Decorating for Christmas After Thanksgiving: My Quiet Way

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Some families spend Thanksgiving weekend recovering from a house full of relatives.

Me?

I’m usually somewhere between the leftover turkey and the Christmas decorations thinking:

Okay. It’s tree time.

That’s pretty much how Thanksgiving weekend works around here.

Thanksgiving itself is usually quiet. It’s me, BigDog, and my mom. We eat. We visit. We enjoy the day.

And then sometime over the weekend, Gigi’s Christmas operation begins.

Not because I’m trying to rush Thanksgiving.

I love Thanksgiving.

But once we’ve eaten the meal and packed up the leftovers, something in my brain flips a switch.

Christmas is coming. Let’s go.

So if you’ve been wondering whether decorating for Christmas after Thanksgiving is too soon, too much, or exactly right, grab your coffee and sit with me a minute.

I’m going to show you what our small holiday weekend really looks like, how I add Christmas to the house without tearing it apart, and why I quit trying to make the holidays look like they did thirty years ago.

No matching napkins required.

My Thanksgiving Weekend Isn’t Very Fancy

I see those beautiful holiday pictures online.

Perfect tables.

Matching napkins.

Elaborate centerpieces.

Twenty people dressed like they’re starring in a holiday movie.

That’s lovely.

It’s just not what Thanksgiving looks like at our house.

Ours is much simpler.

There aren’t a million people coming through the door. Our kids live in different states, so most years it’s just the three of us.

And Luna.

Obviously Luna counts.

Actually, if you asked Luna, she would probably tell you she is hosting Thanksgiving and the rest of us are guests.

Our holiday is quiet, comfortable and familiar.

And I’ve come to really appreciate that.

What a Small Thanksgiving Actually Needs

It’s a short list:

Food you actually like eating, not the menu a magazine picked for you
Enough leftovers for sandwiches the next day
The people you love at the table, even if that’s two or three
Nowhere you have to be afterward

That’s it. That’s the whole list.

At our house, that means turkey, garlic mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, biscuits, cranberries and green bean casserole.

And pie.

Obviously, pie.

The cranberries are Mom’s. She always asks for them.

Nothing fancy. Just the food we actually want to eat.

Then Comes My Favorite Part: The Weekend

Thanksgiving dinner is over.

The leftovers are handled.

Mom is settled.

BigDog is doing whatever BigDog does while his wife starts dragging Christmas decorations through the house.

And I start looking around thinking about where the trees are going.

Yes, trees.

Plural.

Because apparently at some point in my life one Christmas tree stopped being enough.

I don’t remember officially making that decision.

It just happened.

Three.

We’re up to three trees.

The main one goes in the corner of the living room, and it’s candy cane everything.

The second one is small. It sits at the entrance to the living room, and it’s my winter wonderland tree, all silver snowflakes.

And then there’s the littlest one, which sits on top of the kitchen island.

That one is black.

Yes, black. It’s my Nightmare Before Christmas tree.

Decorating for Christmas After Thanksgiving Without Redoing the Whole House

Here’s something else I’ve learned over the years:

You don’t have to remove every single thing from your house and replace it with Christmas.

I still want my home to feel like our home.

So I layer Christmas into what is already here.

The Five Layers I Start With

Shop it: Cozy Christmas throw blankets on Amazon

A cozy throw on the sofa.

Shop it: Christmas pillows and pillow covers on Amazon

A couple of pillows.

Shop it: Warm white string lights on Amazon

Warm lights because everything looks better with twinkle lights.

Shop it: Simple garland and greenery on Amazon

A little greenery.

Shop it: Christmas tree ornaments and decor on Amazon

And, of course, the trees.

That’s when the house starts making that little shift from fall cozy to Christmas cozy.

Here’s why I like doing it this way:

Nothing has to get boxed up and hidden to make room
It takes an afternoon, not a week
Taking it down in January is just as easy
The house still looks like us, only sparklier

And yes, this is Arizona. There’s no snow outside my window. The twinkle lights are doing all the work.

If You’re Thinking About a Second Tree

I’m obviously not going to talk you out of it.

A few things worth knowing before you add one:

A slim pencil tree fits corners a full-size tree never will
A tabletop tree on an entry table or a kitchen counter counts. A tree is a tree.
Pre-lit saves your patience. You’ve earned that.
Put the lights on a remote control outlet. Nobody our age needs to be crawling behind a tree every night to find a plug.

Shop it: Slim pencil Christmas trees and tabletop Christmas trees on Amazon

One grown-up note. Look your light strings over before you plug them in, and toss the ones with cracked or frayed cords. The CPSC holiday safety tips are worth two minutes of your time.

A Weekend Pace That Won’t Wear You Out

You don’t have to do it all in one day.

If you want a loose plan, here’s the one I’d hand a friend:

Friday: Rest. Eat leftovers. Pull the boxes out and don’t open a single one.
Saturday: Trees and lights. That’s the heavy lifting, so do it while you still have the energy.
Sunday: The soft stuff. Throws, pillows, greenery. Then get the empty boxes out of the living room.

