Seasonal Decorating

I'm feeling rather blunt today, and wordy.


It seems that the more blogs I read (and there are an endless amount available, and increasing daily), the more perplexed I get about seasonal decorating.  Posts usually written by stay-at-home moms who talk about how busy and crazy their lives are, how they do such-and-such to get it all done, and oh yeah, here is a picture of my mantel...in every season, AND Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, July 4th, Columbus Day (really?), Autumn, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years.  Are they really too busy?  I'm being a little extreme (just a little), and I do realize that these women are scouring them homes looking for ideas of what to write their next blog post about.


Side Note:
I'm also dying to know where all these crafty ladies store all the items they are constantly making.  Do they have 2nd homes where they put it all?  Take Centsational Girl, for example.  I am in awe of her decorating style, she has some mad skills!  But take a look at this (gorgeous) room:

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Isn't it amazing!?  But look closer, I think the only things that aren't Christmas decorations are the furniture, table, rug, mirror, and obviously the fireplace (she probably also reuses the glass vases on the mantel for other seasons).  All that other stuff: where's it go the other 11 months of the year?  Then multiply that times the other seasonal decor she switches out in this same spot.  I'm sure she has a system, like I said, she has mad skills.


End side note.


Before I go too far, I should define "seasonal decorating" in my terms.  Seasonal decorating would include changes to decor in and out of your home at nearly every opportunity.  This would include porch redo's, any blow-up yard ornaments, new paper garlands strewn around the home each month, etc.  This would not include bringing flowers from outside and putting them in a vase on your table during spring, setting pumpkins or gourds on your front porch in the fall, using pink napkins on Valentine's Day, etc.  Neither list is exhaustive by any means, but the blog world also does not need to see every little seasonal change either.  


Now, my only exception to seasonal decorating that I like and will do is Christmas, within limits.  Things can be tacky.  Very tacky...

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I'm a fan of simple and timeless Christmas decor.  Things from nature.  White lights.

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Moving on.

This has led me to the conclusion that I am generally not a fan of seasonal decorating.  Why?
1- It costs money.  You buy things to decorate your house, then you need to buy bins to store them in.  In our situation in life (and maybe yours), we are looking for ways to save every last penny and apply it to loans, retirement, kid's college, and vacation.  If you are in a similar stage of life, consider cutting back on your seasonal decorating.  
2- It takes up space...visually and when you store them.  If you remember a while back I shared the blog Becoming Minimalist with you.  From my own experience of moving several times and having to get rid of accumulated possessions, I'm a huge fan of clearing out the spaces in our lives, seen and unseen.  
3-  Your tastes change from one year to the next, and something you spent money on last year may not be your style this year.  You'll either throw it back in your storage closet (taking up more space), or donate it.
4- Does it really affect your overall happiness?  In trying to think of why people decorate at every season, the only 2 reasons I can come up with are that 1). it may make them happier when they see them, and 2). it allows them to have a creative outlet.  For all the crafters out there, it gives us things to make to get our "crafties" out, right?  I can understand the 2nd reason and I do think it is valid, although I don't know if it refers to the majority of people out there.
I truly believe your (and my) crafting abilities can be applied to items and areas in our lives that will serve more function.  I'm huge on function.  But that's another post.  


Now recently, my biggest peeve is Halloween.  Aaaghh.  I don't know who decided that putting cob webs, ghosts, spiders, freaky things, etc. etc. was tasteful.  I found one quirky article about decorating for Halloween.  I thought something they said was interesting and gave some insight into where these sort of decorations originated,

"It’s really hard to overdo Halloween – one could argue that the more decorations you have, the more protection from evil spirits or tricksters – on All Hallows Eve."

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Not to mention, when you have a young child, you are constantly trying to avert their eyes from the scary images while driving down the street or going to Walmart or Lowe's (Christian is now afraid of the "tool store where the scary men are").

I would be happy with the following:

This entire post has ideas for fall decorating that are right up my alley.
(and where can I get GREEN pumpkins??!)

Maybe I've said too much.  I definitely don't mean to offend anyone, and many seasonal decorating ideas are very pretty, just not my thing I guess.  And I suppose some people may enjoy being full-on tacky!  So if you have the time, money, and space,  by all means, decorate away!  And who knows, maybe I'm just in a phase.  (If I change my mind, I'll let you know).  But if you feel like the pressure of changing your decor every month (or more!) is wearing on you, it's okay to let it go... one at a time even, and free up some time and money.  

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I'm curious to know some of your thoughts.  :)

Happy Decorating!