Am I alone? I don't decorate for holidays

[hikerchick]

I am a single mom. My daughter goes to her dad's for the holidays. I have no family nearby. I don't entertain. I like to spend my holidays quietly and simply.

Hence, I don't spend time and money putting up decorations that don't do anything for me; and that consume even more time taking them down.

I work a full time job, a part time job, and mystery shop in between. My time is precious to me.

Surely someone else feels the same way? I have been chastised elsewhere for feeling this way.

 

[Wifezilla]

Do what works for you. I like decorating and find it fun. If it starts to be a chore I would stop for sure. I have changed what decorating for the holidays means though. I don't dismantle the living room to put up a tree. I just have 2 decorative wall sconces made out of our old artificial tree that I put the ornaments on. Takes me about 2 minutes to put them up. No firnuture moving required

 

[hikerchick]

Thanks WZ. I was surprised to find that not everyone has your live and let live attitude.

 

[sylvie]

Depends what is going on for me. I like to decorate but there has been a few Christmases when we spent the holidays at hospital. I trot out the festive plates for meals instead. Those are lucky to be washed on the same day, lol!
I do try to at least decorate the mailbox for our wonderful mail lady.

 

[delia_peterson]

Do what works for you. I like decorating and find it fun. If it starts to be a chore I would stop for sure. I have changed what decorating for the holidays means though. I don't dismantle the living room to put up a tree. I just have 2 decorative wall sconces made out of our old artificial tree that I put the ornaments on. Takes me about 2 minutes to put them up. No firnuture moving required

Hey WZ! Can we see pics of the wall sconces? That sounds like a cool idea..I have limited space.

 

[hwillm1977]

I love decorating, and I love the smell of pine tree in the house.

Everytime I walk the dogs in December I take a pair of garden shears out with me and come back with a bag of branch tips (I live in a rural area, we're walking through forest... I'm not cutting people's landscaping down, lol) I make them into wreaths, swags, etc.... I have some decorations from the dollar store that I hang on them, then they get mulched after Christmas.

We don't entertain either and it's just my husband and I here, but I like the cheeriness of having the decorations up.

We have on occasion not bothered putting a tree up, and we probably won't this year either... just natural scavenged decor here

 

[Wifezilla]

Delia, I have a dead camera battery. Not dead as in not charged but dead as in wont hold a charge. I will see if I can get decent pics with my cell later.

 

[Nifty]

We don't decorate very much... not because we don't really want to, but because it always seems like the season comes and goes pretty quickly and before we know it, season has come and gone. Fortunately we spend a lot of time with family and friends who all decorate a lot.

I was just talking with a friend who's family has a ton of traditions. They are pretty big sticklers for making and keeping traditions. I think they are fine, but I believe there should be moderation in all things... if the traditions start to become super structured "it must happen and must be done this way at this time and nothing else matters" then I think the spirit of the tradition starts to be lost.

 

[Henrietta23]

We decorate, mostly inside though. We have some sentimental pieces that we enjoy seeing every year. We put up greens. We decorate a lot later than most of the people around us, then keep everything up until January 6th. My snowman collection will stay up even longer since they're not directly related to Christmas. This year I'm thinking of not even putting them up until I've taken the Christmas stuff down.
We have scaled back some years, like the year we were out of the country for a week right before Christmas.
You have to do what is right for you. Just because you don't have decorations up doesn't mean you don't have Christmas in your heart.

 

[delia_peterson]

Delia, I have a dead camera battery. Not dead as in not charged but dead as in wont hold a charge. I will see if I can get decent pics with my cell later.

OK, Thank you!