My New Holiday Decor Solution!

I like to decorate for the holidays. Truly I just like to decorate. I actually think this is why and how I celebrate most holidays—it's all about the decorations. I do like traditions too, but I kinda think the traditions grew out of the fact that I was putting up decorations, so needed to come up with a way to justify them, ha! I collect little do-dads and place them around my home, in the corners and on my kitchen window sill. I'm weird like that. I think my grandkids (when I get some) will like this about me. It seems grandma-like don't you think?

Early in my marriage I had a little wood shelf that I painted barn red. I had no money, so I saved up and bought it unfinished. I called it our holiday shelf and I would tote it from house to house and hang it in a prominent location and then decorate it differently each month. I even took a tole painting class—yes, this dates me—when I lived in Utah, so that I could create little wood decorations to display on my shelf. It was DIY before DIY was cool. I'll have to see if I can find a picture to post!

Probably about a year after moving into our current home, I bought this great, turquoise desk and put it in our living room. I did this because my son Chase needed a place dedicated to homework—somewhere in the center of our home where he/we could keep everything relating to school, so we could keep track of it and get it done. For years this "homework table" has been my place to decorate. I often had a digital frame on the top shelf and would then add seasonally appropriate items around it. I see this desk when I get up and walk out of our master bedroom and it's crazy how it helps my mood to see it first, tidy and second decorated for the current season or holiday. 

I recently moved our homework table upstairs to our book/library area. I like it there, a lot. But, I've LOST my decorating space. I contemplated this change in January and then one day in Hobby Lobby, imagined a solution. I purchased a big, rectangular wood tray, which I now keep right in the middle of my kitchen island. It big enough for a candle, a plant of some kind (fake or real) a dish of nuts or candy and another something or other-ish. I LOVE it.  I can decorate it each month or however often and I pretty much look at it all day long, as I'm cleaning or cooking or just coming and going. I refreshed it yesterday with items for St. Patrick's Day. 

It's making me happy.
That's all.