Compostable Holiday Decor

I think it first came from the lack of storage space in our apartment. But, the idea of having only nature based holiday decorations has drawn me to never want to have boxes and boxes of decorations that need to be put up. 

It's certainly a personal preference, and one of the best evenings of the year growing up was hauling out ALL of the Christmas decorations with my mom and adding red and green things to every surface and shelf. 

 But, for Zach and I, we decided not to get any sort of tree for the apartment last year. And this year, I am learning more that I really enjoy working with my hands AND that I don't really like spending a lot of money on trendy temporary things. 

Therefore, fall decorations became a simple scouting for pumpkins. We don't have a stoop or a front porch, so I didn't get to indulge in those big beautiful neutral colored pumpkins that are everywhere. 

So I opted for a couple of little guys for some surfaces in our living room. 

I got some gourds and pumpkins from our crop share as well! I composted all of the pumpkins in my neighbors bin :)

Enter into Christmas :) 

I wanted to make a giant long greenery garland. I scouted some twigs and branches with my sister and was proud to complete my first garland. It was messy and sappy-but worth it! When I strung it up on Thanksgiving weekend, it made our window look so grand.

It reminded me that long tall white gauzy curtains were once a thought, forgotten, but would also make our front window very grand....future project. 

I used the leftover tiny branches of white pine to make a little wreath for the back windows. Last year, we bought a Trader Joe's wreath, and it was BEAUTIFUL. But, on the spending less money and making things with my hands path, I settled for a skinny version. 

We will call it meek. I really like the Scandinavian tiny wreaths that I have seen lately. And those look best in groupings. Maybe next year :) 

I am a pretty big fan of candle sticks in the winter. I want to make my own beeswax ones at some point. I got this little candle stick set up at Target last fall. 

This little dining centerpiece has been on the table all fall-I just added a few neighborhood pine cones for winter :)

These antlers came from my parent's house for our wedding way back when! And we haven't really given them back....

OH! and I picked up this little stand alone pine cone candle holder at a second hand shop once, and it looks a bit quirky on its own, but I really like it in a grouping. 

That's all for this year! We have a string of white lights from our Josef tree last year. And while lights are always magical and cozy, I didn't quite know where to put them this year ( I didn't want to risk the garland setting on fire...). 

I hope that when I have kids, they want to sit down and make wild amounts of garlands and ornaments out of compostable items when it comes time. 

HAPPY HOLIDAYS! I hope your space is however you feel the most warm and cozy. 

Pleasant Street. 

Emily