How To Decorate A House for Christmas Without A Christmas Tree

Is it possible to decorate a house for Christmas without a Christmas Tree?  I believe you can!  Not everyone has space for a tree;  I know I always struggle to find a spot to fit a tree in my home even though it's 3,000 square feet! And whether it's a live tree or an artificial one, dragging a tree into the house and/or assembling and decorating it can also be a real physical challenge.  Now don't get me wrong, I love a beautifully decorated Christmas Tree.  In previous years, it would take me a full day to assemble and decorate my tree to perfection.  But this year, I decided to decorate my house for Christmas but not put up a tree;  and you know what?  I love the results and I do not miss the tree at all.

The Reason:  The Little Rugrats

So what led to my decision NOT to put up a Christmas Tree this year?  Why, these two little rugrats named Milo and Jasper.

I adopted them less than a year ago after I lost my beloved Jackson.  I wasn't sure I would ever want another pet after the pain I suffered losing Jackson, but the house just seemed  empty without a fur baby and I knew my local humane society was over run with kitties;  I certainly had the space and love to give a couple a new home.

I've always had the problem of dealing with "cats and Christmas" because I always had a cat in my life.  But these two guys, especially Jasper, are real climbers.  In fact, I can't even let them inside my fenced in garden with me like I did with Jackson, because they will climb the fence!  I've never seen anything like it! They climb up ladders, walk across high ledges, climb up woody plants, climb curtains...etc. etc. etc.   So I knew if I put up a Christmas Tree, they would be climbing it in a second and it would just become a constant source of frustration I didn't need in my life.  So, I made the decision NOT to put up a Christmas Tree.

The Outside

It took me about four days to decorate the house this year without putting up a Christmas Tree.  But I was sick so I was moving a little slower, plus I do my usual household chores and personal daily habits, so it's not like I spent four full days decorating.  But it would have taken me five days if I had put a tree, so it did take less time.

Let's begin with a tour of the outside.  I never decorate outside the house much because no one sees it other than the mailman and I don't like decorating in the cold.  If I lived on a busy street, you betcha I would have my house lit up for Christmas!  But it seems kinda pointless when you live on a dead end street.

I did want to do something with my new sign I put up this year, so I made two porch pots out of artificial greenery using two concrete pots I already had.  I really like the way it turned out, and I will leave these porch pots out all winter as they are "winter-themed" and not "Christmas-themed".

I had these two metal snowman stakes I stuck inside the pot.  I love how the snow added to the appearance of the pot.  The greens look so real with the snow!

For my side entry porch I added a snowman pillow on the rocker and wood decoration on the table top.  I made two more porch pots to guide the way to the front door, and I added a "Peace" sign behind the rocker.

I found this old birch branch while hiking this past fall and brought it home with me.  I had hubby cut it in four pieces so I could make two pots.  The 'sticks' I got from Menards, yes, I know I could have probably found those in the woods too, but it's hard to find super thin ones and these were covered with glitter.  Then I filled in the rest with artificial greenery and a few Christmas sprays.

For my large red wall I just added a wreath, and put some greenery on the shelf along with a "Merry Christmas" sign and a wooden cut out.

I love how you can see the outside Christmas decorations from inside my house.

I also added a few little touches to the front and back porches, but I won't show you every little photo.  This arrangement is hanging on my basement door.

In Lieu of a Tree

Now you may be asking the question "Where do you put your presents if you don't have a Christmas Tree?"  Good question! I have this sleigh that my son gave me one Christmas, so I was thinking of putting the presents around the sleigh.  I have a lot of presents, so they might not all fit, but that seems to be a problem with a tree too!  The presents always spill out into the rest of the room.  I guess that's a good problem to have.

The Entryway

The entryway is where we and most guests enter when coming to our home.  It is right off the side porch and has a view of the sunroom/family room.

I put little Christmas vignettes on most tabletops in my home.  This is a little table in my entryway where I placed some greens and a "Peace" sign.

This statue of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus is the first thing visitors will see when entering our house.  I think that is important that we show what we believe is the true meaning of Christmas in our household.

