Before I get to sharing my Christmas décor with you, I just had something to say that’s been weighing on my mind and I have a feeling it will resonate with many of you too.
I’ve noticed something in blogland. It’s gotten crazy around here during Christmas. I just wanted to take a minute and give a few observations of my own about the Christmas season and blogging and how if we’re not careful, we can let that old ugly monster, comparison, creep up on us. I can honestly say this is the first year of my 7 years of blogging during the Christmas season, that it’s affected me. That clicking around blogland at all the beautiful home tours and feeling a wee bit depressed because my house can’t possibly compete with all of those?
How can it? I’m a pretty confident person and it still gets to me somewhat.
We all have different decorations, houses, styles of decorating, talent, skill, not to mention time to decorate our homes for the Holidays, so how in the world can every house be so darn beautiful? There’s such a multitude of talent out there, I see it every single day. So, if I’m feeling the pressure to perform this year, I know countless others of you out there are feeling the same way. I have never felt the pressure as much as this year in performing for Christmas and showing off my decked to the max Christmas home.
But, the problem is, I can’t compete. Everyone has their own style of gorgeous and putting it all together for Christmas festivities and it can be intimidating to the normal homemaker out there who just wants to create a pretty decorated Christmas home for their families.
So I wanted to take a minute to say, let’s all take a deep breath. There’s talent, beauty and amazingness out there. Some folks take better pics than others. That can be intimidating too. I’m still working on my photography, I’m not at all where I’d like to be (even though I improve every single year!) and find myself oohing and ahhing over those who do it better than I do. We all have to really take a step back. Slow down. Remember the season and why we are celebrating.
I (we) are celebrating a baby Jesus who came to earth, a savior who was born for us, who loves us just as we are. Beautiful home or plain home. We are all loved the same. I hope we will remember that this season, as blogland is scurrying around decorating and showing off all the beauty that is out there this time of year. There are home tours galore and blogland is positively exploding with them this year and I’m part of a big one too.
I, for one, have to step back and remember. This is not a competition. This is sharing creativity and festiveness for the season. Mine will never be the best or the most beautiful, but I hope you enjoy this season at my house. I throw in the towel and admit that I see so many MORE beautiful homes than mine. But, mine is mine and we all have to embrace our homes and spaces and create the most gorgeous Christmas home that we can…with what we have been given…big and small.
OK, now that we got that out of the way. That was just weighing heavy on my mind, because I know if it’s bothering ME, it has to be unsettling to a whole bunch of other bloggers out there. Not to mention all of you wonderful readers who read our blogs. You have to be feeling intimidated at times, wondering how your home stacks up in blogland.
So, let’s give ourselves a break, OK?! Don’t get hung up on who has the prettiest decorated house! Decorate for your family and enjoy this precious time of year and soak up all that this season brings. The meaning behind who, why, and what we are celebrating at Christmas. It’s not all about the decorations and we all certainly know that, right?!
With that being said, I’m ready to share my living room decorated this year for Christmas. I use most of the same things every year, so if you’ve been reading me awhile, you’ll see the same old stuff. But, I love my home and am still so grateful for every single thing in it!
Merry Christmas 2013!
Welcome to my living room.
I added the real wreath to the fireplace mantel this year and am so happy to have a mantel to decorate this year.
I’ve had these gold trees for over 10 years and this year used them with my white Southern Living urns. I went for rustic and natural on the mantel.
These white JOY letters stand out against the stone.
My living room decorated for Christmas this year.
Just a few greenery touches around the room, with ornaments and beads.
My black side table in the living room got a cloche with winter scene and I added some fresh greens cuttings along with feathers and gold touches.
Just a few touches around the room.
I love adding fake snow to my cake plate and putting out a winter scene for Christmas.
My nativity set that I’ve had for over 20 years, from Fitz and Floyd.
The coffee table got a few festive touches too.
I brought in my little white iron birdbath and filled it with snow and pretty gold and white ornaments. A few snips of fresh greens finishes it off.
Another cloche holds my vintage ornaments just found this year. Love these colors!
More blue baubles on an end table.
Simple touches on this side table too, with a white bottlebrush tree, I found at Target last year after Christmas, along with a simple boxwood wreath hung on the mirror.
This cute tree makes me smile.
Love this Silent Night handpainted sign from Beyond the Mossy Tree at the Woodstock Market.
