I’ve taken a really long break from writing about my house projects. I’ve spent much of this past year either pregnant or taking care of our new baby, which has left me little time and energy for (completing) house projects and writing about them. That said, our new baby has indirectly provided some inspiration for this post, as I’ve finally felt like I could get Christmas stockings for our family with everyone’s name on them, and it’s really brought my tiny holiday decor collection up a level. The approach I’ve taken to acquiring holiday decor, like most of my projects, is to do it slowly and with intention, resisting the urge to mindlessly throw cute knick knacks in my cart and instead taking the time to find pieces that I really like from sources that I don’t feel kind of guilty about. Without further ado, here are some of the sources I’ve used for holiday decor over the past few years:
Etsy
These fabulous stockings match my home’s decor pretty much perfectly. They’re described as Victorian meets Scandinavian, and when I read that I thought, that’s my style! The stocking itself has a minimal, linen design in muted colors. The cursive embroidery pays homage to our home’s Victorian character. You can mix and match the fabric, embroidery, and hang tag color. The price, $67, in my opinion, was totally reasonable for handmade, custom stockings made from quality, thoughtfully sourced materials. That said, you can keep the price lower by just having an initial embroidered on the stocking, or no embroidery at all. Personally, stockings are the kind of item that I don’t expect to replace basically ever, so for me it was money well spent. Additionally, the maker, First Campaign, had these to me in a flash and was a pleasure to work with when I messed up my order the first time. So glad I took my time finding these.
eBay
A few years ago we purchased this tree skirt on eBay. I had been searching for a vintage tree skirt to match our house, but unfortunately most of the vintage tree skirts that I found were a little too bedazzled for my taste. This simple skirt with a lace stitch around the edges matches our home much better. Unfortunately, we got a new, larger tree stand a couple of years ago and this skirt is a bit small now, so I suspect I’ll be on the hunt for another tree skirt in the future and this one will eventually be available in my Etsy shop.
Home made
A couple of years ago my husband’s grandma crocheted Christmas tree garland for all of the grandkids. I think this garland is just fantastic. This Etsy shop makes a similar crocheted star garland.
Independent retailers
We ordered our tree topper from Christkindl-markt, an independent operation out of Pennsylvania that imports artisan German Christmas decorations. They have a fabulous selection of handmade wooden tree toppers at reasonable prices. Especially if you, like me, don’t intend to replace your tree topper often (or maybe ever), it’s money well spent.
Like most things in our home, my Christmas decorations are very much a work in progress. But as with so many other projects, I’m glad when I’ve waited to find just the right thing, especially if it means I’ve avoided purchasing a trendy, mass-produced item that I’ll come to want to replace. These items bring me joy and I know that my slow and steady method will yield more items in the future that’ll do the same and that I’ll feel good about. On that note, if you’re in the market for vintage Christmas ornaments, I still have a few sets left in my Etsy shop. My husband buys dilapidated, forgotten properties throughout Illinois and gives them new life. We found these as we were cleaning out one of his buildings in a small town in central Illinois. They looked like they hadn’t been touched in about 30 years. I invite you to check them out!