a simple Christmas

I am a simple woman who loves simple things.

Complex ideas and complicated patterns make me break out in a cold sweat.

Glitz and glam and bling ??  Nah. I'll pass.

My simplicity affects my seasonal decor as well.

My two criteria for decorating are:

1. keep it natural
2. keep it simple

I promise you, I have enough chaos in my life without multi-colored lights blinking or Hallmark snowmen who dance while singing cute Christmas songs.

Here's my Christmas decorations for this year.  I hope my simple arrangements will inspire you to go out and gather some pine and open your cupboards to look for the cloves.  Oh. Don't forget the glue gun.

The scent of the cloves, cedar, cranberries and pine is just intoxicating.

Popcorn strings can be time consuming but I bet you have some old popcorn hiding in the corner of your cupboard somewhere. I personally think that popcorn chains are incredibly charming. The really cool thing about them is that you can take them outdoors and hang them in a tree to feed the birds once you're through with using them for decoration.

My daughter and I  created these baby wreaths to use for name tags at our Lehman family gathering. Again, we used items from around the house and cedar trimmings to create these babies. Our biggest investment was time.

A bit more on the time consuming part of some of my decor...I actually value creating things with my hands that take enough time to slow my heart and mind into a restful rhythm. I often pull one or several children into the process. This is where an artsy 12 year old daughter comes in really, really handy. She truly is the one who transforms many of my brainstorms into reality.

I re-purposed the wreaths after the family gathering to create some Christmas greeting cards.  See...that time investment was not all in vain.

I have  recently become a clip board fanatic. This is a super simple way to change out seasonal decor. You can either create your own art or find an online printable and SHAZAM......you have a new look!

Baby Jesus is represented around our house at a number of different places by various nativities. My little ones have come to love the tradition of wrapping this very life like doll in white cloth and placing him in our manger, which  is a crate. Baby Jesus gets lots of tender loving care, especially by the little girls in my house.

There you have it.


My {simple} Christmas tour.