Holiday Magic

I will never forget snuggling up with my older sister Christmas Eve, and looking out the window at the red sky. It was red because we lived in the city and the holiday lights were reflecting on the clouds. I was just sure that it was Rudolph’s nose lighting the way for Santa’s sleigh.

My parents had so much fun creating the holidays for us, as kids. The lengths they went to, playing Santa were admirable. Footprints were made in the fireplace soot, leaving tracks on the hearth. Half eaten cookies and carrots were left for us to find in the morning with notes of thanks from the old elf and his reindeer. They pulled all this together and had so much fun doing it. They must have. What else can explain the creativity?

Today, we have so much pressure to create the perfect holiday experience. Pinterest and design blogs show us perfection in décor and baked goods that shame the best bakeries. The elf on the shelf may be nothing new, but it certainly is a trend for families to go to great lengths to amuse their children, always developing a better idea than the year before. No wonder many adults lose the magic of the holidays. We are too pressured for perfection. It is no longer fun and games, it is competition. We need to let go of the “perfect” holiday and embrace what we have on our own.

I recently wrote a blog post about holiday décor. In writing the post, I began to look forward to decorating my home. Thinking about a different way to approach holiday décor and actually applying my own suggestions to myself is something that I sadly rarely get the opportunity to do. I want to share some of the ideas from that post with you here, bringing some of that magic back to your festivities.

When we open up our seasonal décor storage boxes, what do we find? Figurines of holiday characters? Christmas ornaments from years past? Lots and lots of red and green? We remove one item at a time, and meander around our homes trying to find the best spot to place it. It is my suggestion that we take an entirely different approach to seasonal décor. For those who are planning on a little décor shopping, before even heading out, take a look at your home’s existing color palette. My home’s palette includes shades of grey and mushroom with pops of bright green and bright yellow. Tradition tells me that I should add red and green to the mix, but my design training tells me that is bonkers. Rather than break out the red and green, this year I will consider the existing palette and work with it, rather than against it.

With a new color palette in my holiday décor, I am also going to consider the style of the accessories I purchase. I live in a farmhouse, and if I were to put a name on our design style, I would have to say it is Industrial-macabre-Scandinavian (okay, okay, I couldn’t pick one word!). As sweet as much of the traditional décor may be, it just does not suit my husband’s or my decorating style. We are looking for grey, green, and yellow décor with an industrial, macabre, or Scandinavian edge. If I could just see all the eye-rolls right now. Wondering where in the world I would find items like this? Enter the Internet. Yep, I score the internet regularly for ideas. Oh, if only anyone knew how many blog posts I read every day, and how many designers I talk to- sharing concepts.

This year, my favorite finds suit my industrial-macabre-Scandinavian needs. Old bells tied to the top of the tree replace the traditional star or angel and provide the industrial edge. Why set our sights on one large tree when we can have a little forest? Every year, we are gifted more ornaments and our tree is a tangled mess when we get them all up. Instead of jamming the tree full of décor, try grouping the ornaments by style and use just one or two. Put others in decorative bowls, or on a bed of leafs or some of that evergreen debri from the back yard (thank you Autumn storm) on a cake platter. Add a couple smaller trees and decorate them as well, leaving you with a grouping of trees (3 or 5 trees will look better, as groupings almost always look best in odd numbers). Fill up those empty stockings with greens from the yard as well- just to keep them from looking so desolate before Christmas morning. Fill vases with peppermint sticks.

Regardless of how you decorate your home for the holidays, trying something new and different when the magic begins to fade is bound to bring back a little of that sparkle we see now in our children’s eyes. The best part is that we can have our magic without breaking out a glue gun and it does not have to cost an arm and a leg!

Happy Holidays!

To learn about Rachel Waldron’s interior design services, contact her at 206.249.9860 or rachel@waldrondesigns.com