There’s no place like home…

When you’ve been stuck inside for months, it can be challenging to see your home as an exciting place to spend the holidays. You’ve been looking at the same decorations for months, and you’ve been quarantined with the same people, how about a change of scenery? With COVID, that change of scenery might not be an option for you. Luckily, we have some ideas on how you can make your home feel special, even when you’re stuck inside on a holiday.

Get extra trees!

This year may be the year that you add an extra Christmas tree to the mix. Let your children flex their creative muscles, and add a mini Christmas tree to their room, free for them to decorate with their own individual tastes. If you’ve always wanted two different trees with separate themes, now is the perfect time to go all out with your house decorations. Give yourself permission to turn your home into a place that makes you feel peaceful, comfortable, and joyful.

Build an extravagant table

Be creative and find the joy in making your eating space beautiful and extravagant. Decorating can be a form of expressive arts therapy, allowing the left brain and the right brain to work together. Dig through your china cabinet or raid your local thrift store, and put together a table that makes you feel like royalty. You will see that you can bring holiday excitement to you in the littlest of ways.

Delight your senses

Another small way to add that holiday touch to your home is through the senses. Nothing says winter like pine, clove, cinnamon, orange, and cedar. If you have a diffuser and these essential oils, and you play nothing but old-timey holiday music you won’t want to be anywhere else. Also, Bath and Body Works has incredible three-wick candles that always meet your expectations when looking for an enticing holiday scent.

BAKE!

Baking makes you happy, it makes you feel productive, and it fills your home with all the scents and fuzzy feelings. It’s the perfect activity to fill your time with family. Baking brings people together in such a low-key, light-hearted way while giving you something to delight in after. Here is a great list of 14 different holiday cookies you can bake this year. You’ll want to remember to leave some out for Santa.

When you make your space enjoyable and relaxing, you won’t feel like you’re missing out on something more, because you’ll have already cultivated it for yourself. That is the beauty of the holiday season. It is about giving to other people, and still finding balance and giving to yourself. Giving to yourself this year means staying as comfortable and as safe as we can at home because there is no place like home.

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Starting with a creative written voice and a BA in English from ASU, Alli Cravener has become so much more than Integrative Counsel’s voice! Not only is she a writer who is passionate about connecting concepts and content, Alli is also currently a grad student working towards her Master’s in Counseling. She is also the editor-in-chief, office manager, AND intake specialist at Integrative Counsel. When you call us, you’ll talk to Alli! Alli’s interests include painting, history, learning about other people, and wearing the color pink. She likens herself to a “mouse in a palm tree”, and she loves it that way.