Thank you so much for stopping by Day 2 of the Home For the Holidays Blog Hop put together by the talented Emily from Table and Hearth.  I’m so honored and excited to have you here in my corner of the blogosphere and to collaborate with you in some Holiday cheer and wisdom 😉
By the time Christmas roles around we are all in different stages of life.  I’m sure we all would love to jump head first into the seasonal decorating and deck our halls will wreaths and holly, but that just isn’t always practical.  Jake and I are currently in the middle of a home renovation which involves a chop saw in our dining room, a second story sans any flooring, and an toilet-less bathroom (to name the worst offenders).
When October (why does it have to be so early??) came and all of blogland was blissfully draping garlands across anything and everything, I thought to myself… Will we even bother to decorate for Christmas?
After all, there are a million projects that need time and energy around our home right now, why waste it on holiday decor? Â Plus, who wants to see a sparkly Christmas tree next to a pile of sawdust? Â I would not call the current state of our house ‘decoration-ready’.
But, we did decorate for Christmas. And here’s why…
We could have said, oh forget it, we’ll do something nice next year and got on our merry way towards installing more flooring and getting our bathroom back in working order. Â But, we dedicated several evenings and a few corners of the less-construction-zone-y rooms to bring some festivity and Christmas cheer to our home.
Choosing to decorate amidst the chaos says: while we may not be finished with many projects, we are content with the home we live in. Â Dust may cover every square inch of our house at times, but this is still our dwelling place. Â We may have a gazillion unfinished projects that are clamoring for our attention, but there is a reason for this season and it deserves our first thoughts.
Our house may not have the most beautiful display of white and gold tinsel, and it’s certainly not swimming in boughs of holly, but it is a little ray of light in our home this season.  Reminding us to nest despite the chaos, to celebrate the birth of our Savior, and to rest in the construction zone that is our home.
I even brought a little holiday cheer to work with this festive Christmas tree art. Â (Let’s be honest, this environment is much more cleanly to decorate than our home at the moment!)
Wishing you contentment, rest, and cheer this Christmas and many more to come! (And make sure to stop by and visit all of these lovely ladies’ Christmas home tours!)
Love the stockings in the frame! Super cute!
Thanks! It was my last minute attempt at being creative with my Christmas decor 😉
So glad you decided to decorate a little for Christmas – it looks great! I totally understand, as we don’t even live in our own house right now! But you can hang a stocking almost anywhere! Hope you a merry Christmas!
I’m totally glad you decided to decorate for Christmas even though it’s a bit hectic at your home! Nothing like a tree to bring some good holiday cheer 🙂 I also adore your little office bunting tree! So, so cute 🙂
Thanks so much for putting the focus back on the “reason for the season”! In the midst of a home- remodel, you did what you could to bring a bit of holiday cheer into your home, while keeping the focus on celebrating our Savior. Happy Holidays to you and yours!
I love the simplicity in your decor and the holiday flag bunting! Thank you for your honesty too. It’s a wonderful time of year, but equally so stressful (especially when you’re renovating your home). Merrry Christmas to you and yours and I look forward to seeing some of your renovations!
Thanks Shannon, the bunting is a nod towards my best friend who is the banner Queen, I hope I lived up to her bunting-awesome-ness 😉 Thanks for stopping by and a very Merry Christmas to you too !!!
Happy Holidays! So glad to be part of the tour with you. I enjoyed your tour.
Happy holidays to you too! Thanks for stopping by, Michelle 🙂
Naomi. Can I just say… wow. I loved this post. I can sympathize with your situation for sure. A year a go my hubby and I had moved in days before Christmas after spending 6 months renovating our home…. and it still wasn’t quite done. So I know that transition period of dust and power tools that you are in. I feel ya sister. But I LOVE that you still found the time and energy to get some cheer going. It helps. It gives you a glimpse of what is to come. And you are so right to connect it to all back to the reason for the season. I mean…can you imagine if God would have waited until we all were pretty and put together to send us Jesus?! We’d still be waiting. Thanks God He knows better! 😉 Merry Christmas and happy renovating friend!
Laura, that means so much to me, thank you! It is sometimes hard to be in the non-decorating-phase, but I’m just trying to enjoy every part of this reno and not let it overshadow the important things 🙂 And wow, what a beautiful illustration… He loves us as we are, despite all our imperfections. Merry Christmas to you!! And P.S. Your baby announcement was my all time favorite ever announcement!! I even told my husband about it to keep it on the back burner for that ‘someday’ down the road 😉
Hi, Naomi! Oh I loved your tour! I am SO glad you decided to celebrate the real meaning of the season despite all of the chaos a remodel can bring! I truly believe it’s important to celebrate whenever and wherever you can, and especially when it’s for something as important as Christmas! Also, I think the stockings hanging in the frame are just adorable. Merry Christmas!!
Thanks Bre! I totally agree with you, the craziness of this time of year with family, presents, traditions, and decorating can be overwhelming…. but it is so good to slow down and reflect on the real meaning 🙂 Haha, thanks, I was hanging that frame and Jake yelled from the other room, are you putting holes in the wall? …. Maybe… 😉 lol
oh naomi! this actually brought tears to my eyes as i have christmas music playing “He is born to give us life” in the background! love everything about this post and your beautiful heart for the Lord and the season of rest and reflection that he is granting us. many hugs!! and i will be following to see how everything turns out…man can i relate to the dust (and lack of toilets!) xoxo!!!
Laura, you are the sweetest! Thank you so much for your kind comment, it means a lot to me!! 🙂 Haha yay, for lack-of-toilet commiseration! 😉
Naomi, I am so happy that you shared the “real” and this is such a meaningful post, thank you!! It can be so disheartening to see everyone’s designer-worthy décor EVERYWHERE when the truth is, a lot of us can’t get to that level for so many various reasons, but it doesn’t mean our homes aren’t special to us at Christmastime. I so wanted this tour to be less about glamorous eye candy and more about REAL décor and how we’re all in different situations but we do what we can and what makes us happy. We all know you’re going to decorate your ass off when that renovation is finished 😉
I am all with you, Emily. That is one of the downsides of the blogosphere (don’t get me wrong, I love it!) but you are constantly viewing magazine-worthy things and I know I need to be continually reminded to be thankful and content where I am 🙂 I think you did a fabulous job setting the tone for this blog-hop! It has been such a great collaboration of all types of decor and situations 🙂 And, thanks! I can’t wait to start adding pillows and gallery walls EVERYWHERE!!! 😉
It doesn’t have to be all glitz and glamour to be Christmas. And you’ve reminded us of the reason for the season. I’m sure that you and your husband will find a special joy in this pared down version of the holiday. And I love, love, love the rope lighting around the base of your tree – never seen that before and may just have to “borrow” that idea.
You are so right, Heather! And thanks so much, I tried the rope lighting on a whim… It was leftover from a failed diy project. lol 😉