Article and recipe by Nina Sheryll Palad
Creating a Christmas-y theme and seeing it come to fruition in our homes are easy if we have a huge living space and a budget to go with our ideas. However, for us who are working on either a tight budget or none at all, and a living area that would explode at the hint of one more ornament, transforming our space to match the season can be a major challenge.
Before I go on, however, allow me to digress on two things we already know: first, Christmas isn’t about the decorations and second, handling our finances wisely during this season is an indication of good stewardship. Having mentioned these two, there’s no harm in splashing our homes with hints of Christmas. So how do we combine practicality and creativity?
- Say goodbye to that imitation pine tree and go for a pine tree wall decal instead. Pinterest offers a lot of great examples on how you may execute this on your own wall. The only rule is to choose a blank wall where you would like to work on your wall decal. For materials, you may use anything on hand, from colored paper to a roll of green string, to spray-painted twigs. Another fun thing to do is to create the tree shape using family pictures or handmade crafts from your children. The fun thing about this project is that your entire family can participate.
- If your children are old enough to enjoy drawing or painting, ask them to draw their Christmas ideas on paper. Then, hang these pieces of art in strategic locations all over your house. Alternatively, you may paste this art on any bare space on your walls. Not only will your children have a grand time doing this project, but their finished products can also serve as a springboard for meaningful conversations later.
Christmas should be a season of reflection and celebration, not a source of stress or meaningless expenses. We hope the two suggestions above will get you started on your own decoration ideas even if you have a small space and minimal budget. Cheers to having a stress-free Christmas this year!
