Ohhhh, I’ve been waiting for this day to come. I finally got to decorate my first home for Christmas! I always LOVED coming home from college to go to my mom and dad’s house to help them decorate, but couldn’t wait for the day I could buy my own decorations, my own tree, and make my first official home holiday-ready.

Unless you’re new here, you should know that we have an old farmhouse in the country of a small Illinois town. It’s a total fixer upper, and my favorite style of decorating is somewhere between rustic and chic, or “modern farmhouse” as Chip and JoJo call it. Our house will get there someday… even if it’s 40 years from now.

Since I’ve lived in college dorms and tiny apartments for the past 6 years of my life, I don’t have a lot of my own Christmas décor yet. During my last trip to my parent’s house, I stole a few things that I figured my mom wouldn’t even know were missing (right, mom?). In my defense, my dad totally encouraged it.

And as much as I wanted to click “Add to cart” to everything on Pottery Barn, Target, Magnolia, and Home Goods’ websites, I refrained. The decorating inspiration has been REAL lately, but I keep telling myself to save my money so I can spoil people with gifts :).

So far this year, I’ve been as resourceful as my creative self has allowed me to. I dug up some ornaments I’ve received over the years, stole some more from my parents, and tried to re-create many of the beautiful decorations I’ve seen plastered all over social media and popular websites. And luckily, I have a candle collection that could double as its own Yankee Candle pop-up shop. Here are a few that I’m burning right now:

The only thing I’ve actually purchased this year (besides our white pine tree) are some stockings. I stood in JoAnn Fabrics for 25 minutes trying to decide on which ones to buy, and ended up walking out with 2 of them. Then, I went to a few other places and couldn’t find any more that I really loved. “Wait a minute, Hope. Why do you need more than 2 stockings?”

Because (obviously) I need 2 for the dogs.

Well, after a few unsuccessful trips to other stores, I ended up going BACK to JoAnn Fabrics to look at the other options for another 20 minutes. I walked out with 3 more stockings. Are you rolling your eyes at me yet? Here’s how my conversation went down with the checkout lady (the second time):

Me: “I’m back!”

Checkout lady: “Wow… 3 more stockings? Didn’t you already buy 2? You must have a big family!”

(LOL)

Me: “Well, 1 is for me. 1 is for my boyfriend. 2 are for my dogs. And I bought an extra one because I’m indecisive and couldn’t come to terms with choosing only 4”

Checkout lady: *blank stare* (and probably thinking about how crazy I am)

Anyway…. moving on…..

Even though I think Christmas trees that are COVERED in ornaments, lights, glitter, and garland are beautiful, I wanted to keep ours a little more on the minimal side this year.

And don’t judge, but I still don’t have a tree skirt or any sort of tree base. Here are a couple of simple ideas I was inspired by:

I also found a super-easy tutorial on how to make your own tree skirt. Check it out here. I’m not sure what I’m going to do yet, but I’ll probably wait until the last possible minute to figure it out. *shrugs*
All I know is that every night when I come home from work, I get so excited to light my Christmas candles, light up the tree, and get cozy with a mug of hot chocolate. It can be easy to get overwhelmed during the holidays, but make sure you keep the focus on what’s truly important. Embrace the chaotic schedules and little imperfections 🙂

Happy Holidays!