Super Easy and Cheap Christmas Decor DIY

Andrew and I were gifted a very large and very pretty vase for our wedding.  I think it's beautiful, but I wasn't sure how to decorate with it for Christmas until... I went on a walk with Bailey one day and was inspired.  So here's a very easy and cheap decor DIY for Christmas that is very easily customizable to your tastes and needs.

Step 1
First things first, gather your supplies.  You will need branches that fit your space.  Mine are about 2.5 feet tall. (yeah BIG vase)  You want your branches to be DRY, clean, and branchy.... with lots of little branches shooting off everywhere to create interest and movement. 

I found mine by just walking around outside.  You really shouldn't have to cut them off a tree so just keep looking so you can keep our trees intact. 

Step 2

Gather some ornaments, bows, ribbons, candy canes, lights, etc to decorate your tree. I grabbed some simple glass ornaments I got at the thrift store.

Step 3
Because I liked my branches the way they were, I skipped this step, but if you want, you can paint your branches to compliment your decor.  Gold, silver, etc.

Step 4

Arrange your branches however you want in your vase.

 

Step 5

Decorate till your heart is content.  For me, simple was better :) 

Holiday Gift Guide

Yesterday I talked about the theory behind gift giving and concluded that we should give gifts.  The challenge then becomes what gifts.... Here is my brief but Holiday Gift Guide of some specific kinds of gifts to purchase.

Find Coffee Here.

Find Soap Here.

Purchase something that empowers others.

 

This soap from WOW! and coffee from Humphrey's Street Coffee are both products made from kids living in inner city Nashville. They make the soap and the coffee and proceeds go to college scholarships for these students and a little bit to spending money for the kids to help out their families.

You can make a flat out donation to a favorite charity on behalf of someone.  

I'm a fan of Harvest Hands Community Development Corporation.

Find out about them and Donate here.

Then you can write a note to that someone telling them how special they are to you. 

You can support a local artist (or a non-local one) through sites like Etsy.com.

A couple of finds that would make great gifts for a special lady friend:

Wide Eyes

 

A Slouchy Hat 

Bath Spice Gift Set

Happy Gifting!

The Giving of Gifts

If your family is like mine, there comes a point when most of the grand kids are grown and you've all lived a decent chunk of life and as a result, you've acquired a decent load of stuff in your closets, in your house, in your kitchen drawers, in your car trunks.... you get the picture.  Thus, my family, like I suppose other families as well, moved to the next logical conclusion: because we have so much stuff and we don't need more (after all it's just stuff), we should stop giving gifts.  And so we did.

Well, it turns out that we don't like that so much. You see, it turns out the stuff is just stuff as we suspected and wasn't really missed in and of itself, but the act of giving gifts, the act of thinking about someone else so as to get them the perfect gift and fighting crowds at the mall just to get it, and the act of giving something to someone else out of your own selflessness are meaningful acts.  If you think about it, the giving of gifts is a cherished ritual of many cultures, even our own.  When I studied abroad in Japan, for example, almost everyone that I met gave me a gift out of respect when we met.  It was a tangible way of welcoming me to their country.  The same is true for the people of Indonesia and the Philippines (and many other countries).  The three wise men brought the newly born baby Jesus gifts upon their arrival in the famous Christmas story.  In the southern United States we offer people food.  In Colombia, they offer guests coffee and so on and so on....

So what is it about gifts that make us want to keep on giving and receiving?

An article in the New York Times reads,

"Gift giving has long been a favorite subject for studies on human behavior, with psychologists, anthropologists, economists and marketers all weighing in. They have found that giving gifts is a surprisingly complex and important part of human interaction, helping to define relationships and strengthen bonds with family and friends. Indeed, psychologists say it is often the giver, rather than the recipient, who reaps the biggest psychological gains from a gift."  Click here to read the whole thing.

Thus all in all, the giving and receiving of gifts seems to be an important act and I would say an act of love, and for our family, we all missed that expression of our love for one another so we moved back to giving gifts.    

BUT ISN'T THAT THE OPPOSITE OF THE SIMPLE, ANTI-MATERIALISTIC LIFESTYLE YOU ARE PROMOTING?!?

Yes... BUT that's why I encourage you to RETHINK gift giving for your family and friends and holiday festivities.  Think outside of just setting budget limits, think more about the nature of the gifts.

Ideas I've had/seen/heard:

1) Instead of giving a $25 gift (or whatever budget) to everyone, everyone writes each other a letter about how much the recipient means to the sender.

2) Only works for certain crowds, but require that all gifts given are handmade by the giver.  It can be cookies you baked, a scarf you knitted, a painting you painted, etc.

3) Cut down on the number of gifts given by exchanging names instead of getting for everyone.  Still makes you all warm and fuzzy inside.

4) Have everyone bring a gift of a certain price limit and play some Dirty Santa.  Directions vary, but here are some pretty basic ones.  For this, you have to think about gifts that a lot of people will enjoy so you still have to think outside of yourself and this one tends to be funny especially for a family or group of friends that tend to be competitive.

5) Play Dirty Santa and make it a regift exchange.  I went to one of these last night and it was hilarious! It also wasn't full of new stuff that only fills our land fills in 5 years.  It upcycled! People got DVDs, scarves and hats, a tie that looked like a salmon.... The rules were you had to regift an old gift or something you had around the house and not spend money.

I got this little bundle of fun and I found that I....

a) Love Nerds b) actually really wanted a Christmas mug, but because it wasn't necessary, I wouldn't get one (now I have one and don't feel wasteful) c) love news toys for Bailey d) (that's a University of Tennessee ornament) Like having an ornament that commemorates Andrew's and my first Christmas together here in Knoxville.

And thus, this gift = awesome.

What are your ideas?

Christmas the Simple Way

Christmas and the holiday season is the opposite of simple for a lot of people.  You may feel this way as you rush around buying gifts, decorating the house, and cooking and planning and cleaning and on and on and on.  

Yeah... 

The holidays often play out this way, but there are other ways you can make the holidays simpler and more fulfilling.  You can refocus your thoughts and activities to what the holidays are really about for you whether that be a spiritual connection or a time for getting together with friends and family.  You can make it about serving others and the environment. 

In order to help the holidays feel a bit less stressful on the mind, body, and budget, during December I will be sharing simple living tips that revolve around holidayness.

So for the first tip, GO THRIFTING not shopping!

Being newly married, Andrew and I don't have Christmas decorations. We've conquered this lack of festiveness in two main ways that revolve around simple living.

1) Our families have generously donated some on our behalf.  This is a very easy way to not spend money (aka save some awesome cash) and to reuse and upcycle as to not create more waste in the world. We've got enough of that.  People often have so many holiday decorations stored up, they don't minded sharing.  Which leads to....

2) We go thrifting for  Christmas goodies. The key to thrifting is to go often, as thrift stores put out new goodies almost daily so I have been doing a lot of decoration thrifting.  This is cheaper and again reuses old stuff so it ultimately reduces waste.  The profits from thrift stores also usually benefit charities.  The one I frequent most in Knoxville for example, benefits the American Society for the Blind.  I got these old school Christmas lights for only $2 and they look great in our sun room along the top of the window. I love the big bulbs and they were in perfect condition.   I will have to share how I have used my other holiday thrift store finds soon!

These are great ways to conserve this holiday season.

Welcome to my blog!  

Please click around and learn about me and this blog and how you can contact me!

In these inaugural posts, I will be sharing how Andrew and I celebrate Christmas the simple way.

Thanks for visiting!