Holiday & Seasonal Projects, Holidays

Why We’re Not Decorating for Christmas This Year

Since about a week before Thanksgiving my blog reader has been blowing up with posts on Christmas decor, Christmas crafts, holiday recipes, and more.  To be honest, I’ve skipped over most of them, not out of a “bah humbug” mentality but out of a “they don’t interest me right now” state of mind.

You see, every Christmas Ryan and I end up getting a tree and decorating at the last minute (often with disastrous results), because between work travel, multiple Thanksgivings out of town, and holiday Janery work we’re always too busy to get it done early.

This year I’m feeling more overwhelmed than ever, mainly because a certain awesome doggie takes up a lot of our time, and the house (projects and cleaning) has kind of fallen behind.  I suggested to Ryan “What if we skipped the Christmas decorating step and went straight to the New Years Cleaning step?

You see, early every January we do a big cleanout – clearing clutter, making donations, and reorganizing spaces that get really messy with use.  Mainly the basement work room.  I also have had a ton of projects get stalled, once again, and just like last January I want to start the new year by tackling them.

So now that my business travel is over, Christmas gifts are purchased, and I’m slowing down the shop for the holidays, we’ve started tackling projects and house cleanup.

Today’s tasks: taking donations to Goodwill, and taking some tricky chairs to the upholsterer for a quote.  Sometimes you have to know when it’s best to farm out a task.

I don’t have any regrets about not decorating. We can still look out the window and see tons of lights on our neighbors’ houses, so we’re surrounded by holiday cheer.  And this weekend I’m taking Ryan on a special Christmas-y date.

Holy cow, though.  I think I’m done reading blogs for this month.  It must be tough to be a Jewish home decor blog reader in December.

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8 Comments

  • Reply Funnelcloud Rachel at 11:02 am

    I totally get this and yet it makes me a little sad. It’s lame that holiday decorating has become something that’s “stressful.” It’s supposed to be fun and yet it causes me…stress. And keeps me from getting more important things done. Reading blogs in December definitely does not help. Who are these people with their perfectly wrapped gifts and stacks of perfect cookies in their perfectly clean kitchens with Christmas trees with a new “theme” every year?! It’s not realistic! (And honestly, it’s not what Christmas is about!)

    But still…I can’t imagine not decorating for Christmas either…even though my tree currently looks like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, is supported by jury-rigged barbells, there’s still a pile of ornaments on the coffee table and at least 6 Christmas boxes still in the living room…and I haven’t even started the one Christmas decorating craft (make wreaths for our windows HA HA HA) that I had planned to do this year.

    Escaping to a cabin is sounding better and better. Also, maybe we need another session of cocktail therapy…next to my jacked up tree and messy kitchen?

    • Reply Jane at 1:50 pm

      Um, yes to all of the above, including and not limited to cocktail therapy. That sounds like a good blog post title.
      I’d like to have all that perfect clean decor done, but I think when we’re in the handmade business world it’s just not feasible.

    • Reply Jane at 1:51 pm

      PS: During my business trips this week, i was seriously sitting there thinking of ways to kidnap Ryan for this whole weekend just to hide in a cabin somewhere.

  • Reply Funnelcloud Rachel at 11:05 am

    P.S. I think we should start a new holiday blogging series called “Half-Assed Christmas.” 😉

  • Reply Funnelcloud Rachel at 1:31 pm

    Another bonus to doing your cleaning & donating in December instead of January: deducting your donations from this year’s taxes! Win win! $

    Ok, done spamming you w/ comments now!

  • Reply Kiri at 10:36 am

    To be honest? I stopped doing christmas decorating about 2 years before my mum died – so 4 years now. I hadn’t really missed it I thought at the time, and I was right – I didn’t miss it at the time.

    This year, I got out the tree, and put all the cat-friendly ornaments on it. It’s been a joy watching Blanche take all the ornaments off again. Strange but it feels more like Christmas this year because of destructo-cat than it has for a long time.

    I don’t do any other christmas decorating – keeping stress to a minimum and fun to a maximum, and I don’t know whether I will do it again. But this year, its been a pleasure.

    What am I trying to say? Christmas will not be any less Christmas because you don’t have the decorations up. What is and will be important (I think your friend Kalani has got it right) – is the relationships both with each other and with your fur children. As long as you have a good time with them – it’s Christmas.

    • Reply Jane at 10:52 pm

      Amen!
      And I think that watching the cats go crazy with the tree is one of the best parts of Christmas and the decorating. 🙂

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