The Art of Decorating: A Holiday Season Perspective

As we embark on the holiday season, many of us find ourselves pondering the age-old question: what to buy? Or rather, what not to buy. In this article, we'll delve into a list of items that our hosts have deemed unessential for their holiday decorations.

One item that made the cut is Christmas trees and ornaments. However, it's interesting to note that these are things they're still building on, as if they're rebuilding after being gone for so long and having to start all over again. This implies a sense of nostalgia and tradition, with many of these items serving as a reminder of past holiday seasons.

Our hosts have also expressed a desire to add some festive flair to their home decor, but with a twist. They've mentioned that they'd rather opt for classic patterns like plaid or pad, rather than anything too flashy or over-the-top. For instance, Ralph Lauren plates are already in use on the table, and there's even talk of adding zebra-patterned ones next year.

On the other hand, our hosts have also revealed a penchant for something more understated. Snowflake-shaped plates, for example, don't seem to be on the radar, despite their festive appeal. Instead, it seems that they prefer more elegant, refined options – like China with a subtle Christmas pattern. This approach would add a touch of sophistication to their holiday decor without overwhelming the senses.

Glitter is another story altogether. Our hosts seem to have a love-hate relationship with this sparkly substance, which can be found in abundance during the holiday season. While they acknowledge that it's become an integral part of the holiday experience for many people, they confess that it drives them crazy. There's something about Christmas that makes us want to spread glitter everywhere, but not necessarily all over our own homes.

As we near the end of our list, one item stands out as a particular pet peeve: Santa-themed toilet seat covers. These may seem like an innocuous novelty, but for some reason, they've earned a spot on our hosts' "not buying" list. It's unclear what it is about these covers that sets them off, but we can't help but wonder if they'll ever be persuaded to give in.

For those of you who are curious about the items mentioned in today's video, rest assured that links will be provided in the comments section below. We've also curated a comprehensive holiday gift guide, replete with ideas for everything from wreaths to gift wraps (more on which later).

If you're looking for inspiration or just want to indulge in some festive cheer, be sure to check out our holiday playlist – it's packed with years' worth of holiday content. And for those who are eager to see more of our holiday antics, we've got a big home tour coming up soon (and yes, that means the gift wrap video is on the agenda).

