Holiday Bonus Episode 4: Decorating Tips for Procrastinators

Decorate Like Nobody’s Grading You

If you’re short on time and energy this season, start with what actually matters most: the tree and the stockings. Get those up, let the excitement build, and if you’re still feeling it, keep going by pulling out whatever brings you the most joy — the nostalgic pieces, the things that wouldn’t feel like Christmas without them. Skip the mental checklist of “now I have to do this room, now that room.” Let the decorations themselves lead you wherever feels fun, instead of forcing a room-by-room march.

A small addition worth trying: if you’ve got a smart speaker, ask it to play instrumental Christmas music while you work. It’s a lovely, low-key background — festive without being distracting.

When it stops being fun, stop

Move through decorating like it’s a piece of holiday cheer you get to participate in, not a chore on a list. The moment it flips into feeling like a chore, that’s your cue to wrap up. You don’t have to do everything every year.

You’re also allowed to do it differently every year

If a spot you usually use for the nativity scene, or any other decoration, is currently covered in something else and you don’t have the energy to clear it, just put the piece somewhere new instead. Doing everything exactly the same way every year is actually part of why it can start to feel flat — a little variation can bring some of the excitement back. Some family members might grumble about the change. They’ll get over it, and it’s a decent way to model that life shifts and we adapt.

If you try something new this year and love it, don’t trust yourself to remember it next December — you won’t. Snap a photo. A dedicated “Christmas decorating” folder on your phone works, or you can just scroll back to last December’s photos when the time comes.

There’s no Christmas police

Nobody is grading how you decorate. If you’re wrestling with a string of lights that didn’t work last year either, give yourself permission to just throw them away this year and note that you’ll grab a replacement at an end-of-season discount. There are no rules here beyond what actually works for your house.

The bin note trick (borrowed from The Nester)

Here’s a tip I picked up from Myquillyn Smith, who writes on cozy minimalism as The Nester: leave yourself a note inside every Christmas bin, because you will not remember where your head was a year from now when you open it again.

If you’ve got bins of decorations you keep meaning to sort through and donate but never have the energy for, this is your permission to skip the sorting entirely this year. Grab a scrap of paper, write “Christmas 2025 — didn’t use anything in this box,” and drop it on top before closing the lid. Next year, instead of digging through and re-deciding everything from scratch, you’ll open it and immediately know: this is year three or four of not touching this bin, maybe it’s time to walk it straight to the donation center, or maybe it’s actually sentimental and worth finally putting out.

If you do have the energy this year, take it further: dump a bin’s contents out and sort each item into “sentimental” or “don’t care,” aiming for roughly a one-to-two ratio. Donate the “don’t care” pile now (before Christmas is genuinely the easiest time to donate, though after works too), and leave the sentimental items labeled so you remember why they stayed. The same trick works in reverse when you’re putting decorations away: note what worked in a certain room this year, so future-you isn’t re-inventing a setup you already loved.

The real benefit here isn’t just organization — it’s removing guilt. Writing the note gives you full permission to let something go without agonizing over it, and once it’s out of the house, your brain stops circling back to that guilt. If you’re not ready yet, that’s fine too; give yourself another year’s buffer and revisit it then.

Your practical, actionable step

Pick one bin you’ve been avoiding. Either sort it now using the sentimental/don’t-care split, or just drop a note on top describing this year’s state and shut the lid guilt-free.

Until next time, continue to choose joy.