The tree this year got some new ornaments from the Michaels Christmas tree challenge. My sister used part of the ornaments and I used the other half.
Since my old prelit tree died, I picked this one up last year at Lowes after Christmas sales. I love a tree in an urn.
Love the mix of green, silver, and white along with the burlap snowflake ribbon.
A big silver mesh bow, sparkly picks and feathers at the top make it extra fun.
All of these ornaments and ribbons came from Michaels this year. I love those cute white birds.
And that’s my biggest Christmas tree this year, just my size. I am not sure I’ll ever do a huge tree again.
The foyer table always gets dressed with my mercury glass collection and all things silver. I just love this mix and how pretty it looks. I added the zebra runner to the table this year and love that added bit of pattern.
The square boxwood wreath was a gift from Wayfair this year and of course, I love it’s natural feel. You can’t beat preserved boxwood. That 3 tiered stand in the middle was one of my World Market finds from earlier this year and is the perfect holder for these pretty ornaments.
The silver candelabra is a long ago yardsale find and I still love it, along with the silver tray on the left, holding the cute silver tinsel tree.
I’ve collected this mercury glass at all different stores, including TJ Maxx, Homegoods, and Target. Love all of these together and how sparkly and shiny they are.
A scripture white ball gives a beautiful message.
These sparkly words I’ve had for years too, picked up in an after Christmas sale: Joy, Hope and Wish, that describes this season to me. I added a few snips of greens to this vignette too, that always is a lovely touch.
The boxwood wreath up close. I added a jingle bell garland to the middle, along with a pretty silver angel and this Merry Christmas sign was a yardsale find long ago. I love it’s simplicity.
I sure am enjoying having a working gas fireplace now and have turned on the logs several times already this year. The warmth and glow add so much to my living room. Love it! The addition of the mantel this year and the gas logs are good ones that I’m so thankful for.
Mr. Cody joined me in my photo session and he’s been so much fun to have around this past year. He loves me and I love him! Cody and Rhonda have been great roommates the last year.
Come back tomorrow and we’ll head into the dining room!
Merry Christmas to all of you!
Wednesday will be my big home tour, where I’ll be joining 25 other bloggers (5 bloggers per day, Monday through Friday) who will all be sharing their beautifully decorated homes for the Christmas season, so you will have so much inspiration, you won’t know what to do! It all starts on Monday morning. Chris from Just a Girl is the host for this tour and you can see the first day’s line up at her blog on Monday morning, so don’t miss out!
If you’re not completely toured out yet, here are this week’s blogger home tours for Christmas. I’ll add live links as the days go on this week. And really, these are a talented group of ladies, so I know you’ll enjoy the inspiration!
Monday
- Life in Grace
- Not Just a Housewife
- All Things Thrifty
- Funky Junk Interiors
- Thrifty Decor Chick
- Storywood Designs
- Decorchick
- Southern Hospitality
- Our Fifth House
- Sand and Sisal
- A Place for Us
- Songbird
- Pretty Handy Girl
- Beneath My Heart
- I Heart Organizing
- My Blessed Life
- Emily A. Clark
- A Thoughtful Place
- Remodelaholic
Thank you for this Rhoda..you said something that NEEDED TO BE SAID…I have been blogging for eight years and have been published in national magazines and have a full portfolio I am proud of and I yet I also start to feel intimidated and overwhelmed somewhat. It honestly makes me want to strip down and do very little. I am also frankly discouraged by all of the copying and lack of creativity both of my own work and others. And yet I know I am inspired by others so I don’t want to be a hypocrite about that. I think the important thing is to give credit to a designer or blogger if you are copying their look. That just can’t be said enough. At the end of the day, I think we are just on overload with pinterest and instagram and maybe its not fair to blame bloggers and decorators completely but take (I am speaking as both a reader and a decorator) responsiblity of how much we consume. Bloggers have a social responsibility too i believe and I have tried to send a message of simplicity and beauty and true meaning on my blog and I know you do too..ALL of that to say I am glad you touched on this topic with some great heartfelt reminders of what is important.
Rhoda, one of my favorite things about you is your heart. You took the words right out of my mouth; I have been so bummed to not be fully decorated, fluffed, photographed, and ready to share this year. But we’ve had so much going on, I haven’t had the time or energy. Much as I enjoy seeing all the beautifully decorated homes (and I DO!), it has been a little depressing. I decided over the weekend to step back, do what I could, and not worry about the rest — it was stealing my joy of the season and I refuse to let that happen. Thank you for always being the encourager, always speaking from the heart, and helping us all to focus on the important things.