As we conclude this article, our hosts want to express their gratitude to you – dear readers – for joining them on this decorating adventure. We hope you found this little peek into their holiday plans as delightful as they did, and we look forward to catching up with you all in the next installment.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enjust like I don't think that's a nice thing to do in front of the camera oh okay this is going to be upsetting for some people you know what I'm saying you go to your mother-in-law's just like don't use the towels you're like get out of your system all right good we good now nice people really get offended about this one well hello and welcome to the house of Valentina I'm Valentina and my husband Jack and I we have been decorating this entire house I'm gonna set my cup back down we've been decorating the house for the holidays and we've been having so much fun and we've gone a little bit overboard this year and and whenever we say a little bit we mean that much of a boy like doesn't fit inside the camera screen yeah no not at all we've had a lot of fun but we were talking last night as we were getting our son's room ready make sure you hit subscribe because we're going to be sharing the rest of these rooms we're gonna be sharing a full home tour you don't want to miss out on all that good stuff that's coming out but we um we've been decorating all the rooms and we were sitting and chatting and we were like you know what's funny is there's a lot of things that we didn't buy yes there's a lot of things we didn't do yes so we thought it'd be really helpful at least we're kind of hoping you'll find it helpful for us to share the things that we didn't buy one of the things that I noticed is that I actually don't buy a lot of certain Christmas decor things that in the past I used to buy a lot of and then this year actually the last couple years yeah I've really kind of changed the way that I shop and the way that I buy for the holidays and I found that it's actually saved me a lot of money because I'm able to really build on what I bought each year and now that we're really starting to get into that Groove yeah I'm really seeing the effect of buying in this way and how it's really just really effective and really helping us to create beautiful rooms all right let's jump in foreign so the first thing I've noticed that I do not buy and I used to buy a lot of I don't buy the soap pumps anymore that are like shaped like things we pushed Santa's head and so it comes out his mouth that type of thing well you know they're really cute and I'm not 100 opposed to them I've just found that I haven't been buying them I realized that I prefer to have a soap pump that that I use a lot longer than that oh yeah so so I noticed this year instead what I have been buying uh actually the last couple years is the winter forest from William Sonoma the reason I noticed I was doing this I think the reason why is that I feel like the soap pumps first of all they're really cute I mean let's just be honest those little ones that are shaped like Santa and snowmen yeah they're really cute and I'm not opposed to putting those especially like in my kids bathrooms I probably still buy one if I get past would it just being honest so I'd be like I shouldn't buy this but I'm gonna do it I never asked for anything especially the holidays uh but the thing that I started to buy instead especially for like the main bathrooms the kitchen and all the different areas is actually something that will last not from late basically from fall all the way through winter yeah these are like winter smells these are not and they're not they're wintry looks Christmassy they're not Christmassy yeah they're they're festive and they feel like they're it's really fun to use these actually oh it is and afterwards you're just like I don't think that's a nice thing to do in front of the camera oh okay hahaha oh God this isn't alive event comment section you're growing up so I think that these are really great to buy because you can use them all the way from fall all the way through winter yeah and you don't feel like you have to take the soap pump out and I think that's really nice and these are recyclable or you can also refill them so yeah it's nice because you can pull them out actually you can buy the refills at William sedoma oh Pine Cedar and cinnamon yeah love it so there you go that's what we do instead can we manage to get through towels more of you all right so the next one is that we've stopped buying holiday towels at least I have I Don't Know Jack might buy those stuff so I can't wash my I can't drive my hands on Santa's face no what is wrong with you man that's all I used to think I used to have to dry on the back side because I felt like I was being like anti-christmas you're not supposed to touch the front of those anyway you don't have to touch them at all you're supposed to wash your hands and then do this in the bathroom because you're not allowed to touch the towels so many reasons why we don't buy those anymore you guys know what I'm saying you go to your mother-in-law's she's like don't use the towels you're like and you don't want to wipe it on Santa's face poor guy you go to the naughty list I would typology I am so excited to tell you about typology I have been absolutely Blown Away a few weeks ago they sent me their products and they are absolutely beautiful I've had them sitting out on my countertop I love literally just absolutely in love with the beautiful packaging but this company goes so far beyond that one of my favorite parts that really got me excited about wanting to test out all their products was the fact that they first of all they're a b core they have a mission to demystify skin care with simple straight talking transparency I love the fact that they make naturally active effective and sustainable skin care products I love the fact