Discover how to create a meaningful Christmas without buying new decorations. Embrace nostalgia, familiar traditions, contentment, and the beauty of making do with what you have.
I saw a reel on Instagram the other day that said, “Reminder: reusing our decor is how we get nostalgia,” and I just loved that reminder. I’ve been thinking about it ever since because there is something really beautiful about the things we bring out year after year. The same ornaments, the same decorations, the same little traditions that somehow become woven into the fabric of our family’s Christmas.
I always feel like I need new and better this time of the year. I ended up adding a Christmas tree to our dining room area, and I absolutely love it, but now instead of two trees to decorate, I have three trees to decorate!
I’ll admit, I had been wanting to purchase some new ornaments. I had a particular look in mind, but when I started going through our Christmas decorations, I realized that I could stretch what I had instead of buying or making something new.
And I think there’s something rather lovely about that. Because a meaningful Christmas doesn’t require new decorations. Sometimes the things that make Christmas feel most special are the very things we’ve been bringing out of storage for years.
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The Beauty of Familiar Traditions
There’s something about Christmas that makes us nostalgic. We remember the Christmases of our childhood, the decorations our parents put up, the familiar smells coming from the kitchen, and the little traditions that seemed so ordinary at the time but have become some of our most treasured memories.
I wonder if part of what makes those memories so special is the repetition. We did the same things year after year. We pulled out the same decorations, read the same books, made the same recipes, and anticipated the same little traditions. They became familiar, and that familiarity became part of what made Christmas feel like Christmas.
I think sometimes we’re so focused on creating wonderful memories for our children that we forget memories are often made through repetition rather than novelty. We don’t necessarily need to make every Christmas bigger or better than the last. There is something comforting about knowing that some things will remain the same, even as our children grow and life around us changes.
I think I’ve grown to appreciate a collected look more than a perfectly coordinated one. I love decorations that have been gathered over time, things that don’t necessarily match but somehow belong together. Some of our ornaments are older, some have been gifts, and some I’ve picked up along the way. They might not all fit into one particular decorating trend, but I think that’s what makes them interesting. Our Christmas tree tells a little story of the years we’ve spent celebrating together.
Finding Contentment in What We Have
There’s a certain contentment that comes from learning to appreciate the season of life we’re in rather than constantly wishing things looked a little different. We can spend so much time looking at what other people are doing, what other homes look like, or what we wish we could add to our own lives, that we forget to enjoy the things right in front of us.
I’ve been thinking about this as I’ve been preparing for Christmas. There are so many little things I enjoy doing this time of year. Today I’m making candied pecans, which is one of those recipes that feels like Christmas to me and my family. Dan in particular loves these, and he’s such a foodie that I always count it a huge win when I perfect something that he asks for.
This recipe is actually the recipe of the month for the Substack membership; you get a hand-painted recipe card from me. I’m also going to handwrite this one out on recipe cards to share as part of the Art of Home podcast recipe exchange. Allison has the recipe exchange closed for this year, but keep it in mind for next year because I think it’s quite a lovely homemaking Christmas idea.
I love these kinds of traditions. There’s something satisfying about taking simple ingredients, spending a little time in the kitchen, and making something that can be enjoyed and shared with someone else. It isn’t particularly complicated or extravagant, but I think that’s part of what makes it special.
I also think we sometimes overlook how much joy can be found in these ordinary preparations. We don’t always need a big Christmas activity or an elaborate tradition. Sometimes it’s simply making a familiar recipe, wrapping a little something to share, or preparing our homes for the people we love. These small acts of homemaking are part of what makes a season feel special.
And perhaps that’s where contentment really begins. Not in having everything we want or creating the perfect Christmas, but in learning to recognize the goodness in the life we’ve already been given.
The Ordinary Things Become Our Memories
As I think about all of this, I keep coming back to the kind of home I want to create for my children.
I’m looking forward to our Advent Tradition this year. I made a video a couple of weeks ago about the two Advent traditions we’ve done and the new one I’m going to incorporate this year. This year I’m incorporating 25 books of Christmas into our traditions of Advent Blocks (code HEALINGHOME for 20% off) and our Shepherd’s Treasure. I wanted to just try doing 25 Advent books, but when my older two got wind of my plans, they were very saddened that the traditions they’ve come to expect were possibly going to be set aside. We’re still going to be doing the 25 books of Christmas, but the other two traditions will be woven through so the older boys who have loved our traditions don’t feel jipped.
I don’t necessarily want them to remember that we had the most beautifully decorated Christmas home or that every room looked like something out of a magazine. Of course, I hope they remember our home as a beautiful place, but I think the beauty I want them to remember is something a little different.
I want them to remember the feeling of home. The familiar decorations that came out every December, the Christmas books wrapped in paper, the smell of something baking in the kitchen, and the little things that made this season feel special in our family.
I think that’s one of the beautiful things about homemaking. So much of what we do is repeated, and often it feels rather ordinary while we’re doing it. We cook the same meals, wash the same dishes, decorate the same rooms, and return to the same traditions. But those ordinary things are also the building blocks of family life.
Maybe someday my children will make candied pecans and remember helping me prepare them. Perhaps they’ll wrap Christmas books for their own children or find themselves hanging familiar ornaments on their own trees. I don’t know exactly what they’ll remember, but I hope they remember the warmth and familiarity of home.
And I think it’s worth remembering that we don’t have to manufacture extraordinary moments all the time. Most of our lives are made up of ordinary days, ordinary work, and ordinary opportunities to love the people God has placed in our care.
Those ordinary days are worth tending to.
Let Christmas Look Like Your Family
So as we move into another Christmas season, I want to encourage you to look at your home a little differently. Before you start making shopping lists or deciding what needs to be replaced, take a look at what you already have. Pull out the decorations you’ve used for years, bring back an old tradition, and make room for the familiar things that have become part of your family’s story.
And if there’s something new you genuinely want to add, that’s lovely too. The point isn’t that we can never purchase another Christmas decoration. It’s that we don’t need something new in order to experience the joy and beauty of Christmas.
Perhaps this year we can spend a little less time wondering what we need to add and a little more time enjoying what we’ve already been given.
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