And if it takes you until the following weekend?

Nobody’s grading this.

I Want Christmas to Feel Collected, Not Manufactured

I’ve gotten much pickier about holiday decorating.

I don’t want to buy twenty new decorations every year just because somebody decided this year’s Christmas color is something different.

Nope.

I want things I actually love.

Things I’ve collected.

Things that remind me of people.

Things that make me smile when I pull them out of a box.

And if I add something new, I want it to work with what I already own.

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Give me one thing with personality over a cart full of stuff I’ll be tired of next year.

That’s becoming my philosophy about a lot of things these days.

It’s the same reason I don’t want my house to look like a Halloween store in October.

Three Questions Before Anything New Comes Home

Does it work with what I already own?
Will I be happy to see it when I open the box next year?
Where is it going to live in January?

That last one matters more than people think.

Good ornament storage isn’t exciting. But it’s the reason the things you love make it to next Christmas in one piece.

The Quiet Is Part of the Holiday Now

There is something peaceful about that weekend.

Thanksgiving is over, but December hasn’t officially started.

The house is halfway between two holidays.

There’s probably leftover food in the refrigerator.

A Christmas tree box is sitting in the middle of the room.

BigDog has probably made coffee.

Luna is supervising something nobody asked her to supervise.

And I’m decorating.

It’s not a big event.

Nobody is taking attendance.

There’s no holiday schedule hanging on the refrigerator.

It’s just our life.

And maybe that’s why I love it.

I’ve Stopped Trying to Recreate Holidays From the Past

This might be one of the biggest things I’ve learned about getting older.

You cannot keep recreating the same holiday forever.

The kids grow up.

People move.

Parents get older.

People we love die.

New traditions show up.

Old ones disappear.

If I spent every Thanksgiving comparing it to holidays from twenty or thirty years ago, I’d miss the one happening right in front of me.

So I’ve stopped asking:

Why doesn’t it feel like it used to?

And started asking:

What feels good about it now?

That’s a much better question.

I said the same thing when I wrote about how Halloween looks different at 68 than it did at 18. Turns out it applies to every holiday on the calendar.

If Your Holiday Got Smaller Too

If your table has fewer chairs around it than it used to, you’re not doing the holidays wrong.

You’re just in a different chapter.

A few things that help:

Keep the one old tradition you really love, and let the rest go without the guilt
Start one new thing that fits the life you have now
Put the photos out and say their names
Call the kids. Video counts. So does a long text thread full of pie pictures.
Give yourself the whole weekend

This Is What Our Holiday Looks Like Now

A small Thanksgiving.

A quiet house.

Mom.

BigDog.

Luna.

A good meal.

Leftovers.

Coffee.

And sometime during the weekend, a woman with short white hair wandering through the house deciding she absolutely needs another Christmas tree right over there.

Sounds about right.

I don’t need Thanksgiving weekend to be big anymore.

I just want it to feel good.

I want to appreciate my mom while she’s here.

I want to sit with BigDog.

I want to laugh at Luna.

I want to remember Dad.

I want to talk to my kids even though they’re miles away.

And then I want to turn on those Christmas lights.

Because life keeps changing.

The holidays change right along with it.

And I’ve decided I’m not going to spend this chapter wishing it looked like an earlier one.

I’m going to decorate the chapter I’m living in.

Preferably with twinkle lights.

Quick Answers About Decorating for Christmas After Thanksgiving

Is Thanksgiving weekend too early to decorate for Christmas?

No.

It’s your house. If the lights make you happy on the Friday after Thanksgiving, plug them in. If you’d rather wait until December, wait.

There are no decorating police. And if there were, they wouldn’t get past Luna.

How do I decorate for Christmas without buying all new stuff?

Start with what you own.

Pull out the pieces you love first. Add the soft layers, like a throw and a couple of pillow covers. Then lights and greenery.

Buy one new thing only if it works with everything else.

How do I make the holidays feel special with a small family?

Stop measuring it against a crowd.

A small holiday means you get to do it your way. The food you like. The pace you like. The tree exactly where you want it.

Small isn’t less. It’s just quieter.

Where should a second Christmas tree go?

Anywhere you’ll actually see it.

A corner you walk past every morning. An entry table. The kitchen counter where you drink your coffee.

Mine tend to land wherever I happen to be looking when the idea hits me.

Shop My Cozy Christmas Layers

If you want to layer a little Christmas into the home you already have, here’s where I’d start:

Still in fall mode? My 25 Amazon fall finds that make your home feel cozy will hold you over until the turkey’s gone.

Your Turn, Girl Tribe

Tell me in the comments.

Are you a tree-up-on-Thanksgiving-weekend woman, or does Christmas have to wait until December at your house?

And how many trees is too many?

Asking for a friend.

The friend is me.

If this sounded a lot like your house, send it to a friend whose holidays have gotten quieter too.

From Thanksgiving Dinner to Christmas Trees: My Quiet Holiday Weekend at 68