So, I know for all of my American friends, you still have to focus on Thanksgiving this weekend before you can really think about Christmas, and I totally appreciate this! But, for me, here in Saskatchewan, the snow has fallen, I’ve dusted off my Christmas ornaments, and I may or may not have holiday music blasting right now…
The truth is, I absolutely love Christmas. It’s my favourite time of year, and always has been. Maybe it’s my Canadian blood, but I love the first snowfall, and with the exception of waiting for Remembrance Day to pass (which is the day we honour our Veterans here in Canada, November 11th), I am pretty much ready to go with the holiday décor as soon as they put it on the shelves! Even as a kid, I used to gather up whatever decorations my mom wasn’t using that year, and arrange them in my room, so that it felt festive wherever I went.
Now that I have my own home, this feeling is multiplied by about a million. I have shared before about my love for design, and my need to nest and create comfortable, welcoming spaces in my home for family and friends. So, for me, the Christmas season is the ultimate creative outlet! I will straight up admit that I own way too many decorations, because every year I seem to want to go in a different direction, or have been newly inspired by something I found on Pinterest, or an idea I saw in a magazine.
Over the last several years, I’ve had almost every colour theme you can think of – all white and sparkly, traditional green and red, purple and silver, blush pink and gold, honestly guys, it’s actually a bit embarrassing now that I’m typing it all out. My husband thought I was crazy when I bought a third Christmas tree, but the truth is, I have enough space and decorations to make it work.
In my defense, I am a pretty thrifty shopper, and I have gotten into the habit of doing most of my holiday purchasing after Christmas is over, when it’s all ridiculously inexpensive, to be used the following year. For example, last January, I finally purchased a 10-foot Christmas tree, from Urban Barn. It was regularly priced $900+, and I got it for $150! Come on guys… I HAD to buy it. It’s like I was saving money!!! (By the way, you should all tuck that hot tip in your back pocket – Urban Barn has the MOST amazing sales on Christmas décor after the holiday season is over. I’m talking upwards of 85% off everything holiday-themed!) If you can handle waiting until next year to use your décor, I definitely recommend going this route. I also frequently stock up on decorations at HBC post-holiday season, which makes it kind of fun opening the holiday décor each year, because I finally get to use the items I purchased 10 months previously.
The only downside to this love I have for decorating at Christmas, is that, as I mentioned above, every year I find myself leaning towards a slightly different style, or being inspired by something that ends up impacting the entire direction I want to go. This year, believe it or not, I really want to have a more minimal approach. When I say “minimal” I should definitely clarify that I would never truly call myself a minimalist, because I am far from living the actual minimalist lifestyle. And frankly it feels a little laughable to claim I’m going minimal this Christmas when I have three trees (eeep!)
To be fair, when I say that I want to take a more minimalist approach, what I mean is, fewer decorations, more natural greenery, white lights, simple ornaments, and an overall cleaner, more cohesive look throughout the house. I managed to score some really beautiful green wreathes a couple of Christmases ago that I think are going to go perfectly with this theme, and luckily I have a lot of simple, monochromatic ornaments that should help create this vision I have for a Scandinavian-inspired Christmas. With the exception of the kid-themed Christmas tree in our basement, full of their special, vintage-inspired ornaments (which I also adore), I’m really excited about the cohesive direction I’m headed in for the holidays!
Here’s a little sneak-peek of what I’ve been working on so far:
Stay-tuned for a complete Holiday Home Tour coming up on the blog in the next couple of weeks! And in the meantime, what’s inspiring you this holiday season?
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