How to make your home Christmassy without trying

At the outset, do not even try. 

Let your home be and make it look like Christmas when you really care about doing it.  Feeling it, is one; looking like it, is another.  But both emanate from a natural sense of feeling good while anticipating the Season.  
When my mother was alive, she used to decorate our house as early as September.  And when December got closer, all things came picturesque and complete.

Growing up, I and my two sisters were already exposed to an environment that regards Christmas as the penultimate celebration.   It is far more important than our own birthdays. My family’s sense of Christmas originated from our parents who together - a sight to behold - donned our home with trimmings with utmost care and affection --- that no matter how old decors were recycled, they still looked good.  Creativity was only secondary.

We carried on the tradition.  And so we assemble Christmas decors earlier than our neighbors would.  Albeit, not as early as September since four years ago.

Notice how any home comes alive when adorned with Christmas knick-knacks?  It is not about the physical beauty that goes with it but the happy thoughts that tell a story on how they come about.

Now comes the challenge:  how to decorate.  I am not about to teach you Decorating 101.

Know where your heart is.  If a simple tree gives you fulfillment, by all means make it you centerpiece.  If you’re sentimental about having a nativity set, do not hesitate making it the highlight.  Caution:  not all houses can get away with eclectic.   Meaning, some houses are not just meant to be overly decorated or fully made up.  Allowing lots of decors also mean putting them appropriately.  As they say, less is more.

If you do not have ample space or storage to keep your decors after Christmas,  I beg you not to buy new ones every Season.  Know how to renew and interchange pieces so that they become original (master)pieces and fresh to the eyes.  Christmas cards that you have collected over the years can be ornaments for your tree.

Be simple but not simplistic.  You still need effort if you want things to look good.

There is one lesson we have to keep in mind though:  there is beauty in simplicity --- and in simplicity, there is always austerity that brings us back to the basics – from where all things usually begin – one’s heart.

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