At last. I’m beginning to feel a bit of seasonal cheer.
It might have something to do with frigid temperatures the past few days. Single digits with the wind chill and oh, but I could go for a walk on a Mediterranean beach about now!
Still, when it’s December, flurries and the bluster of wintry winds surely put me in the mood.
Poinsettias. Fresh greenery. Contemplating both sons here again, enjoying the silly little things that will be waiting for them at the holiday.
Holiday spirit
For some of us, this is a time of year that is about spirit – the spirit of giving, of family, and yes – there is occasionally melancholy.
But when I look at my boys I can push negative thoughts away and focus on the young men they are becoming. And, while I don’t love the seasonal spread on my hips, I know the kids appreciate the seasonal spread that comes out of the oven – the traditional baking that I love, just before the end of the year.
And that holiday baking? It can be done for a song. So what was I up to late last night when I couldn’t sleep? No – not the baking, but a few other things to spruce up the place!
Holiday decorating on a budget
My budget used to be considerably fatter, but even on the UnBudget, we pack plenty of cheer into our cozy rooms.
I have a collection of old ornaments – some mercury glass and others in wood or papier maché. I admit to having favorites – those in beautiful jeweled colors which I picked up here and there over the years.
I love displaying them in an antique porcelain bowl, and filling another wide glass vase with pomander balls, cinnamon sticks, and smaller pine cones found in our yard.
As for the ornaments themselves and the bowl – they were discovered at flea markets and the odd antique store. I enjoy an eclectic mix of objects (for our “eclectic” and admittedly messy lifestyle), and when I combine them, I remember when and where they came from.
Those recollections? They’re usually very sweet, which is a bonus.
Cents, Sense, and Sentiment
I’m fortunate in that my backyard offers greenery and berries to cut and arrange on the mantel. I can clip fresh branches every few days, and adding bright fruits and pine cones, that mantel comes alive for nearly nothing at all.
My poinsettias were picked up at Home Depot (for a song), and as for those pomander balls – I’ll be tending to them later this week. Nothing more than fresh oranges with whole cloves decorating their surface. In a pattern, if you’re so inclined.
I also dig through boxes until I can find just one or two objects from when my sons were much younger. A folk art Santa that sits on a bookshelf, and if possible, one or two things made by the boys themselves, or ornaments I sewed when they were little, which they’re certain to remember.
(Our) Traditional Seasonal Recipes
There’s the annual picture with the kids – to be taken in a week or so, and no doubt, they’ll be making faces. (Some things never change.)
One of my favorite traditions is all that baking – sugar cookies shaped in fecund forms, not to mention more mini pecan pies, and mini pineapple upside down cakes.
This is a time of year I’ve always loved – when I was single, when I was married – before kids and especially since. Even in our cozy space with our cozy budget, we manage the essentials. Wonderful aromas. Warm feelings. A little sparkle.
No Bah. No humbug. ‘Tis the season.
- What are your favorite things to put around the house?
- Are they religious in nature, or more seasonal?
- How do you manage on a tight budget?
- Do you go for the matching look or more eclectic and sentimental objects?
- Do you have a consistent holiday style, or do you switch up your décor?
I may write about this – my traditions went by the way side with my aging grandparents and traveling to my home state from the moment my daughter was born. The tradition – there is always family and a day in the park… yet I miss the season and the traditions I enjoyed as a child – the baking, the fresh tree, the lack of travel (did I just say that?) and the lack of stress that comes from life revolving around travel schedules and the life and times of others.
For me this is difficult each year – for my daughter, four days of travel out of 10 is the norm. This year we have apparently decided to remove Christmas eve dinner from the mix as well. It was a matter of time and yet one more aspect of my youth disappears.
Our traditions have changed over the years with time, circumstances, our home, our friends. They’re certainly different from when my boys were little, and different from the traditions celebrated when I was a child. Change is inevitable, TE – I guess it’s a matter of trying to retain what is most important (and also feasible), or to create some new traditions. Not so easy, I know. Hard to see what you cherish disappearing.
Festivity costs little. Our house is decorated in construction paper, pipe cleaners and beads. (unbreakable). Now, I need to make a pomander, to add to the smells! This time of year, a good friend always has a pot with some water, a cinnamon stick and a few cloves by her stove. When she wants a good smell, she simply heats it.
What a great idea about the hot water with cinnamon and cloves. Love construction paper chains on trees! (And kids love to make them.)
Happy Holidays BLW! Glad you are feeling some holiday cheer. We are Hindus, but do put up a Christmas Tree and stockings. My husband and I grew up with having a Christmas tree and are doing the same with my daughter. Diwali (The Indian Festival of Lights) comes a month before Christmas (usually) and we do some decorating with lights and such for our Hindu holiday.
So many wonderful traditions. I think the hardest part is to slow down even for a moment, and pick and choose those we want, rather than going for quantity over quality. Some lovely ideas and mix of traditions here!
This is our first holiday season at home since the boys were born and we’ve been backing our way into some sort of compromise Hanukkah/Christmas not-so-extravaganza. We did light the menorah during Hanukkah (and consumed enough latkes to put our heart health at risk). As for Christmas, we have a very small live tree with a few oddball ornaments on it. Mostly we’re trying to focus on general winter decor: snowmen, snowflakes, perhaps a gingerbread house when Grandma and Grandpa visit this weekend. The hodgepodge nature of our celebrations nicely matches the hodgepodge nature of our lives these days!
Sounds terrific, and delicious! (What’s not to love about hodge podge?) Have you folded paper and made cutout snowflakes? (I still think they’re the best. And you can pick up inexpensive prisms and string them and hang them in windows to reflect light. Very Pollyanna – but oh so de”light”ful!)
Mmm the smells over at your place must be delicious. We’ve got a tree, a skinny little six-footer from when I lived in a small apartment with little room for anything else. We could get a larger one, but this one leaves us with more ornaments to spread elsewhere. I, like you, love putting special ones in a wide ceramic bowl I put on the coffee table. We cushion them with potpourri so they sparkle and smell good 🙂
Potpourri at holiday time. Mmmm. Delicious.
We purchase an ornament whenever we travel. It’s usually something nontraditional that we make into an ornament, like a poker chip from Vegas and a key chain from Vancouver (because actual souvenir Christmas ornaments always seem to cost many, many songs). Decorating our tree every year is like going on vacation over and over and over again … all in one night. It’s wonderful!
Great idea, and lovely tradition.
I have never been much for decorating the house in holiday gear. Maybe it is because I grew up in a house where we made a point not to look as if Chanukah is competing with Christmas. They don’t hold the same importance, but that is a different story.
Really the thoughts/memories/decorations are tied up in sounds and smells more than anything else.
Latkes, brisket, soofganiyot- they carry a lot with them.