Decorating for the Holidays

Decorating for the holidays has never been my forte’.  It’s not that I don’t like decorating; on the contrary, I love decorating.  I just don’t have a lot of spare time or spare money to decorate like all of the pictures I see.  I think my main problem is that I would like to decorate like Park Place on a Baltic Avenue budget (yes, we love Monopoly).  I have discovered some fun things we can do in our home to decorate for Thanksgiving and Christmas, however, that look nice and don’t break the bank.
     For Thanksgiving, we like to do a thankfulness tree.  This is so simple!  I simply take a small tree branch and pot it or place it in a vase.  I generally use marbles or glass beads to stabilize it.  I try to make sure the branch has plenty of small pieces branching off of it.  Once the branch is secured, I cut leaf shapes in different fall colors and place them in a small basket beside the tree branch. I place a pen and a roll of tape in the basket, too.  When someone in the family thinks of something for which they are thankful, they write it on a leaf and tape the leaf on the tree.  I use this as a centerpiece.  It is so encouraging to read all of the things for which we are thankful!
     For Christmas, we do something similar.  We do a Jesse Tree (Advent Tree).  I worked with a friend many years ago to create different ornaments for each of the symbols for the tree and we use these with companion scripture verses for the month of December. It has become so popular that we have even done it on a large scale with our church congregation.  We are not Catholic, but we love the symbolism of the ornaments and scripture that lead up to Jesus’ birth.  Here is a link to one set of instructions for constructing your own Jesse Tree:  Jesse Tree Instructions.
     Beyond these two special decorating things, our decorating is fairly traditional and repetitive.  I use things that the kids have made over the years, I use various figurines and containers I have accumulated, and I use holiday fabrics.  I tend more towards the simple.  I just looked in my kitchen and noticed that I still have my “Santa’s Cookies” cookie jar up from last year.  I guess it can stay out until Christmas now!  I am always finding things that didn’t get put away.  I love to watch for after Christmas sales and purchase garland and ornaments for next to nothing.  I use them on the tree and in/on baskets, etc… for simple and quick decoration. 
     Don’t feel stressed about decorating.  Let it be fun and let it take on the personality of your family.  To read other blogs about decorating for the holidays, click on the links at the end of this post. If you would like to be entered in the giveaways for this 5 Days of Preparing for the Holidays series, visit my giveaway page.  Knowledge Box Central has graciously donated 5 fabulous products for me to give to my readers this week!
Decorating for the Holidays