Tis the season of hope and the busiest time of year.  Between holiday traveling, gift buying/wrapping, holiday parties, school events, cold weather, and the usual daily chores, there’s a lot going on.  What should be the most wonderful time of the year can, in reality, become the most stressful time of the year.  Keeping our holiday decor simple and focused is a way I help eliminate some stress.

Limiting the decorations to our living and family rooms, we have the holiday cheer, without an excess of clutter or decor to store the remaining eleven months of the year.

Following the same process as last year, I designed and hand painted a holiday sign to lean on our mantel.

In place of a festive quote, I came up with a Christmas Tree sale sign.  If you like the design, download this .pdf to print your own to display or use as a template to make your own sign.

Simple trees fill in around the sides of the sign with our railroad spikes turned stocking holders.

Clearly I have a love for green throughout the year, so I took the opportunity to upgrade to new stockings.   Bringing the plaid down, I covered the chair pillow forms in left over fabric from the boys’ bedroom revamp.

The green plaid tree garland from last year fits in perfectly.

As for the living room, our tree proudly stands in the center window, in full street view.

In addition to the yearly silhouette ornament of the boys, our tree is decked out with home-made ornaments based on our summer travels.  Montana, of course.

Minnesota:

Our neighboring state to the east that we make many drives through, North Dakota:

Wyoming:

Jackson, tied with a ribbon from our tram wristbands:

South Dakota, though George Washington looks a little Hitler-esque with the nose shadow:

What is your holiday decorating approach?  Do you stick with a theme?