A Little Change

During the Christmas season, I want my home to feel especially festive. But, I don't enjoy doing major clean-up after the holidays or spending a lot of money. Luckily, small changes have a major impact.

To prevent a cluttered feeling, clear your "to be decorated" surfaces and store those year-round decorations in your Christmas decoration storage containers. When you are returning the decorations to storage, they'll just trade places with the others. So easy!

Beyond decorating the Christmas tree, creating a beautiful centerpiece for your dining room table is a nice place to start. Most of us have a glass vase in the basement or kitchen from a bouquet of flowers. This is a perfect time to reuse it. 

Cut a few twigs from the base of your Christmas tree to line the outside of the vase. Then, fill the vase with some of your favorite holiday decorations. I spent less than ten dollars on a cranberry garland and some cinnamon pinecones.  If you buy a garland, use wire cutters to trim a few short sections to line the inside of your vase. Fill the center of the vase with pinecones. If you have additional garland, you could lay it like a wreath around the vase to give the centerpiece a fuller look.

Other ideas: I considered using fresh cranberries and stringing them to make a garland, but am hoping to pull my centerpiece out of my Christmas box next year. Another option would be to collect pine cones and twigs from your backyard, if you have lovely, large pine trees. Or, fill the vase with ornaments that you didn't use on the tree.