Am I alone? I don't decorate for holidays

[FarmerChick]

I decorate. I love it, in little doses.

But honestly, why would anyone "care" or "mind" or be in "someone's business" about decorating for the holidays...LOL

Those who put you down for not decorating need to GET A LIFE, preferably one as busy as your own then they don't have time to make idiot comments...

Who in this world cares who decorates or doesn't...LOL...I sure don't.

I do a little cause I have 5 year old kid. I gotta do some for her.....but when she is gone and in college --I "might" or "might not" decorate...who knows...time will tell.

Everyone has stages and phases in their life....when you do this or that....you happen to be in the "I have no time in my life" stage....decorating only if it pleases you..if it doesn't, then don't....and no one should be commenting on it seriously...

 

[big brown horse]

A family we go to church with has their whole house decorated with Christmas stuff all year long... LOTS of stuff. Then, when it is holiday time (like now) they step it up a few notches and even give tours... it's crazy.

Do they decorate it all by themselves?!

 

[big brown horse]

I said I wasn't going to this year (think I say it every year) but I just hung my outdoor wreath and lit up a little pink pig my friends gave me for my birthday. (He IS SOO cute, he has a Christmas hat and a scarf to match!)




Puttin up the tree tonight...

 

[Beekissed]

I decorate, but mostly with things I scrounge or make by myself. I decorate because I don't have much money to buy a pile of gifts and I've never really thought that presents were what made Christmas special anyway.

I try to create a feeling.....a holy, soulful, special warm feeling with colors, scents and subtle decorations of live boughs, wreaths and swags. I also like the house to have soft lighting and good smells.

I don't have a lot of things to make my house pretty the rest of the year, so this is my chance to make Christmas kind of stand up and be noticed. I want the boys to feel like this is a time of celebration and a time of love.

It's sort of my nesting instinct run amuck...especially this year, when my strays are getting to come home and family is visiting.

 

[2dream]

I have not done much in the way of decoration in several years. I use to do the "IN EXCESS" thing. Animated Santa's, lights everywhere. Every available surface inside and out. LOL Awwww and then the kids grew up and did not care. All they wanted was money for Christmas. So I stopped. Did no decoration for several years.
For the last few years I just did a wreath, and a small live tree that was transplanted outside after Christmas.
But for some reason this year I want decorations. Not the "every available surface" thing. But more than the little tree and a door wreath. But so far I have made no move to get there. Sooooo I may not again this year. We will see.

So like FC said. We go through stages. And I know exactly how you feel. When I stopped decorating altogether people were always shocked and had some rude something to say. Never bothered me. But I always wondered where they got off saying anything at all. I usually just laughed and told them to think of me after Christmas when they were struggling to take it all down.

 

[inchworm]

My idea of decorating is to decorate a real tree with dried flowers, pinecones, seed pods, etc. Then toss the whole darn thing out in the woods when I'm done with it. The family won't let me do it, but I dream about it each year when I have to get those darned Christmas boxes out from the back of the closet

Inch, the Grinch

 

[Beekissed]

Inchy, I made wreaths out of dried sunflower heads and field corn once and the squirrels and birds loved it!

We usually cut a Charlie Brown tree for the porch and then use it for firewood afterwards. Actually, all the pine boughs will be repurposed after Christmas.

Common juniper (Juniperus communis) has deworming properties, notably against liverfluke

If I can appropriate any juniper this year for wreaths, the sheep will be getting a nibble or two, if they want them.

 

[lorihadams]

I'm finding it harder and harder every year to get excited about christmas. I have a 4 yr old and a 2 yr old and I am tired of all the excess. We usually put up the tree the week before christmas and I don't know if we will be doing the house lights this year. I just dread it every year cause my family just doesn't know when to stop. Last year my kids had so many presents from my grandparents and parents they had to rent a u-haul to bring them. They opened gifts for 2 hours xmas eve and then all day the next day and by the third or fourth gift they didn't even want to open any more. It's just too much. They get 2 or 3 gifts from us and then their stockings. It is just ridiculous.

We also don't have a lot of extra room so I don't have a lot of decorations for inside the house, just the tree really.

 

[FarmerChick]

I know exactly what you mean Lori. I feel the same way. The excess can actually be sickening in a way...overkill.

My Mom said what does Nicole need? I said nothing..LOL...so she is ONLY getting her a princess and prince doll and some candy santas or something like that. And she is giving her $100---I said cash to put into her college fund is more important than an overload of gifts. (plastic crap I have to pick up to vacuum..lol)

I told Tony's parents the same thing----so Nicole gets a few things and $200 goes into her college CD.

Just talk to them...tell them the toys is not needed to an extreme level...they will understand. My parents and inlaws did.

 

[me&thegals]

Holy cow!! I feel like our kids are overloaded with toys, and they only get 1 gift from each family member for b-days, no Christmas gifts at all.

I don't want to stick my nose where it doesn't belong, but would generous grandparents consider letting the kids pick out a few charities to donate to? My kids had a blast using some of their summer earnings to pick out Heifer International gifts for families here and abroad.

As for decorating, I decorate seasonally. I like fall and winter decorations and have a beautiful wooden bowl on the dining table that we fill with whatever is going on. It had been full of beautiful empty honeycomb, bluejay feathers, special stones, etc. Probably now we'll find pinecombs, beautiful winter berries and other decorations. When it's really, truly winter I get out all my snowman stuff. Summer and spring has so much of their own beauty going on that I let them speak for themselves.