The holidays are about decorating, right? You are only half right. In fact, I would be happy if the house was not decorated, meaning I am not going to stress out if I do not have any decorations. You do not have to be elaborate with the decorations.
This reminds me of a little story called, “A Charlie Brown Christmas”. In the story, turned in a 30-minute television special in 1965, Charlie Brown is in search of the Christmas spirit, so Lucy suggested that he direct the Christmas play. Meanwhile, Snoopy, his dog is decorating his doghouse. Now, how many dogs you know who can do that?
If you know the story, you will see that Charlie bought a little tree, whose pines keep falling, and brought it back to the school, to which the other children made fun of the decision he made. So, after his friend, Linus talked about the true meaning of Christmas, Charlie Brown took the tree and gave it an ornament from Snoopy’ s doghouse, which won first place. He places the ornament on the tree, and it falls over, devastating him more than when the children made fun of him. If your decorations feel like Charlie’s then you are missing the point of my analogy.
If you have very little decorations from the beginning, you can always do what the children did to the tree after Charlie left. They were secretly following Charlie Brown to see what he was going to do next. When they saw him walking sadly away they decided, with Linus’s help to fix the little tree, and when Charlie came back to the tree, it has been transformed into this beautiful little tree, and they wished him a “Merry Christmas” and sung. One day during the season on the My Ambiance Life blog, I may talk about the true meaning of this cute, little show.
How are your decorations?
Obviously, in the story, we see two decorators, Charlie Brown and Snoopy. Charlie decorates very little, entertains very little (See A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, equally as funny, yet meaningful). He is not the life of the party, and this is the same kid, who is modeled after Charles Shultz’s childhood, who got rocks in his Halloween bag (It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown), never got to kiss the little red-headed girl (You’re in Love, Charlie Brown, It’s Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown, and Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown), and finds out that he is not the first owner of Snoopy (Snoopy, Come Home). If this is you, take solace in knowing that you are not alone. Snoopy, on the other hand, loves to decorate, cook, and dance. This is not a chore for him. Nothing phases him, and he is glad to do it. Snoopy also takes care of his own (to a certain point).
This is not a comic strip.
Of course, I am comparing real life to a comic strip, and we are not adults who go “Blah, Blah, Blah” when we talk. This is the real deal, and this is Part 3 of a 3-part series on the holidays. Part 1, covered on My Ambiance Life, introduces you to the series, and in another post, talks about taking care of you and your mental health during this time of the year. Part 2, which is on P. Lynne Designs blog, talks about going homemade for gifts and decorations. In Part 3, I will be tackling how to decorate and entertain on a budget, organizing everything, and taking care of your family during this time. I hope you will take from this tip on how to decorate like Snoopy on a “Charlie Brown” budget.
Decorating on the cheap (or fake it til you make it).
I like nice things, and I love decorating even more. Sometimes, especially the last couple of years while I am trying to pay bills and putting together my business, P. Lynne Designs, I may not have the fancy stuff to decorate and make my home livable. In fact, sometimes it is hard to do so. I know what I like and do not like. I try to come up with ways that I can do that on a budget. December is the month where I draw up my budget for the next year, so I have to know how much I am allowing myself to spend on new decorations.
Last year, I went to Dollar Tree, and in a way, I have become sort of a Dollar Tree snob. Now, I do not buy everything at Dollar Tree. I do go to Target, Walmart, Ikea, and even At Home if have to. I also look to see what I can make, now that I have a Cricut Maker to use and a new sewing machine. This year, I have to be careful because of the cat. I want to make sure that I do have cat-friendly products, so I nor my nephew have to run to do an emergency run to the vet. I am also working on a budget of $200 (low end) to $500 (high end), but closer to $200.
One of the things I do advise to signup with lots of rewards programs. I have signed up with Ebates, Be Frugal, Dosh, and Acorns. Each one of these programs, I linked my debit card to that program. The way these programs work is you shop as normal. When you go to a store that one of these programs are attached to, you will get money back. It may not happen right away, but it is like paying yourself for shopping.
Ebates (which I have been with since 2010), sends a “big check” 4 times a year, which I am not happy with (I want to be paid once a month, LOL), allows you to shop both online and in store. With the in stores, you have to activate online in order for your card to tell Ebates you have been shopping.
Be Frugal works the same way as Ebates, except you do not have to enter a debit card on your account.
Dosh and Acorns work the same. You put your card number in, and every time you shop, you are automatically given a cash back to our card.
Entertaining your guests.
Plan your holiday dinner NOW, if you have not already started. You can find some great deals similar to the ones I mentioned above. I am a member of Kroger and Giant Eagle rewards program. If you do not have time to shop, use the delivery programs, such as the ones that Kroger has or Shipt. Be mindful of food delivery services as some do have a fee. Shipt is $99 yearly or $14 monthly. So, if you do not have it in the budget or will be shopping on the way home from work, this may not be a good fit for you and your budget.
The way to create a budget is to figure out how many people you will have over for dinner then figure out the cost per person. in the case of my family, which includes my parents, brother and wife, sister, me, oldest nephew and girlfriend, my brother’s youngest, and my sister’s two children (oldest is my brother’s child), this adds up to 11 people. I am going to round up the price from USA Today estimate of $49.87, reported in 2016 to $55.00 in 2018, and we have the cost down to $5 for each person. Of course, you may have more or less depending on where you live.
Last on this part is family.
Family, rather you are married, single with or without children, or with a partner, is important especially this time of the year, and it is important that you do not leave them out. So, I combine this segment into something I like to call, “divide and conquer”.
The way it works is a combination of organizing teamwork and individuality, and everyone has to cooperate to get things done. You are the overseer of all things. In decorating, do the task at the same time, but assign each person with a task. Someone gets and decorates the tree, another hangs the garland around the house. You have little children, they can set things up like the nativity scene, the Menorah, or unity candles for Kwanza, anything that is safe for them to do. No glassware type stuff and only if they can handle it.
For cooking, you can have a potluck if you have extended family. You provide the meats and main stuff while you have someone bring in the side dishes. See how that works. If you are sending out cards, one person can address the cards while the other can sign the cards.
In between all of that hustle and bustle, rest, take in a movie night with your family. See other decorations or have story time with the kids. Do not forget some coupling times as well. It is more important to be with family then to plan for the annual holiday party at your house. Have a family get together with the kids. My family gets together on Christmas Eve, have our main dinner, maybe open one present (save the rest for in the morning), and have movie night of whatever is on Netflix or Hulu. Not sure about this year since mom and dad are asked to do the reading of the final advent candle at church, but we will make it work.
This concludes this series on making the holidays work without the stress. Please check out part 1 on My Ambiance Life and part 2 on P. Lynne Designs blogs.
Until then, my Peace come upon the Earth and have fun.
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