Our Christmas Traditions, or Lack Thereof

December is always such a funny month for our family. As a blogger, I think I am supposed to saturate every moment of every day with Christmas! Christmas! Christmas! Instagram this! Gift guide that! However, as a mixed-religion family, we are pretty low-key about all of it. In fact, if I had my way, we would travel for the holidays instead of staying home. I would be perfectly happy on a beach somewhere, throughout the holiday season.

In our family, we adhere strictly to:

1. Something You Want
2. Something You Need
3. Something To Wear (or Homemade)
4. Something to Read

Each of the kids also gets one present from Santa. Santa is alive and well in our house even though the kids have passed the age of believing in the big guy. Actually, our daughter could still be a believer, but she was born a skeptic. I distinctly remember her debunking the whole idea around the age of four. I just love the idea of a surprise present and something magical happening while we are sleeping. That is why Santa visits our house. Honestly, though, with four fireplaces in BHH, Santa could make quite a scene if it could be so.

After spending some time on Pinterest, I did catch a little bit of the decorating bug this year. Armed with garden pruners, I headed out to hack away at our pine trees.

Actually, I was inspired when I saw a picture of greens in a copper bucket. We have a copper bucket just like the one on Pinterest. That almost never happens, right? I paid a whopping zero dollars for the bucket when a friend’s mom was moving. She had set a bunch of stuff by the curb, free for the taking. I thought it looked interesting, so I picked it up and promptly stored it away. Thanks to our recent basement cleanup, it was easy to find.

Once the bucket was full, I placed it up on the mantel. I used pine branches, but I also included Rhododendron greens for some texture and contrast. Initially, I did not place the Rhododendron in water, and despite its woody foliage, it wilted within a week. I replaced it with fresh, and this time, I put the stems in a jar of water full-time. It is working very well. They are now over a week old, and they look just as fresh as the day I cut them.

It is not apparent in the picture, but the mantel in the living room is over six feet tall. It curves away from the wall, and at the widest part (above the cornocopia carvings), there is around 16 inches of space to place things. It is huge. When we first moved in, I often struggled with the scale of this house. I thought I was choosing something large that would fill a space, and when I placed the item, it looked ridiculously small. After making the same mistake more times than I would like to admit, I tried a new method. Now, I just choose something that looks large to me, and then I abandon the item and look for something 2-3 sizes larger. That technique seemed to work with the mantel. I just kept filling the bucket and draping more greens.

I wanted to hang my vintage sled (More on that Friday.) above the mantel, but once I hefted it up there, I decided that it was too heavy to hang, and the risk of damaging the plaster wall was too great. I moved on to plan B.

The idea of using an old window as a decoration also came from Pinterest when I searched for “farmhouse Christmas decor.” I think of Blake Hill House as a country home, and I like the interior to reflect that. The house has some formal and ornate elements, but overall, it has a nice casual feel about it.

Again, thanks to the basement clean-up, I knew just where to find some windows. I sorted through a few choices before I chose the one that is on the mantel now. The window is heavy, and I was concerned that it would fall and hurt someone or break altogether. In order to make it secure, I placed it on top of two 8-inch step stools which raised it up to the proper level. I hid the stools with greenery, and they do not show at all. On the top of the window, I used Command strips to prevent the window from tipping forward. The heavy copper bucket full of greens added extra security.

Once I was satisfied with how that looked, I sprinkled the greenery with some snowflake ornaments and a battery-powered string of LED lights. The woodsy Santa was something that my oldest son bought for me last year. I love getting gifts from my kids, and I always try to use them no matter what they are.

(Note: The Command strips cannot hold a heavy window on their own. Even if the back of the window was covered with strips, I would not risk it. My use of the strips in this way, merely helped to secure it and keep the window from tipping and falling since our normal movements in the house do cause the floors to shake a little. From time to time, I peek at the placement to make sure it is still secure.)

We have always had an artificial tree, and I put about three of my own ornaments on it now. The rest of the tree is reserved for the kids. My mom gives them an ornament every year, and they love that tradition. She did the same for me when I was a kid, and it is one of my favorite memories. When I moved out of my parents’ house permanently, I took my ornaments with me. My kids will do the same. Maybe then I will bring out my childhood ornaments again or start a collection of vintage glass Christmas balls or something. I am in no hurry, though. I am too busy savoring the days as their mom.

Our tree has never had a theme unless you consider “Hang the ornaments up high, so the dog won’t eat them” a theme.

Our tree is also star-less, for no particular reason. I remember when my oldest was 5, and I asked him to make a star for the top of the tree. He spent a great deal of time fashioning the star out of printer paper, tape, feathers (?) foam stickers, and some glitter glue. The result was a lopsided star with a paper loop to keep it attached to the tree, and our favorite part was that he wrote his name with the stickers. I was expecting “Merry Christmas,” but he chose to spell his own name. For years, we used that star until the younger kids started noticing that our tree seemed to be celebrating their brother rather than the holiday.

I recognize that our folksy, secular holiday may not be as widely appealing as some of your favorite, popular bloggers, but it really is who we are. In the past, I have tried some new ways of doing things, but each year, we slide into our modest traditions effortlessly, and that seems to be where we stay. It is our happy place

Please tell me about your own traditions and decorations. I would love to hear about the holidays in your home. Are there any other mixed religion families out there like us? Tomorrow, I will share our Hanukkah traditions.

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