For a long time, I didn’t really decorate my apartment for Christmas. Because I always spent Christmas at my parents’ house and it was tradition to decorate their house and tree for Christmas, I never felt like I needed to decorate my own place. That all changed in 2020 during the pandemic when Canadian families couldn’t get together for Christmas that year. Since then, I’ve added more decorations every year, but there are basically three main parts.

First, there is a tall thin artificial tree in the living room. This style is called a “pencil tree” because it’s thin and doesn’t take up much space. It comes in three pieces and is “pre-lit,” meaning the lights are already attached to the tree. Real trees are not allowed in most apartment buildings because they are a fire hazard. The ornaments (red, green, gold, and silver balls) are from IKEA, and, as is my family’s tradition, a new special ornament is added every year. Fortunately, my apartment has a lot of mirrors (on the sliding closet doors), so the lights on the tree are reflected at night and really create a warm atmosphere. Right now, there are a lot of gifts wrapped up under the tree!

Second, there are homemade wreaths on the doors, which we redecorate every year. I prefer natural decorations like holly, pinecones, dried orange slices and cinnamon sticks, and cedar or pine boughs. One wreath was made by a friend here in Toronto, and that one goes up in the entrance area, just inside the door, every year. Buying a fully-decorated wreath is incredibly expensive ($40-80 for a mid-sized one), so it’s better (and more fun!) to buy a simple grapevine wreath from a craft store and decorate it yourself. Plus you get to use a hot glue gun, which is fun! 

Finally, there are several other decorations in my office area, which you might see during a lesson! There is a gnome that was a gift from my parents, a snowman that counts down the days until Christmas, a stocking (that I hope Santa will fill with goodies!), and a winter version of my bird “Chickpea” that has cute little earmuffs and a scarf. Most of the other decorations from my old classroom get hung up here and there, so there’s a little bit of Christmas cheer throughout the whole apartment.

And since there are no special decorations for New Year here, the Christmas stuff will probably stay up until the middle of January (because after we take them down, winter feels a little dull and depressing). 

…

I have one more little secret. I hate throwing out my little pumpkins after Halloween, so I still have them on a table with some houseplants and they’re still doing just fine! Maybe I’ll just leave them there until the middle of January, too haha!