Christmas is Coming

Every year so many of us complain how commercial the holidays have become yet we tend to bring it into our homes, our gifts, our way of being. It\’s hard to say no when every store, commercial, card and tag saying yes.I\’ve forgone the Holidays for the past three years; no decor, no gifts, no celebrating although I did send cards so it wasn\’t all bad. But this year I find myself ready to embrace the cosy feeling that the holidays can provide. The question however, has been how with all the commercialism abound.Country Home editor, Danny Seo has the most wonderful little blog, Simply Green. He\’s been posting Christmas ideas already (although in fairness he had to get ready for a magazine shoot) and his use of greenery and objects around the home got me thinking about how I wanted to do my home; simple, organic, and of course, cosy.I translated this into the theme of having a lille hus holiday in which decor would have to be simple, pretty, artful and seemingly found 100 years ago (although there\’d be some exceptions, naturally). Ideas have included: popcorn, Yo Yo or Felt Garland strung on a tree, traditional paper ornaments, wooly animals, carved figures, stitched linens, stuffed sewn trees (and look – Little Birds has a pattern!), lots of fresh greenery and of course, candles.As for gifts, I think I\’ll stick to my tradition of giving \”the gift of time\” or perhaps supporting my artistic friends and purchasing gifts from them. How much of this I\’ll get done I\’m not sure but at least having a plan helps. All I know is that I don\’t want to complain about how the holidays have become a frenzied material mess if I\’m not doing anything to keep them simple.