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Honored Contributor
Posts: 15,522
Registered: ‎09-01-2010

Re: How much Christmas do you have?

I have a lot, and absolutely will not be buying anything else, period.   

 

My family has aged to the point no one wants big decor.   We pull only a few favorite pieces out each year, and that’s it.  

 

My girls are inching closer to 40, and realize holiday decorating is simply more work.   By the time teacher daughter decorates a tree, and her classroom, she isn’t interested in decorating here.   My trucker daughter doesn’t get to spend much time at home for Christmas, so she values sleeping in her bed over decorating, so we agreed to keep things as simple as possible.   

 

I am not tempted to buy anything else Christmas.   

Honored Contributor
Posts: 20,019
Registered: ‎08-08-2010

Re: How much Christmas do you have?


@loriqvc wrote:

@mousiegirl wrote:

@loriqvc wrote:

@Just Bling wrote:

Oh the new Holiday/Christmas items look really nice BUT I have so much and there's only so much space to store and only so many totes fit.

 

I remember my mom's house, the entire basement wall and storage under the steps was full of Christmas.  It wasn't just Dollar store stuff, it was some really expensive porcelain and ceramic figurines, lighted trees, and reindeer.

 

So, sadly i don't have room....do you?

 

 


I always wish I had more room for decorative things . . . and more rooms to decorate! But I've slowly learned over the years that just because something is beautiful or fun or amazing, that doesn't mean I must own it. I can just know that it's out there in the universe and try to be content with having seen it.

 

* And surprisingly, that lofty idealism does work some of the time. Smiley Wink *


 

@loriqvc  This reminds me of decades ago when DH began to see my penchant for buying Christmas decor, " why can't we be happy with what we have," lol, but then, I hardly had anything, now it is unbelievable!


For Christmas items, I finally got to the point where I pinned down two different themes for holiday decorating so I'd have both some flexibility and some structure from year to year, and now I'm only "allowed" to buy more items if A) they fit one of the themes AND B) I have a place to put them away right now or am willing to give away or sell something to make a place to put them away right now. It has worked pretty well, and my OCD tendencies are happy in having orderly decor and storage.


 

@loriqvc

 

Will you share what the two themes are?

Frequent Contributor
Posts: 98
Registered: ‎03-12-2010

Re: How much Christmas do you have?

I inherited a fair amount of Christmas decorations in addition to collecting some myself through the years. Last January I donated a bunch of my Christmas stuff and my goal this Fall is to go through ALL of it and pare down to, hopefully, 50%. The inherited decorations from my childhood are the most meaningful to me and bring back such fond memories. But I also love my current more-modern sparkly stuff. Sounds like a mish-mash, I know, but hopefully I'll find a "happy medium." I am at a point where I only want to keep what I consider a "treasure."

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 5,915
Registered: ‎11-06-2011

Re: How much Christmas do you have?

[ Edited ]

@Mominohio wrote:

@loriqvc wrote:

@mousiegirl wrote:

@loriqvc wrote:

@Just Bling wrote:

Oh the new Holiday/Christmas items look really nice BUT I have so much and there's only so much space to store and only so many totes fit.

 

I remember my mom's house, the entire basement wall and storage under the steps was full of Christmas.  It wasn't just Dollar store stuff, it was some really expensive porcelain and ceramic figurines, lighted trees, and reindeer.

 

So, sadly i don't have room....do you?

 

 


I always wish I had more room for decorative things . . . and more rooms to decorate! But I've slowly learned over the years that just because something is beautiful or fun or amazing, that doesn't mean I must own it. I can just know that it's out there in the universe and try to be content with having seen it.

 

* And surprisingly, that lofty idealism does work some of the time. Smiley Wink *


 

@loriqvc  This reminds me of decades ago when DH began to see my penchant for buying Christmas decor, " why can't we be happy with what we have," lol, but then, I hardly had anything, now it is unbelievable!


For Christmas items, I finally got to the point where I pinned down two different themes for holiday decorating so I'd have both some flexibility and some structure from year to year, and now I'm only "allowed" to buy more items if A) they fit one of the themes AND B) I have a place to put them away right now or am willing to give away or sell something to make a place to put them away right now. It has worked pretty well, and my OCD tendencies are happy in having orderly decor and storage.


 

@loriqvc

 

Will you share what the two themes are?


