Christmas Decorating: Using What YOU Have and Leaving The FOMO Behind

photo from Decorators Warehouse

 I love decorating for Christmas.  You know that.  And usually I'm ok with my decorations.  Could I have more?  Sure....  Could some use updating?  Sure...  But this year, I started to get envious of other peoples decorations.  

YouTube is Great!  I love it.  I love it for exercise, for recipes, for decorating tips, and more.  I get inspiration from so many wonderful YouTubers.  But I noticed something.  I found some interior designers that were decorating for Christmas.  And oh boy, was it ever beautiful.  Then I started getting FOMO, also known as the fear of missing out.  

My decorations are not elaborate and they don't really match or "flow" from room to room.  My garland is sad looking.  I have a lot of "character" decorations that might not look very sophisticated.  My mind started to race on how I could correct this faux pas.  It seems that across the board with YouTube influencers, things are more glamorous  this year for decorating.  Trends are more minimal yet very grand looking.  I need new garland.  And I need large gold deer.  And I need white fluffy blankets.  I basically need all new stuff, because I don't have any of those things.

So I started to fill my Amazon cart with Christmas essentials.  And I looked at Michael's and Hobby Lobby to see what they had.  And I made a plan to do a tour of antique stores in the area to see what I could gather up to make it a very merry and glamorous Christmas.  Clearly, my stuff is not on trend.  And this needed to be fixed NOW.

Luckily I took a deep breath before checking out on my Amazon cart.  And I was actually too busy to go to any stores.  Did I really want to drop several hundred dollars on new decorations?

Yes.  Yes I did.  

But was that the best use of our family's finances?  No.  It is definitely not the best use of our family's finances.  

And let's face it, my reasons for wanting all new Christmas decorations aren't rooted in reality at all either.  What will next years trends be?  Will I like those too?  Will I need all new stuff again?  I do not have the room to store all these decorations, even if I did spend the money on them.  That would mean that something would have to go,  and was I willing to give up our decorations that have sweet family memories attached to them?  Would my family be ok with that?

It's so easy to see what other people have or are doing on social media and want it for yourself.  It all looks so wonderful.  And it's easy to forget that these people are making money off of it and most of the things they buy are written as a business expense or were given to them to influence us to purchase from a particular store or online retailer.  I am not a business nor am I an influencer and no one is going to "give" me anything.  I have to learn to watch these videos with appreciation, and not envy.  People who celebrate Christmas want their homes to look festive and cozy.  But that has NOTHING to do with the real reason we are celebrating Christmas.  And because all of this Christmas decorating starts earlier and earlier every year, there is more time to get anxious about what we have, what design aesthetic we are going for, and it gives us more time to spend, spend, spend.  When my parents were young, most people didn't decorate their homes or trees until Christmas Eve.  We have moved far past that tradition. One lady I watched (whose decorating was spectacular) started to decorate in September.  She decorated every room on her main level and changes out rugs, artwork, and furniture to match each years theme.  But she clarified that by saying that this is "her job".  This is not my job.  Trust me, no one would hire me to decorate anything... lol.

I stopped watching that particular YouTuber.  Even though her style is amazing, it wasn't something that I could emulate.  And there was very little that I could take and use as tips (except maybe going forward, try to make my rooms flow better together).

If you can watch these videos or read magazines and see the beauty and leave it there, then you are ahead of the game.  If like me, you struggle with FOMO or feel envious or start coveting all the things, it may be time to mute that content until you can view it through a grateful lens and  not allow it to become toxic.  

Another person that I watch went outside to gather dried flowers, grasses, and seed pods to spruce up her garland.  So I took Daisy with me, and we went out back and did the same.  Her garland looked amazing.  Mine looks a little funky.  I'm not sure I'm going to leave it this way through the Christmas holiday, but the good news here is that it cost me nothing to mess this up.  It's not glamorous, but it did look a little better.  And it was free.  

I'm going to get my decorations out in the next few days and I'm not going to look at them like they are not good enough.  I'm going to look at them with gratitude and try to carry that gratitude into every thing I do this season.  And maybe I'll stay off of social media a bit more and just enjoy what I have right in front of me. 

Advent hasn't even started yet.  We have a long way to go, and I want Jesus to be at the center of this season.  He's the one we are actually celebrating.  That's where I need my focus to be.  The beauty of the season is HIM.

We have a lot of flooding in the back, but I was still able to gather a few things.