that they offer top quality products and yet they're still at such an affordable price they're really popular in France I had not heard of them and I just wasn't sure but once I saw that you get to fill out a questionnaire about your skin I knew okay this is something I'm really interested in because everybody's skin is different different and so they don't sell the same products to every single person what you're going to do what you do is you get online and you fill out their little questionnaire and it helps connect you to the right products to your skin and your goals the products are absolutely gorgeous they all smell amazing this is the cleansing gel that they sent me which has a pH five percent and the aloe vera cleansing gel this is the micellar water I love this it's only seven ingredients I also got raw 3011 and this one is very hydrating I have this amazing little stash of serums this is so cool because I like to have a morning and evening routine and they have broken that down for me as well I absolutely love these products I know that you will love them as well right now if you click that link you can take typology's skin diagnostic test to receive a personalized skin care routine that matches your needs plus when you spend 30 or more on typology's website you will get a free Radiance face scrub with rose hip oil the value to thirty dollars with your purchase and when you spend sixty dollars or more you'll get free shipping this offer is for new and existing customers it's an amazing deal so take advantage while it lasts I will leave all the details Down Below in the show notes and now I'm going to go ahead and actually use all my products and do my my little evening routine I'm so excited because it's always it's always such a treat I feel like I'm pampering myself and I'm definitely taking good care of my skin as well the other thing that I do not buy and I don't think I've ever actually bought but I did see this in the store and we were like I'm curious we do not buy uh toilet covers or bath mats that are easily themed we were at Target the other day and they had them we were both like we both screeched in place I was like who buys that that puts you on the naughty list yeah really quickly it's just not nice we don't put Santa on the toilet like this just it just seemed so well it was funny I would do it as a joke but I wouldn't but then it's like you've spent your money on it I don't know it's just like we bought the funny toilet paper because you can actually use that but still there's something wrong about that I don't know it just seemed wrong it just seemed wrong it just seemed and even the little bath bats like we don't we don't change out all that stuff we don't change out the soap pumps we don't change out the even in the kitchen we don't change out the towels it's not just the bathroom but we don't put down holiday rugs maybe no one does this maybe it's just my mom I hope she's not watching she's still under Cruise Line I don't think so she's gonna be back I love you sit with me by the way I love you look beautiful coming to visit yes you can eat mine I won't yell at you but yeah no we don't we don't change out all that stuff because it just it's a lot of money and I'd rather have things that are things that we can use year-round so anyways moving on so the other thing that I think is kind of unusual is that we don't buy festive pillows and I feel like that's something that a lot of people buy and it's something we just don't do now what we do do is that we buy like stuff that we buy furry pillows we buy furry pillows I think that faux fur pillows velvet pillows uh Sherpa oh we got some Sherpa ones put into Landon's room they're so cute yes so we buy seasonal blue clay stuff like that we use yeah yeah and I left a lot of the pillows that we use year round uh but I just I don't buy things with sayings on them I haven't been buying even just a festive pillow like sometimes I really like the ones that have a Pottery Barn they have like the snowflakes embroidered in them I think I'd be tempted by those yeah but we don't buy stuff says Ho Ho on it no and I just don't normally buy even the embroidered ones I just haven't been buying things that felt overly themed yeah I've tried to buy things that are more seasonal like those faux fur and the food clay and the sherpa because it feels like this is the reason I don't have time to redecorate the entire house the day after Christmas and then that weird zone between January and then I don't decorate for Valentine's so we're gonna spray and there's like this weird dead zone so if I don't if I if I don't decorate with all that festivy stuff I don't have a lot to put away I'm just going to put away a couple of the mercury glass trays I'm going to put away a little bit of the ornaments and the tree and then the rest that I've put in there it's actually really wintry and that's why I think we do that because it's actually it's a money saver and a Time Saver and the house feels happier after Christmas because otherwise it's like pillaged afterwards like there's nothing left I think that depression that a lot of people hit right after the holidays first of all it's probably because you know we all have to lose weight and you're like I don't want to I gotta lose weight the credit card bills come in and then your house is literally just bare and you're like yeah let's it just I think it helps pad that that moment and you know you just have like this you've actually spent your money really well and now you're going to be able to enjoy it for a lot longer and I can't help you on your waistline because we're you know we're telling you go by buckle up but I do think that that transition is a lot better and your house just still feels wintry and it's winterized and Christmas time I know that's Jack's word but just a little bit but not too much laughs too much okay so the next one I know this is going to be