simple holidays

This year, we’ve been craving simple.

Most of that is probably because our home is on the market… but we usually play it low key with the holidaisical hooplah over here. When the year gets crazy, we’re usually just thankful to make it out alive… That sounds like a dramatical first world problem, and that’s because it totally is. The demands of it all can get to be so much, we feel like we forget the reason for it all. So we usually celebrate by doing less. It’s how we roll.

Bah humbug us if you will, we just like keeping our sanity. And this helps a little. So this year in the spirit of keeping it simple, I had a brilliant idea. I was all, “Hey kids.”

They saw it coming from a  mile away.

But I tried anyway.

So I was all, “Hey kids… hypothetically speaking, since everything Christmas is in storage because we didn’t think we’d still be living here, what if we didn’t do a big tree? What if, you know… hypothetically speaking, we just decorated your trees in your space, and left the rest?”

And they basically responded with, “How about we hypothetically punch you in the face?”

Not really. But kind of. And it was hysterical.

So here we are. With our scaled back version of the holidays. But we definitely did a big tree anyway because our kids totally bullied us into it.

Not-so-secretly, I think we would have missed it.

We just love the peek of it from the entryway. And we’re celebrating in our own, small ways to cozy up our home without being too invasive on the decor front. Just enough little sparkle and cozy to make us smile.

The homeschool space has a little homespun vibe this year, with assorted garlands and homemade art.

Our sweet little advent calendar, which we started counting down yesterday.

And one of our favorite little creations ever – their homemade nativity scene… apparently a neurotic polar bear and cadbury egg were present.

The kitchen is decked out in a few ornaments and a fun table scene. It’s amazing what a little chalkboard art can do to make it feel more festive. It’s the little things.

And a sweet little table setting to make things feel a little more special at the table.

We scooped up a mini tree from the local home improvement store to put in a little tub for our window, and draped it with some old beads.

We found some glitter alphabet ornaments at the craft store to double as place settings, 

And used wood slices for placemats.

Our fabric paired with vintage sodas and some sweet greenery and ornaments are all we needed to liven up the table.

Jamin says all he can see in the runner is Galaga. I say it’s the Christmas version, just for his childhood memories.

We love mixing up a colorful, simple dose of fun for the holidays.

The living room is decked out with a little fun, in our Every Time A Bell Rings art,

And this not-so-little birch star. The tutorial is so simple, no tools are required, and it only took about thirty minutes. We’ll be sharing a {ridiculously easy} quick how to next week.

Read all about how to make our tassel garland here… it’s a fun, colorful addition to our mantel!

This year, we mixed it up a little in the stocking department…

And accented some finds with little handmade tags. Another super simple project we did with the kiddos last week, that we’ll share in a few days!

Just a sweet little festive feel for the living room!

And the piéce de résistance {that apparently would have caused our children angst and years of therapy had we not included it} : The tree!

We went a little smaller this year since it usually adorns our studio, and we love it.

We’re big sentimental ornament types, so we have a hodgepodge of things over the years that we enjoy including with colorful ornament balls.

And sweet little presents tucked away…

That we already found the kids peeking into.

Psssst… Don’t forget about our hand lettered ornaments! {Available in Joy-full + Y’all}

Our room has a simple wreath for our barn door…

And more of our fabric as a quick refresher to brighten up the space.

The boys still love sharing their room…

And we let them deck out their own tree in their own spaces. It’s these sweet touches that make our day. It’s what they look forward to, the very most.

She’s been asking when the elves will show… {yes, we have more than one} Five years into this gig and the elves wait a little longer, nowadays.

And Rigby and Fitz have promised not to eat any ornaments. Kind of.

Maybe.

Never mind. they say it was dewicious.

As always, let us know if you have any questions – have an inspired day!