Finding Magic and Simplicity with Christmas Ornaments.

Glass bulbs I filled with meadow flowers.

After living in autumn colors, after having crisp meadow walks wrapped in chunky knits and warm boots, I simply love creating moments and cozy home over Christmas time. It really is the most magical time in the whole year for me. I always loved that feeling of pure happiness and love when we were little and decorating our tree with mom. We couldn't wait for the morning when mom would warm us in winter scarves, boots, gloves and hats, put us in the car and drive with dad on some forest paths covered in frost where we would go in search of the perfect evergreen tree. We loved it so much. That sense of magic, excitement and adventure has always remained engraved in me. I want to create the same with my little one. I remember we had two boxes full of Christmas decorations. In one, there were only ornaments for the Christmas tree and some lights. Mom always loved red and gold ornaments. There were always bells on those small twigs, angels, some bows and lots of traditional bulbs. In the second box, there was always a Holy Family figurines and a little wooden home for them. After decorating the tree, dad would bring straw into the house, which we would spread under the pine tree and then we would push the Christmas house into it and add some animal figurines around it. Those are moments and memories that I always carry with me. Forever.

Even today, my Christmas with my little family is magical. For several years now, Christmas has not been graced by the adventure of searching for a Christmas tree between forest branches, nor are we in a house in the countryside, between hills and winter valleys. We celebrate Christmas and create magic in our small city apartment. Although, during the holidays we always spend time with our families in the countryside. It is an unavoidable tradition that we create for ourselves and our little one.

Wool macrame rainbows.

Macrame candy canes.

Wool macrame circles.

Two years ago we decided to buy an artificial tree. Personally, I am not in favor of plastic trees and one day I want to recreate the adventure of finding a real, evergreen, natural tree for our home. But for now, at this stage of life, an artificial tree seems to be the most practical and best decision for us. It's not big, it's small and fits in the corner of our home. It looks very nice and we are pleased with the magic it brings to our four walls. But for me, the magic happens when I put some ornaments on. Ornaments that carry meaning, ornaments that I created myself and that my husband and I have found together over the years. Some are years old, and some a little less. Since I really love creating, I made most of them by myself in the past four years. Taking this path of minimalism, throwing out excess, creating life priorities, slowing down and living with less, I decided to apply the same principle to holiday season, including the ornaments themselves. We don't decorate our apartment too much, all the decorations we have are decorations that fit in one canvas bag. For three years now, I have decided to allow myself the purchase of only one, special ornament each year. This year I planned on buying nothing, but my little one and I stumbled upon tiny angel with tiny little hands and they reminded me of my boy, so I got it. And I will cherish it forever.

Tiny angel for my tiny human.

Vintage bells are one of my favorites.

But at the same time, I generally try to avoid going to the ornament stores during the holidays because I'd like to have some years where I don't buy a single ornament. I am very satisfied with our collection that we have been building for the last four years. By embracing a minimalist Christmas, I reduced stress and anxiety, saved money and created a more sustainable holiday season. I focus on less stuff and more cozy, warm, family moments. I find that having a minimalist approach to Christmas is about simplifying the holiday season and focusing on what truly matters. When it comes to minimalist Christmas decorations I am more than happy with less than more. I decided to focus on simple pieces that capture Christmas magic, but also reflect our own home, our simplicity and are meaningful to us.

• I tend to focus on neutral shades with decorations for Christmas time. I stick to whites, creams, grays and other muted tones. I love to add that magic with some jingle bells, by hanging them alone or by sewing them to some handmade ornaments like wool circles or fabric tiny stockings.

• Also, I love to add some natural elements so we have some wooden, clay, wool and fabric ornaments. This year my sister will make me a simple wreath made of greenery with few bells on it.

• As always, I seek simplicity with ornaments. Few years ago I found glass bulbs so I decided to gather some dried wildflowers from my childhood home meadow and add them inside. Those, I hope to cherish for a long, long time. I find them so special and they always remind me of autumnal walks with my sister and our dogs.

• Candles and lighting are also very simple in our home. I love candles, and I tend to light them as as soon as autumn comes on my doorstep. So they are an essential for autumn and winter season. I choose beeswax candles and I have two candle holders. One that I got from Ikea years ago that is really simple, white ceramic one. And the other one I found this year on our seaside vacation during summer. It is vintage brass looking one. And for the Christmas lights, we have ones for the tree and ones for our window.

