As our surroundings transition from sun-drenched summer to color-drenched fall, the first holiday in our traditional chain of holidays waits just around the corner. Many homeowners are preparing to reinvent their homes for the season. Some embrace the opportunity with the glee of a child awaiting a birthday. Others drag their feet, knowing the next few months will add another layer to an already overflowing to-do list. And that is before we consider the outdoor work this seasonal transition requires. It’s a lot.

That’s why I’d like to touch on a few sensitive subjects surrounding holiday decorating. Once again, I’m asking you to get a little uncomfortable with me as we honestly consider why we do what we’ve always done—and why holiday décor has become so resistant to editing.

Let’s start by asking ourselves exactly what we want to achieve from decorating for the holidays.

Start with the feeling—not the decorations

I invite you to sit down in your chosen cozy spot with your favorite hot beverage, take a look around your home, and ask yourself a few questions. Don’t begin pulling bins out of storage areas yet. Pause to ask:

• How do I want my home to feel this season? Warm? Playful? Peaceful? Welcoming?
• Which areas of the home actually need decorating to create that feeling?
• Beyond sight, what senses can I appeal to in creating the desired feeling?

This shifts the goal from emptying the holiday bins to creating a particular atmosphere. If you’re anything like me, you already have enough on your plate without adding a full-scale Martha Stewart-ing of your home and grounds. I reached a point where I began asking myself these questions—not because I am especially minimalistic or organized, but because I was looking for a way to survive the expectations.

Once you’ve determined the desired “feel” of your home for the holidays, you can pay your kids to haul all the décor bins from wherever you’ve had them stashed. And don’t forget that one item you stuffed in a drawer because it was missed during the post-season packing.

Before you buy another pumpkin

Seasonal displays in stores make it easy to believe one more item will finally complete the look. Pause before buying the cutest thing on offer. Ask yourself what you expect the new décor to add that you don’t already have. Actually, even before you find yourself at Hobby Lobby, make it a rule to first shop your already stuffed bins.

Take the time to identify what is broken, what you no longer like, and what the children made eight years ago that you haven’t been able to give a proper burial out of sentiment.

Ask yourself whether the décor you choose can work for more than one holiday, such as Halloween and Thanksgiving. Using a foundation of fall décor, with just a few holiday-specific pieces, can greatly reduce your inventory.

Remember the feeling that you said you wanted to create in your home for the season? Does each item fit that specific goal? Now, here’s the hard part: If it doesn’t, what next? If an item is no longer functional, is broken beyond repair, or has sentimental value but is not going to help create the feeling you want, you have a decision to make. The decision does not have to be “Toss it.” Here’s what I suggest.

• Does it hold fond memories but no longer function or suit your home? Find a photograph from a season when it shone—or take one now—and preserve the memory rather than the object.
• Is it dated and no longer a good fit for your decorative taste? Donate it to friends, family, or a community organization.

Editing your décor collection every few years can reduce some of the anxiety associated with the enormous task of decorating.

Try one holiday, one bin

Make a concerted effort to fit everything that you use to decorate your home for each holiday in a single bin (you can determine the size of that bin). This doesn’t have to become an inflexible rule, and obviously Christmas trees are not included in that restriction. It is an experiment in choosing the pieces that do the most work—your favorites, the most meaningful, and those that create the desired feeling without filling every surface.

The bin becomes a boundary, not a punishment, and you might just find, as I have, that there is a lightness that comes with knowing you can accomplish everything you need to do for a specific holiday in the time it takes to empty one bin of its precious contents. This can even include seasonal music collections, photos specific to the season, and anything else you would only put on display for a specific holiday or season.

I know you may not give yourself time to go through the inventory before the day you have set aside to decorate, so here’s another method for evaluating the contents of your holiday décor stash.

Edit while the evidence is fresh

Go ahead and decorate the space according to your chosen feeling. Once you’ve accomplished the feeling you want to create, look at what remains in the bins (or all over the house in dribs and drabs). Those pieces have already told you something, but ask yourself:

• Did I intentionally choose not to use this?
• Have I passed over it for several years?
• Am I keeping it because I love it, because I already own it, or because of sentiment?
• Would I choose it again today?

This is a great time to edit. Rather than returning everything to storage and postponing the decision for another year, ask yourself the questions I already mentioned and make the decision now rather than assigning it to future you.

Permission, not pressure.

Editing your holiday stash is an invitation, not a mandate. The point is not to make the holiday smaller or more “minimal.” It is to let fewer objects create more of what you actually want—and to recognize that adding more stuff is not the only way to create a holiday feeling. Think music, scents, and images of past holidays.

I can’t remember exactly when I chose a feeling over attempting to accomplish picture perfection, but at some point, I made the conscious decision to edit my décor. I focused on areas of impact: the entrance to my home, the dining table, and the living areas where friends and family gathered. It reduced my inventory substantially. It also helped me recognize when certain décor had seen its best day—and, occasionally, revealed a genuine gap I could fill intentionally.

My husband and I sold our longtime family home in 2022 and opted for a nomadic lifestyle, which—for now—we continue to live. This limited my “décor” options even further (mostly because everything I owned was in storage). The first Christmas afterward, we rented an apartment in a scenic resort town, and I was tempted to forego decorating altogether. Yet leaving the apartment undecorated didn’t feel right for us. When I did put my heart to it, I allowed myself to truly shift from “a look” to “an intention.” Music, familiar holiday scents, and a few intentional, meaningful objects helped me create that sense of festivity without breaking the budget or amassing a new inventory on top of what remained in storage.

This season has taught me that decorating to the full isn’t necessary to fill a home with holiday cheer. There is warmth in the glow of memories. Familiar scents draw us into the season. Music invites us to sing along. And an attitude of gratitude welcomes the season—and everyone who enters.