Yet another thing we have in common? We are both obsessed with the Holidays! All of it – it’s our favorite time of year. And while we are taking a more-is-more approach with the clothing and accessories this year, we will always take a minimalist holiday decor approach.
Rachel’s Favorite
Minimalist Holiday Decor
I love the holidays – it’s probably my favorite time of the entire year. I love the hustle and bustle of shopping, decorating, parties etc followed by the slow down of Christmas, movies by the fire, yummy food. All of it.
Last year? Not so much! I was in the biggest Covid-funk over the holidays, and I’m pretty sure I wasn’t alone. I was ready to rip the tree down on Christmas night (my husband thankfully made me wait). So this year? I’m ready! I’m all IN!
We live in a 1906 small bungalow in the heart of Denver so we don’t have a ton of room. It really doesn’t take much to make the house feel festive, and I definitely take a less-is-more approach.
I hadn’t bought any new decor in ages (and after last year especially) I was ready for a slight refresh. I did a lot of online shopping and this is what I landed on… (spoiler alert, it’s very Crate and Barrel heavy…I love their Holiday collection this year.)
My Tree Refresh
The Topper & Collar
I totally get that many people have a sentimental tree topper – we however, do not. I think the one we’ve used the past couple of years was a quick Target purchase. This starburst is so pretty and has glowing reviews.
Also, we have always done a tree skirt, but I’m kind of over it. It interferes with our living room rug and just never looks great. I’ve wanted to try a tree collar for a while, and this is the one I ordered.
My Tree Refresh
A Few New Ornaments
My tree will forever and always be covered in handmade ornaments from my kids’ preschool and elementary school days. In addition, we *try* and remember to pick up a momento ornmanet while on vacations.
However, I do like to have “base” ornaments to make the tree look more cohesive. And just to be clear, I’m most definitely not one of those fancy tree decorator types. So take that as you will…
I ordered these adorable woodland animals – I just couldn’t pass them up… I mean the mushroom is possibly questionable, but whatever. Or maybe I’ve just been living in Denver too long – ha!
I also bought 4 each of these to mix on the tree. I bought these in-store, and they are gorgeous. Even though my decorating taste is modern, I love red/green/white classics for the tree.
And! Anyone like me and still wrapping their ornaments in old newspaper and storing in a ratty old cardboard box. Well, I ordered this ornmanet storage box! I mean – am I grown up or what?!
My Mantel
I also love a festive mantel. I ordered these small votive candles from West Elm and will pair them with the garland we already have. If your room is more grande, the large votives would be stunning to mix with the small. Gimme all the candle light.
A Few Pieces That Are Similar to Mine
(that I didn’t replace)
I love a faux fur throw for the sofa – all Winter long.
And if we were replacing stockings, I adore these (I’d mix and match the colors) along with these stocking holders.
For the Table
(my Martha Stewart is totally showing)
Ok all I really do is swap out the candle sticks to red or green. Done. Small but has an impact. I do have holiday dishes that were gifted to me that I occassionally take down. More often than not I remember them after the Holidays have already passed.
For the Kitchen
I saw these at Crate and Barrel and they went straight into my basket – I love them. I hang these over the oven to make the kitchen feel a little holiday-ish.
And my kids drink hot cocoa constantly during the holiday season. I normally just buy it at Trader Joe’s. I did pick up some of these festive marshmallows that I’ll leave on the counter for them. It’s the little things.
For the Front Door
I splurged on this cute mat and a new wreath as well. I love a simple pine wreath for the holidays and will likely just tie a silky red ribbon on it. I didn’t go with the prelit because I’ll likely leave it up for the remainder of Winter as well (sans red ribbon).
Yummy Candles – A Must!
I’m loving Anthropologie candles lately. My favorite scent for the holidays is ‘balsam and cedarwood’. All of these come in that scent. I bought the giant one plus a smaller one for my kitchen. The small version would also make an excellent hostess gift.
