It’s not like we need a special occasion to have our homes be inviting and cozy. Decorations, ornamentations, and beautifying elements go a long way in adding that extra magic to your immediate surroundings that may positively impact your family, your mood, and your overall attitude to life. Yes, that’s the power otherwise mundane objects can have on everything.
When it comes to the holiday season, it all becomes much more concrete and specific in terms of what exactly we want to put where and what exactly we want to embellish with what. The best is to make it attractive but at the same time useful as well. Let’s see what are some of the ideas we can utilize to have our homes ripe and ready for the festive season.
Making Space
Before anything else can happen, we have to make space for the new. Take this opportunity to do away with the reign of unnecessary, unusable, and outdated objects, including toys, clothes, electronics, or any kitsch. Oftentimes, what hasn’t been in use in your home for ages can be of immense use to someone less fortunate than you. You have the option to just donate these items, but if some extra cash would come in handy, take these to a consignment store.
Rethinking your home’s looks
Now that there is space to invite the fresh and the new, you may as well perform a makeover on certain rooms in the house. Why not shift some furniture from here to there, place a vase or a bowl where there hasn’t been one, and choose a new centerpiece for the dining table? It doesn’t have to be anything huge, it only has to lift your mood. Stepping out of the familiar, whether it is in a literal or metaphorical sense, has the potential to bring something magical to your life. And magic is just the thing we need for the holiday season, isn’t it?
Add a festive touch
Bust out anything red, blue, or silver, such as tablecloth linens, wreaths, centerpieces, and candles. Pay attention to the mantelpiece as it is the second most conspicuous place to look at after the Christmas tree. The stockings are a traditionally-accepted must that can be surrounded by one or two poinsettia varieties. You can always opt for coming up with your own creative decorations made of organic beeswax candles, pillows and tablecloths made of disperse dye, and glass bowls filled with cranberries, walnuts, and kumquat.
Preparing for the unexpected
It could easily be the case that you have maintained good neighborly relations, and your neighbors unexpectedly show up on your doorstep to hand you some token of their appreciation. What then? For such occasions, it might be useful to have some general gifts prepared, which could come in the form of a handmade gift card that functions as a redeemable coupon for playdates or a skincare session or in the form of a gift jar filled with the basic ingredients for cookies with the recipe printed on the side. Of course, it’s also an option to fill the jar with actual cookies that you have made beforehand.
Stock up on essentials
Let’s not entertain the illusion that we can get ready and prepare everything without some last-minute emergency because we realize we don’t have butter in the fridge or we forgot to buy ribbons. But let these be our biggest problems instead of thinking we haven’t dealt with the more crucial steps for organizing everything. Make sure you have your holiday shopping list ready, which would include sufficient amounts of soft drinks and juices, basic ingredients in the kitchen, paper towels, seasonal scents, Christmas cards, and craft supplies to mention just a few.
Gearing up for the holiday season doesn’t have to imply an unmanageable workload or needless stress. It could easily be that time of the year when we take stock of the things we have accumulated in our household in the past year, the things that we have kept for a long time without putting them to good use, and the things that are now perhaps ready to give happiness and joyous moments to someone else. All it takes is the right attitude to it.
About the author:
Naomi Shaw is a freelance journalist residing in sunny Southern California with her husband and three children. She is a work-at-home mom that enjoys writing on fashion, beauty, jewelry, and everything weddings!