I have been exposed to what I call the Christmas room. At first it surprised me every time I walked in this room. After a while I expected it. Filled with years of decorations from the past, over loaded with things that bring back childhood memories and never without an ugly Christmas sweater or two. Rare is an estate sale that doesn’t have “a Christmas room”. After awhile you start to think “oh my I have this much stuff at home already myself”. It gives you a hoarders feeling and that makes me want to clean things out. This year I have flipped our Christmas decorations and holiday on it’s back. I cleaned out the Christmas “Room” closet.
You would think that was hard to do, but it really wasn’t. I found it refreshing to give things away, post things on line and share with my family decorations. I simplified my snowman collection, cut back on the greenery and toned down the glitter items. In the end I found that simple and less wasn’t boring at all. It all came out clean and refreshed with less fuss and more vision. The focus went back on the holiday and family time. Decorating only took a few hours on a Sunday afternoon. I cut back so much that when I’m done it will all store into one side of a closet. I haven’t been that organized in years with the Christmas decor.
I still will always have my standard decor like my Nativity. I bought this when my little boy was only 18 months old. He is turning 26 this month. It is a little worn and the angel has a broken and repaired wing. I still love to set it up and with Christmas music in the back ground sometimes there is a tear or two.
I love my snowman collection for a special reason. I had this dog his name was Frostie and he was my little buddy for 15 years. I started collecting the first Christmas he was with us and it continued for years after he passed away. It will always be a comfort and memory of his friendship.
I used snowmen on the front porch to welcome my guest. I hope is the squirrels don’t carry them off like they do my pillows. My porch is fun and festival and bring lots of smiles to guest and delivery people.
My tree of 15 years had just had it. Really it needed to be put to the trash like 3 years ago. Last year there were more branches on the floor than the tree. It was beautiful for all those years at 8 1/2 foot tall. I love a slim line tree and I stayed with that when I bought the new tree but I went a bit shorter at 7 foot. It’s still tall after I place it in the old rusty galvanized pan. I love the farmhouse look and it keeps the tree just out of Cooper and Cherry’s reach so no disappearing ornaments.
Christmas doesn’t have to be so much fuss. It had become that way for me with hours of decorating and hours of taking down. I started to dread the process instead of enjoying it. Those hours saved will be spent on hours with the grand babies. I’m out of school on the 14th and I’m so looking forward to a time to refresh my spirit and celebrate Christmas. This year I’ve put to rest a few of my decorations but my Christmas spirit is refreshed. We all could use a refreshing season. How about you, what can you put to rest so you have more time to enjoy the season.
