14 December 2009

Decorating for the Holidays



Woo-hoo! It's here - the Decorating for the Holidays blog hop started by The Frugal Housewife.

The holidays, for me, are all about decorating. I don't celebrate a necessarily religious aspect of Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanza/Yule/whatever, but I love the season anyway. People are more focused on good feelings (not counting all the grumpy people I saw at the mall!), and the spirit is ready to be spread! Is it just me, or are there even more outdoor lights this year than usual? I hope so - I love to see them, and this is the first year my two-year-old is really taking notice of them too :)

That being said, our only outdoor lights are a small ornamental maple outside our front door being strung with colored lights. I do make sure our tree is visible out the front window though - don't want the neighbors thinking our lonely outdoor lit tree is like Charlie Brown's Christmas Tree!

Our indoor tree is artificial and pre-lit. I suppose we'll re-evaluate if we need a 'real' tree when our daughter gets old enough to know the difference. I imagine as she gets older the ornament variety will expand as well - currently most of our ornaments are penguins (or as my daughter calls them, pingos). We don't have a lot of other decorations out anymore. Our coffee table has been on the front enclosed porch since you-know-who started walking. Her 'playroom' (otherwise known as our living room) doesn't need another piece of furniture in it! When we have less risk for knick-knacks and such again, I'll probably start bringing up my TONS of Partylite decorations from the basement again.

I also have one kind of favorite way to display really current stuff - like the cards we receive. We have double french doors that lead to our enclosed front porch. Over the door that doesn't open, I have two finishing nails, each with a long piece of red curling ribbon tied to it. These are where I tape our cards. It's fun to see them up all the time and be able to browse through them without them taking up much room.

The last thing I have to share is a tradition I heard about this year from another family (and now I just wish I could remember where I read it!). Someone said they start putting out decorations on November 1, but just one small decoration at a time. Her kids had fun each day trying to find what the new decoration was, and by Thanksgiving and Christmas things looked festive without an all-at-once effort. I definitely want to do this once my daughter is old enough to participate.

I hope you enjoyed hearing about my family's holiday decorations. Please head over to Tips & Treasures, the next blog on the hop!

12 comments:

Auntie E said...

Sound like your tradition are great. Your daughter will have something to cherish for years to come.

Buggys said...

Little ones make the holidays so much more fun. You get to enjoy it through their eyes!

Lenox Knits said...

I like that idea about slowly decorating too. It is easier on us too!

Dottie said...

What a good idea putting up one decoration at a time. Definitely makes it a little less over welming...course taking them down will be a project...LOL.

I like penguins to and even made a gourd ornament for my Etsy shop this year that had a penguin painted on it.

I love looking at Christmas lights too, but never put them up myself. The thought of electricity and lights outside still scares me for some reason...LOL.

Marg said...

We used to put our Christmas cards on our French doors.It looks great. And the idea of putting one decoration up per day is a super idea.

Lynne said...

I love the idea of hanging the cards from the ribbon. It's so simple and yet I'm sure looks very festive.

vunhome said...

Blog Hoping for decorating for the holidays. Have a wondeful seasons.

Storm, The Psychotic Housewife said...

oh I like the idea of one decoration at a time! We'll have to do that one year.

Grampy said...

One decoration at a time.I don't know if I could wait so long.

Mommy Kennedy said...

Sorry, I feel off the "Blog Hop" train and didn't make it earlier in the week!

Sounds beautiful. I love Partylite too! Beautiful stuff and great taste that you have!

siteseer said...

I like your ideas of decorating... and knowing that things will change through the years. For awhile there I was putting the tree up Thanksgiving weekend and it really felt good because even if you didn't do another thing you could still be ready for Christmas, but in reality having that done just made you want to do more. Not really an option with a little one.

Karen said...

I am sure you are going to be making lots of new traditions as your daughter grows up. Kids make Christmas so much fun.