Blue Ribbon News

14051767_290537127992881_1780422296245748646_n — Austin Wells, Editor

As I sit here staring out the window, thoughts of the upcoming Christmas holiday filling my mind, a hot cup of coffee burning my lips and filling my nostrils with what can only be described as the scent of happiness, I feel inspired to tell something of myself which probably not many people know – I’m somewhat of a minimalist when it comes to decoration.

Anyone who’s seen the inside of my apartment wouldn’t be surprised by this confession. I literally have maybe one decorative item on each wall, and almost all of these items belong to my sister-in-law. And there are some walls which have nothing on them whatsoever. I’m also a little OCD when it comes to clutter, as in I don’t like it whatsoever and have hardly anything left lying about on the floor.

Needless to say, there’s a very open feeling to my living space, and I like that. Due to this obsession I seem to have of keeping everything open and bare and avoiding clutter at all costs, I’ve never been one to partake in holiday decorating either, and if I do it’s usually the bare minimum. It’s not that I’m a Scrooge and hate holidays or anything; I just don’t like having a bunch of stuff on the walls, the counter tops, tables, ect. Besides, normally I spend Christmas at my parent’s house or some other family member’s house, so I just never saw the need to give my apartment a Christmas makeover.

Last year, however, a miracle happened: I finally broke down and decided to spruce up the apartment for the Christmas holidays. Nothing crazy, just a few simple things here and there to give the place a Christmas feel. I strung lights on the railing of my back porch, and hung various ornaments (again courtesy my sister-in-law, who’s a much better decorator than I could ever hope to be) on the walls and of course on my little Christmas tree. For reasons still unknown to me, I chose a pale green and red for my two accent walls when I first signed the lease, and come Christmastime I always give myself a little pat on the back for that accidental foresight.

This year, I had a lot of fun ideas come up in my head about what all I could do to make my apartment look like Christmas at the North Pole, and some of them I managed to pull off. So I have this large mirror in my bathroom, and I felt it was too perfect to run some garland around it like a giant wreath. My Christmas tree is bigger than any I’ve had since living on my own (it’s a real tree, not artificial) and sits perfectly in front of the window in the far corner of the living room. Another exciting addition are Christmas-scented candles which smell slightly like cinnamon (yum).

I seriously considered wrapping multicolored lights around everything in the apartment, but the thought of what that might do to my electric bill quickly pushed the idea from my mind. Besides, the lights on my tree and the bundle of string lights glowing within my fireplace to resemble a fire (chalk that bit of genius up to, yet again, my sister-in-law), coupled with the glow from the Christmas candles, are more than enough for me. It’s sure beginning to look a lot like Christmas in here, and I couldn’t be happier about it!