Your living room is lovely, festive, and so very YOU. Mission accomplished. 🙂
xo Heidi
How wonderfully beautiful and festive your home is for Christmas. I absolutely love your tree. You are so right about the Christmas season and what it’s really about and also about the comparison issues or feeling inadequate among bloggers. I could never measure up. I don’t own a huge home and I often don’t have the time or money to make it anywhere near as fancy or hip and modern as everyone else’s but I still love it and to me it’s beautiful. It’s home to my family and my friends are always welcome. It’s warm, cozy and inviting which is most important. I want people to feel welcome and comfortable in my home. I never want them to feel as if my things and decorations are more important than them. Some of the homes I see in blogland, though they are perfectly decorated and very beautiful, to me do not feel welcoming. I would be afraid to sit or touch anything because I wouldn’t want to mess it up. LOL. Anyway, thanks for sharing what’s on your mind. It helps people like me, who don’t have it all. Besides, Christmas really should be about Christ, family and friends, not decorations.
Love your home. It looks comfortable and loved.
Linda
You are an extraordinary blogger and you home is beautiful. Your Christmas decor is wonderful. Still, one of my favorite recent posts from you recently is from your Facebook page – the girdle/spanx-like thing you bought from Target or Wal-mart. I had looked at post after post on my newsfeed showing off gorgeous homes. The girdle took me by surprise. It stood out from the crowd and made me laugh out loud. 😀
Thank you all for your thoughtful comments today, I appreciated and read every one of them. I think you know that I’m not saying, let’s quit decorating big (or bigger) for Christmas. I’m not knocking any of my blog friends either. We all love our homes and decorating and showing them off for Christmas. I just wanted to give some thoughts on how all of the explosion of Christmas that we are seeing right now can lead to discontentment and feelings of competition. That’s what I know can happen out there and why I said what I did.
What beautiful sentiments. We are empty-nesters and don’t decorate for Christmas like we did when we had young ones around, but we never decorated for any of the holidays like I see in blogland. Revolving decorations are not what our family is about. I would rather donate to our local childrens home (and we are) than fill my house with things probably made in China. Thank you for your reasoned approach to decorating in this blessed season. Merry Christmas and a wonderful new year to you and your family.
Rhoda,
Thank you for this post. I’ve recently (very recently) started my own blog. I’ve been a blog follower for years and have loved doing “home stuff” for always. I made a goal to start a blog years ago, but then walked away as I knew I could never compete. I work full time (travel for work) – am approaching 50 – am not married – don’t have children. I just didn’t feel as though I fit the mold. Then a small voice inside of me said to “go in blind faith”. So I took a leap of faith and launched my blog. I don’t know where it will go. I really have no idea what I am doing. I still don’t fit the mold. But I am going to move forward in faith and on a wing and a prayer.
Everything looks beautiful!
I love all of the sparkle! And that zebra runner is fabulous. Your tree is so beautiful, too.
The best part is that your home reflects beautiful you! I share your sentiments about comparison. I’ve gone back and forth from confident and peaceful, to feeling inferior and telling myself, “that’s it. I give up,” after seeing all of these Christmas home tours. Thankfully, that isn’t too often. This year I have challenged myself to keep the decorating simple and give myself time to enjoy the true meaning of the season.
I’m so glad that you have the confidence to both share your heart and convictions and still show us your beautiful home all decorated for Christmas. One of the things that I love about your home is that I know it is full of meaning because you fill it with things that are meaningful and sentimental and with things that you love. That is what makes a beautiful home.
Such a great post, friend! I love that you acknowledge the pressure people can feel, but you’re still aware that we should be able to share our homes’ beauty! It’s all about balance, and I love that you acknowledge it can be hard to juggle! Your home is beautiful, and your heart is genuine! So glad we’re friends!
Rhoda, I love your decorating. It is not over the top – but beautiful. The tree topper is simply georgeous as well as all your silver/mercury glass. And I must say I love your touches of turquoise – beautiful home.
