topic Re: AFTER HOLIDAYS.... in Home

AFTER HOLIDAYS....

Oznell — Thu, 01 Jan 2026 20:04:49 GMT

As always, I'm curious about how people decorate in their houses AFTER Christmas, and through the long winter.

She outlined above her personal guideline for winter coziness, which seems to work quite well for her traditional house.

If you have a "winter formula", hope you will describe what you usually do after Christmas.

Here are a few ways that she puts her "recipe" into practice--

Do you think that she exemplifies her "recipe" successfully?

I noted that she didn't have "color" on her list. Perhaps some tire of overt color after the exuberant holidays, with their brighter hues.

I can go either way, but noted that other winter decor samples aroung the web also seemed to de-emphasize color, while retaining shine, sparkle, texture, natural elements. A few mantels:

Can never go wrong with candles and fairy lights--

LOVE little birch logs--

Sparkle--

I took down Christmas the other day, early for me. On my cabinet, I had had two large blue and white jars, with sheer burgundy ribbons tied around them, and bright Christmas blooms in one.

Down they came, and up went a tall milk glass swung vase, with spiky branches in it, and a modern white Polish art glass vase. In winter, I like to warm up my milk glass, by interspersing with brass, so brass candlesticks went up too. And a hobnail milk glass ivy bowl.

So I guess I went neutral too, with clean white and the gold of the brass.

Nubbly ivory pillow covers went on over my usual blue and cream ikat ones.

Thick, fluffy ivory throw...

Of course, it will change again in about two weeks, ha.

For those of you who do decorate for "winter", would love to know what you do or what you plan....

Re: AFTER HOLIDAYS....

Oznell — Thu, 01 Jan 2026 20:08:41 GMT

Oops, I rudely kept saying "she" in the above post, forgetting to specify I was talking about Suzy, at Worthing Court!

Re: AFTER HOLIDAYS....

qualitygal — Thu, 01 Jan 2026 20:11:57 GMT

Enjoyed them all. I just put things back to where they were before. Only now, I have a card table and chair set up to do my puzzle. Those pictures were beautiful though.

Re: AFTER HOLIDAYS....

Laura14 — Thu, 01 Jan 2026 21:15:43 GMT

My mother's entire house is this cream, wood, and beige accents palette. Very farmhouse and very pretty.

She accents with green houseplants and I knitted some cream blankets that she has thrown over the couch and love seats.

She also blends in copper, silver, and gray tones.

Re: AFTER HOLIDAYS....

DSD2 — Thu, 01 Jan 2026 21:50:09 GMT

@Oznell I will be keeping my tree up for a few more weeks.

As January is so dismal (my birthday month natch) I keep some fairy lights up year round I have many of Val's hurricane lamps and change them throughout the year. I also keep Val's trees up until March as it seems appropriate as we get so much snow here in New England.

I enjoyed this as I do all your postings. So pretty!

Re: AFTER HOLIDAYS....

AuntG — Thu, 01 Jan 2026 22:20:28 GMT

Suzy nailed it! In fact, many people might find her style perfect for Christmas too.

Re: AFTER HOLIDAYS....

Patriot3 — Thu, 01 Jan 2026 22:31:25 GMT

You might think I'm crazy, but I leave everything up all winter. The house glows and since I have an aversion to dark, drab days, I need the light around me. I don't care what others think, I need to have my light.

Re: AFTER HOLIDAYS....

Bonkers1 — Fri, 02 Jan 2026 00:36:04 GMT

I take all the decorations off my tree except for the lights. I switch over to white lights and move the tree into a corner. I also use a lot of candles and fairy lights.

Re: AFTER HOLIDAYS....

Tori3569 — Fri, 02 Jan 2026 02:55:39 GMT

I just switched over my front bay window to several of the elements you mentioned above. I now have white birch branches that have white lights in large jars with greenery in them. Also a birch lit garland laying in front of them.

Also some winter white ceramic animal figure I got at Anthropologie last year--a polar bear and a reindeer. They're white with gold accents.

I love having lights in my window throughout winter.

Re: AFTER HOLIDAYS....

JeanLouiseFinch — Fri, 02 Jan 2026 03:13:54 GMT

We don't decorate for after Christmas. Our Christmas decorations get put away and we return to our normal decor, how it was before Christmas. DH took care of that today.