Sure! The theme I use most often features the Scottish Wallace plaid, a black-and-red grid pattern with a few lines of gold that looks very similar to the classic Scotch tape branding. This theme features lots of rich red and warm gold accent pieces to complement the tree skirt, towels, table runner, pillows, and throws I have in the Wallace fabric, most of which are imported directly from Scotland, along with a couple of traditional pine wreaths simply adorned with red berries and small pinecones. My prelit faux Douglas Fir tree has warm white lights that fit the the theme well, and in this setup, I only add medium-size shiny red balls with gold tops as ornaments and occasionally top the tree with a gold star or a bow made of ribbon in the Wallace plaid.

 

The second theme is blue and silver snowflakes, which sometimes make the house look like Hanukkah rather than Christmas, but cobalt blue is my favorite color, so there's plenty of blue around all the time. This theme focuses on all different types of snowflake-decorated items, and because I absolutely despise glitter, all of the silver is as shiny as possible without including that hateful stuff. Smiley Wink  The overall look is more modern, though not impersonally so, and I don't really mind incorporating multiple shades of blue as long as they don't go too aqua or teal overall. The tree gets blue and silver ball ornaments (my favorite, in case you couldn't guess that), a few silver metal icicles, and a silver snowflake as the topper. I don't have a tree skirt for this one yet (all the best ones have had glitter), so I just gather/pile a fluffy white blanket around the base of the tree. Depending on how overdone the snowflakes may seem, I even have snowflake-shaped light strands and a garland with dangling silver snowflakes that I can add.

 

Howdja like that novel? Christmas decorating is so much fun! Smiley Very Happy




 

Valued Contributor
Posts: 920
Registered: ‎11-25-2014

Re: How much Christmas do you have?

Exactly my thoughts. Bringing a smile to others with her generous donations are the best.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 9,979
Registered: ‎07-28-2012

Re: How much Christmas do you have?

Well I have too much, lol. Several years ago I did a purge, of sorts. But, the last 2 years I have added more back in. This is the year I pare down, again. Early November I will pull ALL of it out, go through everything and make the final decision on what to keep and what to donate, in time for other people to have those items in time for their own Christmas season's decorations. I don't plan to add anything back in, in the foreseeable future. I believe this weekend is the big CIJ on Q, I will not be watching. "Famous last words", right.
"To each their own, in all things".
Valued Contributor
Posts: 920
Registered: ‎11-25-2014

Re: How much Christmas do you have?

When I decided to go throughmy Christmas items and many like your’s have come from relatives who are no longer with us, it made it easier once I realized they didn’t make them. 

I prefer to have memories of my relatives and not Christmas decorations which came from a corporation for dollars. 

 

 

Honored Contributor
Posts: 25,929
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: How much Christmas do you have?

You simply can't own everything. There is no room to store it , it costs a lot to buy nice things and I don't have enough room to display it nicely. So I am planning to be in purge mode this coming winter when I get out the Christmas bins.

If I'm successful - it is hard to get rid of stuff that was my Mom or Grandmas stuff - I should have less bins to have to store away next year, and more room in my closet. 

One thing for sure I'm getting rid of - I have several dolls dressed in Christmas finery  that were my Grandmothers. She would sit them out on her buffet every year.I never displayed them and I'm sick of storing them. They are very pretty. I'm gonna give them to the food bank because they have toy give away every year at Christmas and they don't get a lot of dolls. These aren't the porcelain type dolls they are vinyl I guess. Just regular child's dolls.And in very good , like new condition.

Frequent Contributor
Posts: 109
Registered: ‎07-01-2010

Re: How much Christmas do you have?


@Just Bling wrote:

Oh the new Holiday/Christmas items look really nice BUT I have so much and there's only so much space to store and only so many totes fit.

 

I remember my mom's house, the entire basement wall and storage under the steps was full of Christmas.  It wasn't just Dollar store stuff, it was some really expensive porcelain and ceramic figurines, lighted trees, and reindeer.

 

So, sadly i don't have room....do you?

 

 


Back in the day I was able to put all my Christmas decor under my stairs in the nook.  Fast forward 33 years,  I have enough Christmas decor to decorate 3 homes top to bottom.  Every year when I'm taking all the stuff down and putting it away I swear to myself that I won't buy any more.  Well I failed again this year too.  I'm weak... maybe next year.