upsetting for some people probably more than any of the other ones because I think this is the stuff that people spend the most money on you don't even know what I'm gonna say nope but I'm assuming it's from Olympics you're right it is and that is small holiday slash Christmas decor all of those little items going after everything today it's not that I'm opposed to those things it's just again this was me noticing I'm not buying that stuff I have a few mercury glass trees I have a few little gold uh reindeer I bought the letters letters to Santa box for a living room it's really cute but otherwise I didn't buy like all these little things that you can buy everywhere you go because I just feel like it first of all a lot of it's little and I've tried over the last few years to start up sizing the items that I put into my house very much part of our style yeah I felt like it just it feels like it makes things feel a lot more upgraded and makes the room just feel like it's not so full of things and yet you can have beautiful things in the space so I would say upsize the accessories that you do get minimize the number that you do buy it doesn't mean you have to stop buying all of them but like they just have like a million little houses and we have like one little set that we put in Landon's room yeah but then you could just keep going and what I've noticed is when it's the small things you actually don't notice them because there's so much yeah when you go with like more substantial things even just like one gold reindeer here or a few trees there you actually notice it I think you actually feel it more so I think so yeah yeah so that's why we we just skip on most of it I'll do this one why because you like it I like it it's not nice people really get offended about this one all right I'm gonna go after this one unless someone's brand new to your house and has no idea what time of the year it is because they plopped around from another planet they know it's Christmas baby our kids know because the 65 trees that we have around our house and the snow machine out front that's going to be installed next week see we just we're still very much into the Christmas spirit there's no Bahamas Parkers while living in here we're good people know that it's Christmas the 65 trees the ads the music it gives it away falling snow falling snow your ugly sweater you're wearing Christmas balls all over it everyone knows it's Christmas yeah we just don't do signage we don't but we don't do that at any time and our daughter said the other day Haley said we should have if we did that we would have a sign stare stand something like can you imagine if we labeled our entire house dresser couch it's Santa's corner like don't sit there in a Santa seat you don't need it so and a lot of people do but we just find even year round we don't use it at all no we don't no we don't so if you love it we're not going to take it away from you like if you just it you just find so much joy in it again like just enjoy it but yeah yeah you like how I'm justifying it just doesn't look very sophisticated and it really is a little bit unnecessary and you're spending a lot of money on it and you're not going to get this sort of like beautiful like I just assume that if you clicking on a designer's website you're wanting designer tips to make your home look like a designer was there those are the things that we skipped there said done okay we'll move on it's yours oh gosh this is mine okay obsessed with this and this is like I get it but you are obsessed with this okay so we go on walks all the time at night because we love going it's nice and cool out get to the point walk around and the one thing we notice over and over again is mix mismatched lightning I can't even show you because I don't have the other type he notices a lot all the time like he's just like look at the lights that I'm like they look very pretty what's the big deal he's like the same color no so really quickly and we'll add this in post-processing somewhere post editing so there are two types of Lights there are warm lights which is what we have on our tree over here and then they were cool lights don't mismatch them warm has a yellow yeah this has a yellow brown the cool has like a blue color to it yeah and when you put them together somewhere in the middle they just become like you know pea green and your eye just can't figure out where to land so it does actually just feel a little bit off-putting yeah I would I personally don't do any of the blue any of the cold lights I just don't do any of them not at all we just think that the the yellow light just looks warmer in general and the only time I could see myself doing it differently is if I was like all out doing like a snowy Vista with like blue icicles and like I was doing something specific to your theme one house yeah but generally we just wouldn't do that so he is obsessive about it so I don't have to worry about it thankfully yeah but and what I mean by matching is like our light bulbs are the same color as our Christmas lights and there's like outside like all of it has to match so yeah just go warm go warm go warm yeah there you go I got it out yep got it out of your system all right good we good now we're good okay so I don't buy themed blankets our daughter does and she loves them they have them for like five dollars at the end caps on Target and she can't walk past and not have them and we're like how many more do you need of these and she wants them for every single day I know it's so sweet and we give them too we buy it let's just be honest like she's in college I need to have a gingerbread if you have kids you know you're just like okay sweetie and then we go in a room and look for the sign that says blankets and we stack it right there she has a lot of them yes she does but I don't buy them for the rest of the house I buy them for Haley because Haley is beautiful and sweet and