Transitioning from Late Fall To Christmas Decor The Easy Way
I find it so much easier to transition decor from fall to Christmas instead of taking all my fall decor down in one or two days and then putting up all my Christmas decor. PHEW! Lots of work and lots of shuffling and schlepping decor! Let me show you a much easier way to gently float from fall into Christmas without losing your Christmas spirit!
I have such an aversion to pulling down all of my seasonal decorating at one time! I’d rather slowly, gently, and beautifully edit and replace, edit and replace. I’ll show you what I mean. You may love this type of decorating too and decide to embrace it in your home.
Time To Take Down Any Remnants Of Fall
If you have been following StoneGable, you know I’ve been talking a lot about transitioning decor. The day after Thanksgiving is the perfect time to get rid of any pumpkins. faux or real. My real pumpkins go into my garage, so I can keep them until they get squishy so I can pop off their stems.
I might take away pumpkins and leaves and acorns one day and Indian corn and fall wreaths the next. In several days my home will transition from a fall palette to a clean slate.
Here are things that get put away. Just make sure they are in great shape and look very in style.
- Faux pumpkins
- Autumn leaves and garlands
- Autumn colored tartans
- Acorns
- Indian corn
- Fall wreaths
- Fall inspired pillows
- Mums
- Fall inspired tableware
I keep things like…
- Dough bowls
- Warm throws
- Chunky lanterns and candlesticks
- Dried hydrangeas
- Faux apples and pears
- pheasant feathers
My Go-To Transitioning Decor
Once the fall ornamentation is neatly packed away, I like to start in one area of our home and lightly decorate it for Christmas. I’ll add more as the calendar moves closer to Christmas.
I usually start decorating with two areas in our home, the foyer and the mantel.
I like to style early Christmas decor and add to it the first week of December. Because I start Christmas decorating right before Thanksgiving, I don’t want our home to look like our home is ready for Santa, at least not yet.
I love using Evergreen even in November. I just don’t want to add that extra layer of snowy branches, shiny ornaments, or other Christmassy decor. Decorating like this saves me from bringing twenty-three blue bins and countless boxes.
At the beginning of December, when I recovered from Thanksgiving, I’ll start to add more Christmas decor to the mantel and other areas of our home.
I’ve used this transitioning method for several years, and it is just so much less stress!
Create A Centerpiece For Each Room In Your Home
Create simple decor like centerpieces and vignettes that are organic and beautiful. But the key to transitional decor is to keep it simple, at least when you start Christmas decorating.
The best way to do this is to use natural elements. Here are some easy ideas for Christmas decorating right after Thanksgiving.
- Think about using lanterns, candles, and chunky candleholders.
- Sprinkle a little snow on a table and in the bottom of hurricanes that hold candles. Adding fairy lights to lanterns is also a very magical look.
- Fill bowls with pinecones, greens, and ornaments. Choose metallic ornaments now and replace them with more colorful ones closer to Christmas.
- Use boxwood balls to top off terracotta or mercury glass pots down the center of your dining room table.
- Fill a pitcher with pheasant feathers and add to a transitional vignette.
- Use lots of votives in gold and silver mercury glass votive holders everywhere.
- Fill a bowl with pinecones and snow and put it on a side table.
- Sprinkle pinecones and moss balls across the center of a table or mantel
- fill glass cylinders… one with metallic balls, one with pinecones one with pheasant feathers and one with snow… group on a buffet
- hang small boxwood wreaths on pretty ribbons over dishes hanging on the wall
- add a white creamer with pheasant feather and greens to your nightstand
- add neutral pillows to your sofa, chairs and bed.
Transitioning is a much more gentle way to go from one season or holiday to the next! And it’s sooo pretty too!
Hi Yvonne! I love these ideas! Can you tell me where I could purchase pheasant feathers? Thanks so much ❤️
Hi Mandi, The pheasant feathers are here:https://amzn.to/2JG0U2y and HERE:https://amzn.to/34dyt3I
AND HERE:https://amzn.to/2NtL5Ni
I see a deer shed used as a wreath hanger in a catalog (faux but $115-ouch). Any ideas how to use a real one ? Darling look.
Hi Mary, I find deer sheds a local FAll and Spring Decor Fairs. And look HERE:https://amzn.to/322Huel
And here are resin ones:https://amzn.to/2PJ9jpL
Hope this helps!
I like to transition slowly into Christmas so it’s not so overwhelming.Doing minimal this year since my daughter and 2 year old granddaughter are living with us now.Her little hands are all over everything !!
Those little hands don’t stay little for long, right! Enjoy the family! You are smart you know the most valuable thing! God bless you and your dear ones.
This looks a lot like the décor I switch to in January.
