December Brain

I’m not a person who itches all year to put up the Christmas decorations and squeals when I hear those Mariah Carey bells playing over a grocery store speaker. I respect December 1st as the appropriate time to jump into the Christmas season, or the day after Thanksgiving at absolute earliest. But when it finally does roll around, I enjoy it.

This year I put candles in the windows, two lit wreaths on the balcony doors, lit the boxwood on the balcony, lit a wreath in each of the three barn windows facing the house and hung a garland along the split rail fence at the entrance to our driveway. This feels to me like I’m really going all out, and so it was validating to read this explanation of New England holiday decor on The Thing Before Preppy.

“Still, the essence is restraint. Often, decorations are done right when they are easy to miss.”

Outdoors may be New England puritan, but indoors is an entirely different matter. I’ve always been a colored (incandescent) tree lights gal, but we’re hosting a bunch of family this year, so I’m going a little over the top. Here’s my mood board:

A little messy, very colorful, imperfect and full. Our house can be kind of proper-feeling, and I think it’ll be a nice contrast and make it feel fun and homey. If you’re into this vibe, I have a whole Pinterest board of it that you can peruse.

Needless to say, I’ll be tying a lot of ribbon. Here’s a cool tutorial I saw on how to make a perfect bow. Fussy? A little. But you have to admit the result is pretty good.

And because I only recommend shopping things here when I myself am looking to buy, I thought I’d let you know that I bought the Garnet Hill Snow Day flannel sheets. I’m laying on them as I type this and can confirm they are divinely soft and the perfect amount of silly.

Speaking of recommendations, I, (like everyone else in this country, it seems) am trying to use my phone less. I’m having great success by doing lots of little things that make it slightly less convenient to use. I’m not quite die hard enough yet to chain it to a wall, but I’m not entirely opposed to the idea. For now my most helpful uh, hinderance, has been using a comically short charger by my bed. It’s so short that the phone doesn’t even reach the top of the nightstand while it’s being charged. This tiny inconvenience has really paid off, and helped me to read (books!) before bed rather than scroll or read articles online.

A few weeks ago I wrote that I had quit shopping on Amazon. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten more DM’s. Most were from people saying they’d love to do it, but didn’t think they could. Well, I have an update for you: