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

Covid and Christmas

 No one wants to spend Christmas quarantined due to Covid, but this is where we find ourselves.  Last Thursday the Middle wasn't feeling well.  He's the one with uncontrolled asthma.  It was past the office hours of the pediatrician, so I took him to Urgent Care to get tested.  Tests used to be quick but due to the surge, we would need to wait.  We quarantined him right away and tried to keep it away from everyone else.  His test was going to take 48 hours to come back so on Friday I took him into the pediatrician to get seen and test again (they used to have test results that came back within a few minutes but again, due to the surge, they don't have those right now).  The doctor was almost positive that it was Covid, so she called his pulmonary doc to let her know just in case things went really bad for him.  Saturday morning both Urgent Care and the Ped called to say the tests were positive.  And that morning the 9-year-old woke up sick.  This is what we were trying to avoid for the past year and half.  But here it is.

So, the boys have been quarantined in their rooms since then and they have been troopers, but they are starting to lose their good humor.  My husband and I have also quarantined ourselves to the house even though we currently have no symptoms.  The oldest also doesn't have symptoms and the ped said he is ok to go about his life as long as he wears a mask.  He's not been happy about the masks, but he's glad to wear one at work at this point.  No one wants to spread this to anyone else.  

Luckily (and prayers have gone up), both boys are doing well.  Middle had NO issues with is asthma which is such a blessing.  He's ended up in the PICU due to the common cold and we really feared what Covid would do to him.  Angels have been watching over him.  The Little has done well too.

I don't want to get into who is vaxed, who is not vaxed, etc.  We have been following what the Middle's doctors have advised.  And with a close family member having cancer, we have been trying to be extra careful.  But Covid doesn't discriminate.  And our time was bound to run out.  

Here we are.  A very Covid Christmas.  There has been so much going on health wise with the family member with cancer, that I have tried to be as organized as I can be (organization is not my strong suit).  All gifts were bought and wrapped minus my nieces and nephews who we won't be seeing now anyway.  I have time to fix that.  I had a lot of food purchased and ready to go.  Cards were mailed.  At this point, the secular part of Christmas was covered.  The religious part doesn't need covered.  The real meaning of Christmas takes care of itself (or Himself).  God doesn't require the gifts, food, and decorations.  He is coming and nothing Covid related will stop that.  That's the real beauty of Christmas.  

We are together.  We have a warm house.  We have food (probably too much food).  No one has been hospitalized.  We have Jesus.  While Covid quarantine is not how anyone WANTS to celebrate Christmas, Christmas is here, and Christmas is good.  

Merry Christmas, friends.  I wish you God's love and good health.  

Halloween, The Election, and Jesus

 Halloween was a little over a week ago, and we are now moving well into November.  The election was last week (but not completely over... how very 2020).

Halloween:  It was a gorgeous night.  The weather really cooperated.  Here in Ohio it can be anywhere from 80 degrees, to snowing, to having remnants of a hurricane on Halloween.  I have seen it all and yes, the hurricane part is true even though we are nowhere near the ocean.  But this year the weather was beautiful.  We live in a fairly rural area and most of the kids in the neighborhood have aged out of trick or treating, but we still managed to get 6 kids and my 8 year old was able to go trick or treating.  We set up at the bottom of the driveway with our candy and fire pit and made sure to social distance.  It was such a gorgeous night that we sat by the fire pit well after the trick or treaters stopped coming.  It was nice to relax and enjoy the weather and each other.

Election:  I really don't want to talk too much about it other than to say that the way this country is divided scares me.  I don't know how we will ever get back to a place where we can respect other's opinions and try to work together.  Actually I do know, and it will only be by the grace of God.  I have been praying so much more lately.  And maybe that is why all this is happening.  Maybe it's to remind us of who is really important, where we should be putting our time and energy, and to remind us who is actually in control.  I feel Satan is prowling around this world and especially the USA.  

Ohio Covid update:  Well, we are having a nice surge in Covid cases.  I think we had 5,000 new cases in one day last week.  I'm afraid that it will only be a matter of time before things start shutting down again.  I just hope we don't completely shut down businesses like we did last time.  The economy will not be able to handle it.  My heart breaks for all those small businesses that are barely getting by as it is.  All I've got here is more prayer. 

Church:  We went back to church yesterday.  Not TV mass.  Not car mass.  We went back into our church and I can not tell you how that lifted my soul.  With all that has been going on, I needed to go back to church.  I NEEDED to be near Jesus.  I know He is always with me, but I needed to be near the real presence.  We felt completely safe.  We will continue to go for as long as the state allows the building to be open and I pray that if the actual church buildings close down again, that some priests will take it upon themselves to either have a mass outside (regardless of Ohio weather) or go rogue to have mass in the building anyway.  If there is one thing that I have realized that I can truly not live without, it is Jesus and my church.

Family:  The family is doing well and I am trying very hard to keep things as upbeat and as normal as possible for them.  I try to cook good, hearty meals and I am trying to keep the house as organized and picked up as possible to create peace here.  I can't control the things of this world, but I can control the state of my own home.