Last year slipped away from me. When Christmas arrived it was almost a surprise. I missed spring and summer. How did that happen? It used to be easy to know when to switch out holiday decor because I had little ones telling me. Now that I’m an empty nester I don’t decorate for every holiday.
Is time passing by too fast for you?Â
Do you suppose this happens because the retail stores are muddling with our internal calendar? Before Holloween is over, Christmas trees are displayed and on January 2nd this year, my store had Valentine’s Day decor to purchase.Â
This year I am stopping time! You can too!
The plan?
Decorate for each season. I don’t mean full-out window gels and wreaths on the door. I don’t have the time or money to purchase and make decorations that will also need to be stored.
The solution?
Find one place in your home that you pass by every day. It might be a shelf, a small spot on the kitchen counter or like me the fireplace mantle.
Yes, I have one. No, it doesn’t get changed except for Christmas.
Until now.
I refuse to go through another year of catching up to the seasons. I have this stunning mantle. It is part of a log cabin from my home state of Missouri. This old log has seen a lot of seasons!
Winter decorating can be a challenge because it’s right after Christmas and the house looks so dull.
I wanted to have some sparkle to reflect the snow and ice of winter. I spray painted a few pinecones from our tree, let them dry, and then put them in this small vase. The rest of the decor on the mantle didn’t change. By adding this one piece, I know at a glance what season it is.
Next month I’ll be taking away this  piece and adding something red for Valentine’s Day.
So tell me in the comments, “Do you decorate for the seasons and holidays?”
We put up a tree for Christmas and I have some hand towels I get out for the kitchen for Christmas and we kinda do Easter (with no littles at home, that’s slowly stopping); Too, more and more we don’t want/need the sweets attached to any season/holiday.
Part of the ongoing challenge is getting the house in a state that will allow decoraating. I am still needing to sort/ declutter, a major challenge as we have so much to sort thru, plus storing stuff for our adult children. My son and family who live in Oregon have most of their stuff stored with us. We’ve talked about getting a moving van lined up to get it ALL to them. That would be a mahjor start in what needs to be done.
My goal is to have the dining room table be the seasonal display area, with a centerpiece for the seasons/holidays we choose to celebrate. I love getting bouquets of fresh flowers to brighten up the house and that can be done any time.
I love fresh flowers. Sams has them at a decent price and you can break up their bouquets into a lot of smaller ones. My daughter-in-law taught me that trick. Hmm, maybe that will be my Valentine’s Day decor.
Just for Christmas and the Christmas tree is as far as I go. Cute idea you have here but I probably just stick with Christmas time. :):):)
Jennifer, I admire your ability to keep track of time without a reminder. 🙂
I decorate ever so slightly for different seasons/occasions. I, too, change the wreath on the front door to reflect the season, but the interior changes are subtle. For instance, I’ll use seasonal towels in the kitchen draped over the oven door handle–ones for Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Easter, Thanksgiving, etc. I use guest towels in the bathroom with a seasonal color or motif. I also enjoy using the foam hand soap in the bathrooms based on seasonal aromas–pumpkin or cinnamon for fall, peppermint for Christmas and Valentine’s Day, and ocean breeze, coconut, or pineapple for summer. So, I keep my seasonal decorations simple .
Brilliant! I hadn’t thought about using different towels! Thank you for the idea!
I have certain things I like to put out for the different seasons of the year. It does help to celebrate each season of the year as well as each season of our lives. Thanks for sharing this post. Time does seem to fly by. Taking time to celebrate each season is a great way to acknowledge the time of year. Remembering God’s creation and how it changes from season to season can also help us to celebrate His creation.
Blessings to you,
Deborah
http://DeborahHBateman.com
Deborah, I love the point that you made about remembering God’s creation and how it changes from season to season. Thank you for bringing that to my attention.
Good idea! I usually don’t decorate for the seasons except a wreath on the outside of my house…until the wind blows it down. *cringe* Right now my Christmas tree is still up (I need a new box to put it in)! But I’ll be seriously considering your idea. Brilliant!
Shelley, thanks for that giggle. Your wreath blowing away and the tree still waiting for a box paint quite a picture.