Well I must say there is some interesting comments today. I still look at blogs, but I have decided to just enjoy what I have. Most people who are my friends think my décor is beautiful, but I’m no decorator! If I do buy anything new it is usually when it goes on sale in the new year! and I do enjoy doing that. But today I gave some stuff to a friend, who maybe doesn’t have as much to decorate with and you would have thought I gave her a pot of gold! WOW.. and I was just cleaning out…
Anyway I plan to give at church to our Mission program… now that’s a thought maybe we all should consider… instead of buying so much stuff we don’t need..
And Rhoda, your house is lovely as always… I read you every day or most days! I like that you love to shop the thrifty places, and I think my house looks pretty good, vintage and mixed with some new.
Kaye
Rhoda, your words today were both a blessing and a balm to me. Thank you for your wisdom and sincerity. Your home is beautiful to me and represents everything that I admire about you. May God continue to bless you and your family!
Thank you for the post Rhoda. I am not able to decorate this year because of a problem with knee replacement surgery that has left me using a walker full time for the next few months. But I can enjoy your beautiful home via the internet anyway. I had looked at quite a few house tours and they are very pretty but some do not look homey. I decorate my big tree with all different kinds of ornaments that have meaning to us from over the years. No, they do not all have a ‘theme’ but we love them anyway and I’ll never do a tree without them. Looking forward to seeing your dining room.
Sure would love to see you paint the fireplace rock a barely off white and then accent it in places with a shadow color to go with the room. It just doesn’t purtray the elegance of you and your home. All the southern things you have and then there is this ROCK that doesn’t go. What do you think. Just a thought.
Lisa
HI, Lisa, I’ve definitely got an idea on covering the top of my fireplace with white planks, but I’m not sure about the rock on the bottom. I haven’t gotten that far yet, but I might cover part of it up eventually. I have more things to do right now, but thanks for your thoughts. I’m not sure about painting it, would have to see if I can find pics of that. I love painted brick, but not so sure about painted rock.
I love the ROCK FIREPLACE!!!
Me too. It adds so much warmth . I hate it when everything looks too formal; it’s the mix that adds life to things and your colours complement it perfectly.
Your post really resonated with me this year. I’m without heat until who know when and decorating a freezing house seems pointless. A lesson for those envying large houses…bigger is not always better. Yours is one of three blogs I regularly read. I love it.
I so appreciate your comments– especially your reminder on the “real reason for the season.” I find your comments from your heart and down-to-earth approach to decorating and family living very refreshing and much more relevant for most of us than some of the more elaborate blogs. Please continue to be YOU and remind us of the really important things in life! Merry Christmas to you and your wonderful family!
Very well said, dear Rhoda. It seems to me that not only does every blogger want hers to be the biggest and best but it also has to be the “first” decorated. I have decided to take another route this year. My first priority is to enjoy the season. I have already taken time to attend or participate in several Christmas events and have a full schedule this week too. I may be the only decorator in America who does not have a stitch of Christmas décor in my home yet but I have several other places looking good! It will get done when it gets done and I will savor the season along the way!
Hello My Sweet Rhoda!!
It has been a long while since I have commented. I have been peeking in here and there! My life has taken a turn and I am sooooo soooo soooo busy…BUT I LOVE IT!!! What a great post…AGAIN! I smile as I type that. You always hit the nail on the head… no pun intended!! First off…The living room looks GREAT! We all can tell how comfortable YOU have made it. Your decorating style is FABULOUS!! I have always enjoyed your design style.
Secondly, Blogland has become way too …OVER THE TOP!!! If I could use bold type and underlines…that last sentence would have used them both!!! Who enjoys seeing all this staged stuff??? I just saw a house yesterday where cute little boots were staged through out all her pictures… in different rooms. REALLY??? Whatever happened to simple??? Whatever happened to cozy??? Homey??? REAL??? Yes their photography is all wonderful and fabulous… but STAGED!!
Thirdly, I got a kick out of one blogger who showed what her house REALLY looked like before her staged pictures!! How cool is that? Laundry was all over the floor and the dinner table was full of homework. Yep…real life needs to be shown.
Lastly, of course we want to see pretty inspirations… but… simplistic is best. Comfortable homes where we can feel comfortable… is where we want to be!
Rhoda… I feel comfort… always… when I come over for coffee… 😉 Merry Christmas, Girl!
~~Nancy from OHIO
I am getting a mantle very similar to that for Christmas this year. I am so excited because we do not have one. I would be interested know how yours is mounted.
Hi, Nicki, I had some pros install it and here’s the post I did:
http://southernhospitalityblog.com/a-rustic-mantel-shelf-installation/