Christmas decorations

I’ll admit it…I’m lazy.  I want Christmas cheer without much effort or money.  But I also want things to look nice.

I still use the same fake tabletop tree that I bought when I first moved out of my parents’ house.  Even though it is fake, it doesn’t look plastic or papery…I HATE it when fake trees look like fake trees. I went all out on that tree too–$10.  I have a nice Christmas scarf that I use as a tree skirt, some decorations from when I was a kid, and then the occasional new ones I purchase.  But no matter how much I convince myself that this fake tree is just as good as  real one, there is one ONE reason I believe it….the Christmas Wreath® scented candles by Yankee Candle®.  This candle scent is JUST like a real Christmas tree and help invoke that holiday feeling.  I’m going to assume that everyone knows how to get these candles on sale and coupon codes, so I’ll skip that story and just say “yadda yadda yadda”.

Since I live in a city condo rather than a big house, I also buy condo sized decorations rather than the bigger MORE EXPENSIVE house size decorations…and what does smaller mean:)  LESS EXPENSIVE!  One of my favorites are these little mini grape clusters made out of bells.  The big ones were way too much to justify for something that I’d only use for a few weeks a year and then have to store away in the closet, but the little ones weren’t priced just right.

I’ve also re-purposed a few decorations.  One of my former apartments had a wrought-iron balcony, where I’d bought garland to twine around it.  When I moved to my current place, I gave them a quick wash through washing machine and suddenly I had garland for my sun-room windowsills.  It was a nice quick homey touch.

Now my absolute favorite tip is this: Move next door to someone who decorates communal areas!  I share a stairwell landing with my next door neighbor.  Each year, they buy fresh pine boughs to wrap around the railing with a few pretty red bows.  [I’ll add a photo when they do it this year.They didn’t do it this year!  Very disappointed.:( ]