I store a lot of stuff for Christmas underneath my staircase and in my garage where we can’t park cars due to storage issues (unfortunately I don’t have a basement) and it’s just better to do it all in one fell swoop! On November 1, I do take down all the Halloween décor that came out in October and switch it for a few Thanksgiving things.
where did you get the chunky candleholders?
I found them online. Here are some that are similar and a great price:https://rstyle.me/+A4gO1NxXHc_CsFIyQNZaJg
Liking the look of naturals and organics for a fresh, clean look. Every year I tend to decorate more naturally, which allows for easier transitioning. My all time favorite from you…bleached pinecones. Thanks for sharing.
Great ideas. I just ordered a brushed brass bar cart for my living room. I had thought about adding one for some time, and we just had the house painted and have changed up a few things. I don’t necessarily want it staged as a typical bar cart. Could you do a post with ideas as how to stage it? One item I am going to put on it is a small Waterford lamp along with a taller live topiary. It is going to be placed under a gold framed print. These have become quite popular again, and I am sure others are thinking of using one as an accent table in addition to a bar. Thanks!!
Wow sounds so so pretty! Yes, I would love to do a post about staging and stying a bar cart! Look for one in the New Year!
I’ve always wanted a bar cart! We don’t drink, but we could use it for coffee/tea. World Market has some good options!
We use ours mostly for decor! It adds a very pretty later to our room
I decorate sparsely for fall ( a couple of pumpkins, black crows, deer sheds, throw & a few throw cushions ), so it’s easy to put all away in one go. Then I give a nod to Winter. Christmas decorating is still at least a month off for my house. Lots of good inspiration here Yvonne. I’m dying to see how you decorate Tanglewood for the seasons.
Thanks, Joanna! This week the Christmas tree is being put up! YIKES!!! But I want to give my readers, like you, lots of time to be inspired! xo
Thanks for all the tips – we are heading on a trip for the holidays and this is the first time we will not be home for Christmas. Probably NOT putting up a tree this year and your ideas can transcend the holidays and winter. Always enjoy your posts !
Great post Yvonne! Such great ideas, I have not ever done this…taking down pumpkins before Thanksgiving. I’m going to try it! Your ideas are spot on and make perfect sense. Hosting a 60th bday dinner party for my husband in a few weeks. If I didn’t use ‘fall theme’ dishes what do you think is best? I love blue & white dishes and just may have enough dinner plates for everyone but they would not match (but similar scale and color). What do you think? Then maybe just candles and pine cones for an easy but elegant center? Would love some ideas!
First of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY NANCY’S HUSBAND! A milestone indeed. Use the blue and white. Use what you love! I think you are spot on! And a table set with different dishes that are similar are beautiful!
I am dying to do Christmas decor and trees but I am hosting thanksgiving. Do I have to wait?
Here’s what I might do, I used to think it was such a faux pas to put up Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving was celebrated. But I’ve really changed my mind over the years.
How about putting up a bare tree with lights and enjoy the glow from it at Thanksgiving. And then after dinner or the next day have family and friends decorate the tree? Fun right?
I would take down all my overtly fall decor like pumpkins etc and decorate with pinecones, deer sheds, faux snow etc. Then you can use those things as a base to decorate your home for Christmas.
Hope this helps.
Hi Vyonne, my post didnt get sent. Will try again. Thank you for the tips on transitioning. Your such a blessing!! What is the best way to store faux pumpkins? I have a huge basket full. Would tissue or gift wrap keep them from getting scratched up or just toss them in a storage bin? Would appreciate your Help! I have too many pumpkins.
Hi Connie, there are so many different kinds of faux pumpkins. Store the more delicate ones in tissue but the plastic ones should be okay if you toss them into a bin together. Hope this helps.
Hi Candy, yes your comment is here. I just had to approve it before it would show up on the blog. It sometimes takes just a little bit before I get to the comments. I was busy decorating for Christmas. The best snow comes from Pottery Barn. You can find it here: https://rstyle.me/+49148TUSUmKdBRthntNV0Q Hope this helps.
I just switched out to Christmas yesterday. My theme this year is deer so they are not overtly Christmas. All I need to add is fresh greenery at the end of this month. It feels so cheerful! I never decorate this early but I just needed a little cheer earlier in 2020.
I agee about needing cheer, Joanna! Your Christmas decor sounds beautiful!
I am interested in creating a small village in a large square lantern but how do I light it up? What type of lights would I use? I was reading one of your blogs and you mentioned you would talk about it in another blog. Would I put lights in the village or lay them in the snow? I wanted to do this for a gift for my daughter. I appreciate your blog so much and enjoy reading your Sunday scriptures. We all need encouragement.
See the little village I created here:https://www.stonegableblog.com/snowy-white-christmas-village/
There are a couple ideas for lighting up the little village.