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Christmas Decorations ... Too Tasteful

Becky Goddard
Dec 19, 2016
2 min read

I last wrote about Christmas decorations back in October, (October, madness!). Since then Christmas has hit me in full force everywhere I go and look. I have noticed one trend that seems to be a little overwhelming (or underwhelming in another sense, should I say) this year and it is the minimal and Skandi style of natural colours, lots of green trimmings, wood and white...Possibly a reflection of a unpleasant 2016 this quieten down style, or maybe people are now tired of Christmas before it began and some how make it seem almost like any other day.

Personally I am not a blingy person, however at Christmas time, I love to embrace glitter, metallic and twinkling lights. It feels like Christmas has been minimised in terms of decorations (not presents and food). This time of year I believe we should let loose and go mad with lights, candles, gold spray paint, baubles, beads, paper chains etc. If you are anything like me and can't help but invest into a colour scheme, it doesn't mean you have to go minimalist...

The photo above shows what I would describe as very tasteful and coordinated, but slightly boring trees. They look lovely and typically Christmassy but they are just a little bit too coordinated, if they had a few slightly different contrast features such as candy canes or slices of dried out orange hung on the tree they would look more interesting. I didn't decorate any of these trees, so maybe I have missed the point, they are just there to coordinate nicely and add a subtle festive touch to the room without overwhelming it.

Now lets observe the other extreme; the trees in the photograph above are downing in so many different decorations it is amazing that they haven't toppled over with the sheer weight of what it they are 'decorated' with. Yet with each tree there is still a theme of colour, flowers, feathers? ... Despite my worry about the volume of decorations each tree holds, I do quite like embracing looking at the 'tacky' element of Christmas and seeing those houses at night that look like someone has chundered lights all over them, it shows excitement and joy for the festive season without the snobbery and 'taking one's self too seriously'. I remember at University one year, we spent about £20 between us in Poundland on various garish decorations to adorn our freezing mouldy student house with.

I haven't covered those grand Christmas trees yet, the ones to convey status to the public... often seen in manor houses, stately homes, museums, high end department stores etc. Wow aren't they impressive? I can confidently say that the task of decorating them really doesn't appeal to me here, ladders aren't my jam, nevertheless I would happily pick out the decorations. I am hoping by next year, the fun and clingy element of Christmas will be back, people will have seen through this insanely obvious Scandi 'hygee' 'lifestyle' (pointless trend of doing nice things) and decorations will be back out and loud in full force. Only in December though, the count down doesn't need to start in October.