I know I said I was continuing the New Year’s Countdown through Twelfth Night 
— Tuesday — but now that our tree is (finally) down and all the wreaths and garlands and Santas are packed up and I’ve broken almost every one of my resolutions already, I’m sort of over the holidays and ready to move on … to another holiday, that is. Does your space feel empty without all those Christmas festive touches? I’m always glad to get my house back after turning it over to Christmas for a month, but I miss the whimsy of holiday decor — plus, it covers up the cat hair 
and distracts from the dust. So I keep the wintery things (snow people, mainly) out and gradually add red heart-y Valentine’s Day things, such as those cute heart “trees” and heart candles I put on the mantle after taking off the Christmas stars and angels. On the table by our front door — my absolute favorite piece of furniture in our whole house 
because so far in almost five years of marriage it’s the only one my husband and I have bought together — I’ve got a couple red and wintery serving pieces plus red and green candles I keep out until spring just because I like to. I added a touch of 
Valentine’s Day: A wonderful mini folding photo album out of handmade paper that my younger daughter found at Sojourns, a Fair Trade shop in Birmingham, Ala., and put in my Christmas stocking. Adorable! In our kitchen, I dismantled the bowl of shiny Christmas ornaments that sat on the table and replaced it with three red heart candles. I love the clean look of red on white. Every year around this time I’m so grateful for my grandmother’s advice to always buy red. “You can use it for three out of four seasons,” she said, “and you can always find red things on sale.” So true. Thanks, Grandma. See? I was listening.
Coffee with Cathy 
My BFF in Seattle puts out decorations for every holiday and every season. I put them out only when necessary. Just too lazy I guess.
I really should start decorating because I need an effective means to cover up dust, dog & cat fur, and the crap the boys can’t bother to pick up. Will it do all that? I hope so because I’m getting a little desperate here!
Hi Cathy (and other commenters!) Our white lighted Christmas tree is up 24/7/365, and I put out other decor sparingly. I see the dust and I don’t care! I’ll get to it soon. Maybe. I used to put out lots of holiday decor when the kids were home but now that it is me and the husband I do minimal decorating. Our longtime house cleaner retired and I have never found an adequate replacement, so it is all me!!! 🙂
I was just thinking about adding some red touches to the house when I was taking Christmas things down yesterday. I rarely decorate for Valentine’s Day, but I think I might just add a bit of red here and there.
You know, I love decorating, but never seem to do much beyond Christmas…perhaps it should be a New Year’s resolution for me 🙂
Love the little photo album…
And of course, don’t forget to tell all of your friends about my VINTAGE VALENTINE special. 🙂 lol!
I love to decorate for every holiday but like the decorations to disappear immediately once the holiday is over! Many years I’ve taken down our Christmas tree December 26.
I love hearing everybody’s takes on holiday decorating. Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing your ideas, from all-year-round to one-and-done!
That is good advice from Grandma! And I do enjoy the transitions from season to season–I do change up little things in the house–but our tree is still up! We got it up late, so I’m still enjoying it. At least our stockings came down!
How fun that you stretch the bits of red into Valentine’s day. It is amazing how clean and spare the room looks once the tree is gone. I just took down all the Christmas cards today. I tape them up in a collage-like arrangement so that we can enjoy them fully.
Thanks so much for popping by my blog. Your blog looks like a great place to dig into.
Thanks so much for the kind words, y’all. Much appreciated.
The topic of that table came up again as we were idly looking around a big furniture story during our break. It is a very handsome and versatile piece.