The Music – My Want
I so want to be that person that plays old Christmas classics on a record player. My husband laughed…
Tammy’s Favorite
Minimalist Holiday Decor
The holidays can be stressful – the prepping, the planning, the shopping… Don’t let decorating be one of those stresses. A minimalist holiday decor approach is still insanely festive and cozy – we promise!
And Rachel did such a thorough job, I feel like there’s not much for me to touch on, but I’ll try my best! Honestly most of our holiday decor is many years old, and we would add bits and pieces every year as the kids found things they loved. I miss those days of them wanting alllll the holiday decor and getting so excited to decorate the entire house!
My favorite things? The items they made. Sigh. My daughter painted a wine bottle in art class, put a set of string lights inside, and it’s the very first thing I pull out and plug in every.single.year. I’ll be sure to share a picture in stories once we get everything out…usually Thanksgiving weekend.
Yarn doll Christmas ornaments! Did anyone else make these? I still have mine from kindergarten which was over 40 years ago, oh my! So when the kids were little, I had them make their own. LOVE those.
And my daughter was in ballet and the Nutcracker every year from the age of 2. So nearly every year we would buy a new Nutcracker and they are placed around the house. Lots of good memories there.
Lighting
My main criteria for feeling the Christmas spirit – lights. I love to buy a bunch of LED fairy string lights each year from Target (they don’t last past the season) and put them everywhere — in my plants (all mine are faux at the moment, much to Rachel’s horror, ha!) on the mantle, wrapped around our wreaths, and even placed in glass containers.
I choose the Warm White / Silver Wire. They take batteries and have a timer, so I set them to go off same time each night.
I’m also loving this string of star lights from Nordstrom. I’ll be ordering those this year, for sure!
Candles
Like Rachel, I always buy one or two festive Anthropologie candles each year (on sale at the moment, yay!), but last year I also discovered a fabulous candle company thanks to my friend Monica. I ordered an 8 pack and also gave them as hostess gifts. They are lovely. They will even customize the scents you want, if you reach out to them.
They are not an affiliate company, but we wouldn’t recommend anything we didn’t 100% believe in, commission or not. I just love what they are doing.
Antique Candle Co. Christmas Candles
Hearth & Hand at Target
I’m a HUGE fan of this indoor wreath! I bought this a couple years ago and loved it so much I kept it on my door until Spring! Finally I found a plain replacement that I now keep up for the rest of the year, but this holiday one is so simple and classic that I never tire of it.
I always wrap a new LED string light around it so my door is lit up and pretty every night. My favorite. I also love that the bells gently tinkle every time we open the door!
I see they also have the matching garland! I’m going to buy it and put it on our rustic wood mantle fireplace, again with the LED string lights (above) wrapped around it. The lights just make everything feel more magical.
Finally, I absolutely adore these vintage red mercury glass ornaments. I love red on a tree and I’m excited to check these out for us.
Glass Ornaments
I’m absolutely smitten with these 12 Days of Christmas Glass Ornaments. We have some specialty “character” ornaments purchased when the kids were little. They are some of my very favorite ornaments ever. These have the same feel and I LOVE them.
Pillows
I always swap out our sofa pillows at Christmas. I love how easy it just changes the entire room’s look. I am dying over the gnome pillows, oh my!
These animal pillow covers…I can’t help it. I’m a huge child at heart when it comes to Christmas and I just adore these. I think I need the fox and owl. And bonus – these are also currently on sale!
My daughter goes to college only 40 minutes away and this is her first year. She’ll be coming home for Thanksgiving and we will cook together and then decorate the house. I love doing it all together as a family. It’s one of the things I hope never ends, though I know it will someday when my kids have their own families.
For now, I’ll cherish and enjoy every minute. We always have Christmas movies playing while we decorate (usually Home Alone or something similar) and it’s officially the start of the season for us. I’m excited.
Don’t forget to visit our Special Holiday Section on the blog, where we will be posting all our holiday-related content all season. This will include what to wear, how to accessorize, decor, favorite foods, gifts, etc. We’re having fun with it and hope it makes the holiday season a little less stressful.
