal point.
See, this is why I wish I had a mantle. Easiest thing to decorate for any occasion.
Once the tree goes up, it takes up such a huge part of the living room (even the little trees like we get) that it will help a ton. Other than that corner, I'm not sure what spot in our little house I could focus on. Good idea, though…I'll have to think about it and get creative.
This won't help you, but my favorite thing is a hand-carved nativity out of a large piece of moss covered bark from Poland (some friends brought it back for me). My sister also got me some awesome decorations from Marshall's (I think) last year. I'll have to take a picture. Marshall's/TJ Maxx are great places for cool decoration and World Market has fun stuff too (I got a robot ornament there this year). I don't have many decorations though either! I will be getting a tree, just for fun, since I'll be spending Christmas in MN. You could get some cool Christmas children's books and display them.
I think a nativity would be a great addition to my Christmas decor. Trick is finding one I love. And I hadn't thought about any of those stores, but I'm sure they have cool things for decent prices. Thanks!