The Family Room

The Family Room is right off the entryway and is where I have the three trees and the sleigh that I showed you above.  I hung garlands at the entrance to the Family Room and again at the entrance to the guest building.  Yes, I have a guest bed in my Family Room.  You can read all about why there is a guest bed in my Family Room HERE, HERE, and  HERE.

The Sunroom

For the sunroom, I kept it simple and just added wreaths to the windows and garland to the staircase.  In previous years I would also put garland on all the shelves, but I wasn't up to it this year with my sickness, plus I felt the kitties would just knock the garland down as they like to walk across those shelves. 

I put a Christmas sleigh in the center of the game table.

And I added one large wreath above the doors next to the staircase.

I only decorated the posts of the staircase garlands this year;  again, keeping it simple.  In previous years, I would add decor to the entire garland.  I did google "Christmas Decor Trends" before decorating my house and it appeared the trend was more simple, more natural, focusing on greenery more than anything.  Gold and Green were the color trends this year, but I also saw a lot of "black and gold" 🤮

Speaking of trends, do you like to decorate for Christmas according to holiday trends or do you prefer using the same decorations year after year because they have special meaning to you?  I saw this post by Justin Vagle about how his wife buys new Christmas decorations every year,  and I read a lot of the comments and it seemed the consensus was most women use the same decor but some really enjoy buying new stuff too.  I personally do not buy new Christmas decorations every year, but after decorating for over forty years I have a lot of stuff and a lot of different colors, so when Christmas arrives, I do search for the trends, and I do decorate accordingly, but with stuff I already own.  I know my garlands are outdated, everyone uses the Cedar Garland now, but I have totes and totes of pine bough garland and I'm not about to toss those and spend hundreds of dollars on new garland, especially at my age.

Years ago I made this nativity scene out of toilet paper rolls, so I set up in the sunroom where the grandchildren spend most of their time.  We use this nativity scene when we read the Christmas Story on Christmas Day.  I love having a nativity scene that little hands can touch and play with rather than a "hands off" breakable one. 

The Dining Room

The Dining Room is where we spend most of our time during the holidays as that is where the food is! I put Christmas-themed plates on the plate rail around the room, I hung more garland in the entry way, and I created Christmas vignettes on all the surfaces like the piano and two hutches.

Here is the piano Christmas vignette.  It is just simple pine greenery centered. around a glass snow globe and filled with gold decorations.

I'm still decorating my metal tier tray every season...this trend hasn't gone out yet.  I filled it with greenery, little trees, and some Christmas knick knacks.

My corner hutch is filled with Christmas dinnerware and it also has a Christmas vignette on top.

I put a "Noel" sign in the center and two gold angels on either side. 

I did do a different centerpiece this year.  Normally my centerpiece is just a bowl of ornaments, but I purchased this wood rectangle bowl from Hobby Lobby this past fall and I love it so much, I just pulled the fall decor out and filled with Christmas greenery and gold decor.

The battery operated in the table centerpiece and on the hutch below were purchased from Menards this year...my ONE new purchase.  I only bought them because when I chose an all-gold color theme, I needed gold candles;   I only had white, silver, or red candles.  But I couldn't find REAL candles anywhere other than the type that came in a jar, so I was forced to buy battery operated ones.  But it turned out to be a good thing, because I really love them and it's a lot safer than real candles too...especially with cats and little ones around.  In the photos, they look more orange but in real life, they are off white with metallic gold flecks at the base.  They are so pretty and they come with a remote too so I don't have to lift the candle up when I want it lighted.  They are awesome!

The Living Room

And finally my Living Room, which is just a small sitting room off the Dining Room.  Here I just strung more garland down the staircase and I hung a small wreath on the wall (not pictured).

Once again, I used all-gold decor and I kept it simple by just decorating the points where the garland is lifted and not the entire garland.

I hope you enjoyed looking at my Christmas Decorations this year.  I imagine ya'll are done decorating your homes by now too.  Did you keep it simple or go all out?  I'd love to hear from you.

Have A Great Day! Amy

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