Daisy was just happy to be outside

Still a work in progress

Wednesday Words

 

Menu Plan 12-2-22 to 12-8-22: Feeding the Family

 My Christmas prep has stalled.  I still haven't put up the tree in the basement.  I'm thinking that I may just leave it until the big boys come home.  They can do it if they want to.  I have a few gifts left to buy and I need to find something to wear to the husbands Christmas party next weekend.  I'm feeling the crunch.  But I've had some medical stuff to deal with (some mine, some other peoples) and I just haven't had the time.  This week's menu if using a lot of what I already have on hand.  And the boys come home at the end of the week so next week's menu will contain more "meat" meals, but I still have to find a way to keep this grocery budget under control.  I swear, money is just flying out of this house.  I am looking forward to them being here, but I'm not looking forward to feeding them - LOL>

Friday:  Baked Cod and French Fries

Saturday:  Homemade Pizza (it was really good, but there's a story behind this involving a face plant.  I'm not sharing here but it took the wind right out of my sails). I made pepperoni and sausage, and a white pizza with sausage, pepperoncini, and ricotta

Sunday:  Baked Chicken, potato or rice, and veg

Monday:  I'm not sure yet.  It's my birthday and I'm assuming that the husband will take care of this, but he hasn't said anything, so if he doesn't, it will be steaks on the grill.

Tuesday:  Slow cooker White Chicken Chili

Wednesday:  Turkey Tacos

Thursday:  Clean up

Second Sunday of Advent:

Have a blessed week ahead!! 

Menu Plan 11/28/22-12/1/22: Feeding the Family

 Post-Thanksgiving exhaustion has set in.  We had a wonderful day with family.  A few family members were under the weather and weren't able to make it, and they were surely missed.  But overall, it was a wonderful day.

Friday, we spent the day decorating for Christmas.  Most of the decorations are up, but I still have to do the tree in the basement.  I may get to it this week.  Or I may not.  I'm not going to stress over it.  If it were totally up to me, I'd skip it this year.  But I know the boys love having a tree down there too.  

Yesterday was the Ohio State/Michigan game.  The outcome wasn't what we hoped for.  But we had some family friends over and J had a few friends over and despite the loss, we had a really great day.  I made 6 pounds of taco meat, and we did walking tacos. I also made nachos fabuloso and 7-layer dip. 

Today was church and after that, we took the boys to brunch.  The big boys just left for college, and we wanted to fill them up before they left. I sent the oldest back with 5 pounds of ground beef and 5 pounds of chicken thighs.  He was also gifted lunch meat, cheese, and a loaf of bread.  The Middle left with the left-over taco meat (probably around 3 pounds), walking taco bags, corn chips, potato chips, and pepperoni.  

I miss them already. I will worry for the next four hours until they are safely back at college.  Mama's always worry.  

This week's meal plan starts tomorrow because we have been eating Thanksgiving leftovers and then yesterday was the game day taco fest.  We are all full from brunch so I think dinner tonight will be something light.  

This week's meal plan:

Monday:  Dirty rice with chicken sausage

Tuesday:  Chicken Tortilla Soup

Wednesday:  Quiche 

Thursday:  Clean up Day

Today is the first Sunday of Advent.  The Advent season has officially begun.  I have Christmas shopping to finish up and even though I ordered the Christmas cards weeks ago, I still have to get those out.  That is what I will be concentrating on for now.  Plus, cleaning... and laundry.   The boys will be home again in 2 weeks, and they'll be home for a month and half.  I will be counting down the days. 

Have a BLESSED week ahead!!

The First Sunday of Advent: Be watchful and ready from National Catholic Register

And With This, We Are Into The New Year

Oh yes, Christmas has past.  It was such a wonderful time.  Advent was absolutely the best.  And by the best, I mean I loved it.  But I didn't end up doing all of my Advent activities.  I tried.  I did.  But life....

Christmas was quiet but good.  It was just our little family.  My parents and mother in law came over Christmas day which was really nice.  We planned to get together with my brother and his sweet family on New Years.  But:  THE FLU.

Oh yes, I got hit with the flu.  It was BAD.  8 days in bed.  8 days with very little movement.  I probably should have gotten Tamiflu, but there was no moving me.  Not an inch.  It was the worst that I have been hit in years.  Did I get the flu shot? No.  I thought I had time.  I was wrong. Oh so wrong.

So no New Years family movie night with fondue.  We always do fondue.  Not this year.

On a bright side, I did get to catch up on all my Hallmark Christmas movies.  I rode that horse until the last minute.  Can I just say that I totally adore Hallmark Christmas movies?  I don't care if they seem hokie or that they seem all the same.  I LOVE THEM.

Hallmark Christmas movies are my jam.


So I'm better now and mostly caught up on life.

Yes, I have resolutions.  I do.  But I'm not going to talk about that now.  I have them.  So far, not so good .  Perimenopause is evil.  That's all I'm going to say about that.