A Minimal Christmas

Since we are down to only one kid living at home, we figured this year would be the year we make a conscious decision to NOT go overboard with Christmas decorations or gifts.

I’ve mostly kept to what we have on hand, but did splurge at Dollarama and picked up 6 baubles, a couple rolls of ribbon and some burlap to create two garlands – one for the new behind the sofa table hubby made me for Christmas and one to hang as an accent in the dining room!

I gave our two lanterns a makeover with some Rustoleum Tidal Pond coloured spray paint in a chalk finish, and used a long wooden box we had on hand with the word “simple” on it to display some candles and baubles!

Because we have our grandsons through the week, we also had to toddler-proof our decor. Our youngest is 2 and he loves to check out EVERYTHING.  So we deployed the following tips and tricks to make sure he can safely coexist with our Christmas decorations!

• Keep things out of reach: This year we decided to empty out our larger china cabinet and to display our collections of Santa’s that my Mum and Dad have made for us over the years.  This works to keep B’s hands off them to to highlight them in a safe way.
• Use non-breakable decorations: Aside from a few decorations we’ve inherited, ours tend to be plastic or handmade.  This way we make sure that what B is handling is OK for him to play with.  We obviously keep a close eye on him around the tree!
• Place decor up high: I have three wreaths up this year – one on the corner cupboard in the kitchen, another on our smaller china cabinet, and a large one on the large china cabinet.  The smaller ones are out of B’s reach and he’s been really good about keep his hands off the larger one.
• Teach your kids how to handle things: Not only at Christmas is this a good lesson!  We always have taught our children how to behave around things so this is just another lesson.  They know what they can and can’t touch, and they really do try their hardest to be respectful of things.  But the allure of the shiny baubles can sometimes be too much for the little Nifflers, so we are always mindful of where we place our ornaments.

Merry Christmas my luscious luvlies!