Something is wrong with me.

Let me explain. I think it started last year, within one hour, I got all of my pretty vintage garland out and put it on the huge, long railing of our stairs, looked at it, it annoyed me, and I took it all down.  I packed it up and sold it at my yard sale a few months ago.  I ended up finding some fresh garland and hanging it at one little spot on the railing and in our breakfast area.

Fast forward to yesterday.  I have 4 bins of Christmas stuff in our garage.  One is now empty after putting lights on the tree.  So I looked through those three bins thinking I could put a few things out and join in Rhoda’s Christmas Vignette party today.

And let me also take this moment to have a disclaimer.   I LOVE Christmas decorations.  I love bright colors together, I love when people do all whites, I love red and naturals, glitter and silver and gold is gorgeous,  I love plaids and layers and textures and tiny details, I think it’s all so beautiful, and I appreciate the creativity and artisticness of the person who takes the time to lovingly decorate their home {I like to think I am one of those people}.  But for some reason, this year, when I tried to put a few items around in my home, they annoyed me.

And the fact that my Christmas decor annoyed me~annoyed me.  Are you getting this?  I panicked a little am I becoming a minimalist? Not that there’s anything wrong with that {insert Seinfeld laugh track}.  I mean look at that photo up there, there’s a ROCK on my dresser.  A rock.  And it’s the thing that’s NOT annoying me?

In my defense, the rock does relate to my the container of forced bulbs and rocks. I did manage to sneak an ornament in those leaves, that is Christmasy, right?

The only things I could put up with were the most simple of items.  A bowl of nuts and a few ornaments sprinkled here and there. Forgive me for thinking this angle will look fun, it just looks annoying, doesn’t it? See? EVERYTHING is annoying me.  What is my problem?!

This room is all dressed up for the holidays.  See it?  There’s another ornament tucked in that brown branchy stuff. Done.

So, maybe tomorrow I’ll unpack everything in those three bins.  Or maybe I’ll sell them at a yard sale next year.  It’s very freeing for me to not feel like I have to put all my regular stuff out this year.  Maybe this house finally feels like home and I no longer have to try so hard to create that seasonal warmth and feel that I’m after.  We haven’t lived in a house this long in years.  Or maybe I’m changing and I can only tolerate so much stuff in my house.

It’s perfectly wonderful to have a home fully decorated for Christmas, no matter what that means in this season for you.  I’m learning to realize what having a home that’s ready for the holidays means for our family right now.  And this year I embracing all the ways to get that Christmas feeling in our home; music {the classical Christmas channel on our TV is wonderful} food, tradition, gatherings, time, space, slowness, and items in our home that remind me of the true meaning of the season.

There is no wrong or right way to decorate especially when it’s done with purpose.

What are you doing differently this year?