Has anyone else downsized Christmas decorations?

I'd never heard of this before so had to look it up....just spent an interesting half hour reading about the KonMarie method.  

Yes, I downsized some on Christmas decorations last year so now there's a lot less stuff to put up, gather dust, take down and put back into storage even though we still have all our favourites out.

Scoot over.  I want to sit on the "pissy mood" and "I hate Christmas" bench with you.  I hate shopping any time of the year, especially at Christmas.  I hate decorating the damned tree and the house. If DH asks one more time when "we" are going to put the tree up, I may smack him with it.

Growing up, decorating was a 2 or three day chore. The tree was fake and had those individual branches you had to put on the trunk. I had to sort, group, and then hand them off. At some point, assembling the whole tree became my job. It really sucked when some of those branches lost their markings. Then there was taking all my mom's owls off the entertainment center (our equalivant of a mantle in a house with no fireplace) and putting out all of the Christmas decorations she had - the numerous snowmen that seemed to multiply in storage, the navitity set, the old ceramic tree, etc. Plus we had window clings, a set for each window in the living room (4 windows), random decorations for an end table, under the tree, the ornaments, lights. It was just A LOT. My sister stopped helping some time after she turned 16. I ended up doing most of the work up until my parents sold that house.

Fast forward nearly 20 years later, a couple moves for me, an ex who never had much and me developing a taste for simpler decor, our decorations consist of a tree with ornaments, lights only for the porch railings with a few snowflake accents, and those shelf hooks that you set on the mantle for your stockings. I somehow ended up with my Grandma's ceramic tree. I have more than enough ornaments so I think a good chunk of them will end up in a garage sale in the near future. I recently made a wreath for my door and that's the extent of my decorating. It takes less than an afternoon to decorate. We have a box for the lights, an ornament storage box, a tote that holds the stockings, tree skirt, and a few other things, and then the box for the tree. It's a good thing DH also likes the simpler stuff. Less work for him he says.

Sing it Sista!  I have ZERO holiday spirit this year.

I think I donated a couple of boxes of things we didn't use last year.  I also made sure exH got all of his ornaments and anything I didn't really like.


We have two kittens this year, and I have decided not to put the tree up this year.  This was decided after they pulled the branches out of the Advent wreath one at a time.  They would knock a holly twig onto the floor, pull off the berries, and bat them around the room.  Luckily, I have a nice pottery-type wreath form, so I pulled out the greenery - it was too much of a temptation.

In lieu of a tree, we hung lights around the recessed ceiling in the living room.  I hope this is a one year issue - this will be the most active they ever are, and they will be fixed early next year.

Downsized from 11 tubs of Christmas stuff when we moved. I don't know what we have now, because it is kind of spread out storage wise, but we do have two sets of decorations (lighthouses or gingerbread). This year would be gingerbread. It is so much work, and yes, I am in the club with everyone else who has to do it all myself. Not feeling it this year. I may just drag out the fake pre-lit spiral tree, plug it in and call it Christmas.

I normally decorate the day after Thanksgiving, however this year I had to work, so that really killed any holiday spirit I have. If I do not put the tree up this weekend (Sunday), then a tree will not happen. The following weekend we will be gone so if I am going to put forth the effort, I better do it this weekend.

The Hallmark singing snowman with the dog will come out, that is one of my son's favorites, but that is easy to get to (stored in an upper cabinet of the bathroom), and then place on a shelf so we can press the button.

It takes me less than 2 hours to decorate. That's enough time spent on it for me. We have a nice artificial tree, a nice mantle, and our living room is decorated. Add a few things here and there around the house, candles in the windows, and that's it! I like it.