• I love adding that warm Christmas feeling in our home with some essentials oils. We have a diffuser and during winter time we use it a lot. We mostly use clove, cinnamon, camphor, wintergreen, vanilla and orange essential oils.

I made these last year with our initials. Favorite ornaments.

Mushroom ornaments I made last year to remind me of autumn.

By finding simplicity over Christmas season, all that is easier to manage for me. I'm not focused on buying a ton of gifts, baking endless batches of cookies and decorating all corners of our home. I remember that during all holidays, not only at Christmas, my mother was always rushing around the kitchen because she wanted to prepare as many types of cakes as possible, decorate the tree with us, build memories, spend evenings with us, play, read fairy tales and still take care of all that on a daily basis. I remember that she was tired and I believe that sometimes she spent the last atoms of her strength for all that. And I am more than grateful for all that, because she really built magic around holidays for us, but I would love that she built some magic for herself as well, for her own self care and nourishment. I decided that I don't want to be running around, I mean I want to create, I want to be present, but I don't want to burden myself too much. I've decided that my little homemade decorations are just enough for Christmas magic, that chocolate chip cookies, cinnamon rolls, and berry muffins are perfectly convenient dessert choices for the holidays, and that regular meals are perfectly fine choices for our family during the holidays as well.

These, I found about three years ago. They are simply beautiful.

If you’re looking to have a minimalist Christmas, planning ahead is key. During November I tend to pull out all our Christmas decorations and ornaments and look through them. That way I declutter them but also see what we are maybe missing. I plan on sewing an advent calendar from leftover fabric I have and fill it with some small gifts for our little one, like homemade gelatine gummies, baked cookies, a card that invites us to creating a living room fort or going for a Christmas walks or going for a cake in town. Things like those. I also plan on sewing him a teddy bear with some clothing pieces. My dad made him a wooden bed for his doll. So you see, I try to seek simplicity in everything over these magical days not just ornaments. That way I have less stress and anxiety. I focus on simplifying things like ornaments and preparing food and choosing gifts, and that way I can focus more on the things that are most important to me, free up some mental and physical space to enjoy the season. By embracing imperfections and leaving out the pressure to do everything perfectly I can focus on what really matters.

Canvas bag filled with all our ornaments.

Here are a few tips on how to maintain simplicity with Christmas decorations and ornaments:

• Declutter before the holidays. I love to do this before Christmas. It's more simple and more practical for me. I love to plan ahead. So I will pull them out in November, pick the broken ones and remove them from our pile, than I will pass on some of the ornaments we no longer want to use.

• Choose some amount or number of ornaments you want to keep. I don't want to have more than one bag of ornaments so if I feel like there are to many I will purge. That way I will see what ornaments we always want to have on our Christmas branches, and identify decorations that aren’t particularly meaningful, loved, or significant to us. That ways, for years now, we have one bag with ornaments and one box with our Christmas tree.

• Keep only the most meaningful and loved ones. I once read somewhere that all our things should carry some purpose, should be loved and enjoyed, should be used often and have a home inside your home. I carry that thought with me since then. Decorations serve an important purpose in our lives and they should support our calm minds, cozy home, inspire us, reflect us and motivate us. So when I was creating our collection of ornaments and when I was buying them and making them I asked myself What does the holiday season mean to me? How I want my home to feel like? Do I want pieces that will live with us for years or do I want to change them from year to year, from time to time? Do I want some pieces that will carry some memories and remind me of someone or something? Do I want to pass on some of them to my children one day? . So, I knew that I want ornaments that will get old with me and my husband. I knew I wanted some pieces that will reflect my faith. Some ornaments that will remind me of my childhood home and my family. Ornaments that will always remind me of my child, of my pregnancy and of us as a tiny family in this tiny place. Of this time together.

Little suggestions:

• Read more on embracing minimal and calm home here.

• Since it already feels like autumn is leaving and winter with Christmas magic is knocking on our windows, remind yourself of some autumn magic here and here too.

• Christmas time means connecting with my family, spending time with them and being grateful for my little family the most. So here is my practice of gratitude journaling.

• You can find more stories on my Substack page, Notes from Meadow.