Re: AFTER HOLIDAYS....

matty liz — Fri, 02 Jan 2026 04:16:27 GMT

Patriot3, thank you. I love the tree up all year. It is 5 feet narrow and I go with the season.

Re: AFTER HOLIDAYS....

nrm — Fri, 02 Jan 2026 05:50:01 GMT

@Oznell Beautiful photos! Thank you 😊

Re: AFTER HOLIDAYS....

Imaoldhippie — Fri, 02 Jan 2026 11:34:59 GMT

They are all very pretty. I especially like the pig in the wreath. Very cute and made me smile.

Re: AFTER HOLIDAYS....

ciao_bella — Fri, 02 Jan 2026 13:58:49 GMT

I decorate my fireplace mantel with a winter scene so that it can stay up well after Christmas and not be taken down until early March. Here is a picture I took while I was decorating. All the large and small candles are lit on a timer as well as the many tiny lights in the white birch trees. The snow evergreens at the base also have tiny white fairy lights that light up at night.

I found moose figurines (one standing, one sitting) that I loved, so bought them instead of using deer that you mostly see in winter decor. If the picture is too small, you can enlarge it to see it better.

Re: AFTER HOLIDAYS....

Oznell — Fri, 02 Jan 2026 15:37:47 GMT

Thanks all for taking the time to describe such appealing and varied ways of dealing with the "post-holiday" scene.

By the way, I love that several people mentioned "birch" in their descriptions!

And, @ciao_bella , thanks for posting the picture of your wonderful mantel! The overall feeling it gives me is of a luxe, cozy ski lodge. You are right, it is so versatile, can last from before Christmas till long after. Love all the light against the warm, rich brick, a welcome sight through the long winter...

Re: AFTER HOLIDAYS....

shoptilyadropagain — Fri, 02 Jan 2026 15:48:14 GMT

I do very little seasonal decorating except for Christmas. Once the Christmas decorations come down, it's back to my normal decor for 11 months.

Whle the above pictures are beautiful, the use of greenery, white candles, white lights, etc. still screams Christmas to me. I know it might not to some but it does to me.

Re: AFTER HOLIDAYS....

CANDLEQUEEN — Fri, 02 Jan 2026 17:24:51 GMT

My tree and Christmas decor is coming down tomorrow, and I always use lots of candles, throws and fairy lights, and hurricanes all winter long!!! I love the coziness of it all...

Re: AFTER HOLIDAYS....

Marsha2003 — Fri, 02 Jan 2026 17:39:25 GMT

I was slow to decorate for the holidays this year and I am slow to take things down. I imagine I'll get to it this weekend.

My winter decor will be knitted throws, darker colored wool pillow covers and candles. I have a long, velvet tablecloth for the dining room table, but I'm usually too lazy to get that out as it is heavy and unwieldy.

Re: AFTER HOLIDAYS....

GingerHead — Sat, 03 Jan 2026 00:14:30 GMT

@Oznell

All beautiful! I love the way she decorates, very clean and cozy. Her after Christmas decorations look a lot like my Christmas decorations.

My Christmas decorations have evolved to be very natural and wintery (for the most part) with whites, neutrals, natural elements (greens and pinecones) and of course white lights and fairy lights.

Usually, I take things down the next day but I'm enjoying my decorations so much this year that I'm very slow to take them down. Luckily, nothing that I have up really screams Christmas and has been kind of incorporated into my decor (I didn't have to move stuff around).

I'll probably take the ornaments off my trees and take down the more obvious Christmas decor and just keep my trees up with only the lights for a couple of more weeks. I'll take the ornaments out of my centerpiece Dough bowl and put in pinecones and moss.

I change things up every year, so no real rules for me.....

PS. Your after Christmas decor sounds lovely!

Thanks again for the lovelies!!!!

Re: AFTER HOLIDAYS....

Oznell — Sat, 03 Jan 2026 23:10:43 GMT

Agree, @GingerHead , it's much less depressing "taking down" Christmas, if much of what you already have up is versatile enough to span the winter season-- it sounds like you are very much still left, after take-down, with light, natural elements and coziness, that can just go on and on for months...