You haven’t seen a Christmas home tour from me yet this season—and you might not. I have felt little to no pressure to drag everything out this year and more peace about just “being” in the season. That doesn’t mean I’m not having any December freak-outs (I am and I will), but I’m trying to think more about this sweet fleeting time in our lives when everything about Christmas is still magical.  

When it comes down to it, the things that make Christmas happy for my kids aren’t necessarily the things that make for beautiful blog posts. They just want to lay frozen cookie dough on a baking sheet and call it baking instead of spending an hour making a culinary creation I found on Pinterest. They want trees in their rooms with the most colorful, blinking lights possible and tinsel, if available. They want gifts wrapped in Frozen wrapping paper—no pretty bows, gift tags or sprigs of green necessary. They want that silly elf to do ridiculous things around our house. And, they want to hang their own handmade ornaments instead of their mother creating a designer ombre tree.

(Big) disclaimer: I’m not perfect at this by any means, but I’m trying to learn to breathe when my type A personality actually wants the dang ombre tree. It’s a process.

Sometimes it’s as simple as letting them get the paint out in the middle of the day when you don’t want to mess up the kitchen—again. We spent less than half an hour last week painting ornaments for the tree, but they thought it was the best treat. And honestly, it was a little therapeutic for Mama, too.

I told them to paint something that represents something they’ve enjoyed this year. Some of my artists are faster than others.

By the way, the IKEA MÅLA paint is perfect for the impatient creative. . . It dries super fast and you get eight colors for $8. Hard to beat! And a little tidbit I just learned:  the designer of the MÅLA series, Sarah Fager, took really special care to make sure everything was shaped and sized perfectly for little hands. The brushes (also pictured) are a good example of that. 

On my last IKEA run, I also picked up one of the FEJKA trees (great size for tabletop) and a festive red blanket for the kitchen.

I’m proud to be teaming up with IKEA again this year as one of their U.S. brand ambassadors. I love their “democratic design” philosophy that focuses on designing products that make home a better, less stressful and more playful place to live. Sounds like Christmas to me. :) Read more about IKEA’s design approach here.

What intentional things do you do during December to slow down?

Thanks to IKEA for sponsoring this post.