the most loving child ever and when she wants something we give it to her yes but for the rest of the house I don't buy themed blankets and the reason why is again I don't want to have to store all those things I'd rather just have the really nice Furs like this oh yeah this thing's amazing this is the one like if you saw our living room makeover and tour I would rather have this out than one that has Frosty the Snowman on it or you know little snowflakes even I would just rather have this blanket and I'm going to use this all throughout fall and all throughout winter and I just think that it's a better use of money it really looks sophisticated and I just think it's and honestly it's warmly it is it's warmer like these are actually warmer because the ones at Target especially in those types of places yeah that are more novelty they're thin they're not made for long-term usage but if you were cold yeah I know this is like we'll just keep that right on this guy's amazing I know I love it so yeah that's what we do instead yeah this one I'm a little bit on the fence about if I'm just being perfectly honest you said the other day we would never buy Christmas China or Christmas dishes and I'm like well we haven't bought them but I have been thinking about them if I'm being perfectly honest we used to do a lot of themed stuff we had when we first got married we moved overseas after we've been married for two years and then we sold a ton of our stuff yes and then we never repurchased a lot of these things so one of those things is we did actually have Christmas China yeah and Christmas plates they're actually really cute I do regret getting rid of them they were little travel ones with Santa kind of going around the Eiffel Tower really cute oh I remember that if I saw those again I would buy them so but I've noticed I haven't been buying a lot of Sword wear and I just feel like this is one that I'm like I haven't been buying it but I feel like I I would buy it you guys let me know what you think because I still think I've been focusing on buying almost like a caterer's kit for entertaining yeah I did a huge Amazon live where I showed all the stuff that I'd bought and I've been buying things beautiful white server pieces so I can make this gorgeous buffet and so I haven't been I'm dropping the blanket set it down I I haven't been buying things that are shaped like like Christmas trees and ornaments and all that kind of stuff but I think that's because we're still building on our home we're still rebuilding basically after being gone for so long and having to start all over so I think that those are things that I will actually add on but you guys can let me know if you think it's too cheesy to have like snowflake shaped plates no but I could see you buying like like China that has a nice Christmas pattern you would go more a little more elegant you'd still do fun but you would do it like in a way that's yeah so this year I bought Ralph Lauren plates to go on the table and they were zebra patterned and I could have bought the Plaid ones but I didn't so that's why I'm like oh I didn't actually buy the the Christmas themed ones but I still think I'd like to have some I keep eyeing them in William Sonoma as well and I'm like oh I just really love I just love I love a classic pattern like a pad I think you would do that I think I would but you guys let me know what you guys think and we'll see what happens next year yeah but the final one there's no way it will ever change on this one I'm like I still feel like it's embedded inside of my fingers from just taking a couple of words out of the boxes it just gets I feel like it literally gets embedded in your fingers I feel like I find it in my clothes and in my hair I went to Michael's the other day and I came home she's like you have it in your eyebrows yes and I didn't even like touch anything being in the air is just floating around yeah and the associate that was there was like there's glitter on me and she's like why I know she's like I'm gonna get fired I know she said she has a little girl she has glitter long it's so bad she did sneezes and it's like that's what it feels like we get literally is inside of you like oh my God this picture of the x-ray they do the X-ray and it's shiny oh you know I think if we took one of my Mom they're because there would be she's the complete opposite of me and she's like my best friend we are best friends so I love my mom so much you guys have seen her on the channel she is glitter she is she is glitter she's like shiny and happy and uh sweetheart and she just loves it so I get it some people she's just like oh spread the glitter all around and I'm like but there's something about Christmas that makes us want to put glitter on everything you can't buy Greenery you can't Garland everything has glitter on it everything has glitter on it so I just don't like it I don't like having it all over me it drives me crazy yeah but there you go that is our list of things that we have not been buying this season I hope that it's been good fun for you are the things this holiday season that you are not buying to decorate your home with are there things on our list that you were like I will defend to the death number seven no way that's my favorite Santa toilet seat cover he's my buddy that's coming home you guys let us know down in the comments uh we believe links were the items that we have mentioned in today's video all linked down below we also have our gift guide it's fully loaded with lots of ideas also don't forget to look down below and check out my typology link I think you guys are gonna absolutely love that I don't want you to miss out and of course we hope that you will check out our holiday playlist it is fully binge worthy we have holiday a literally just years of holiday content you can get ideas on how to put together your wreaths how to do how to do gift wraps my favorite that's my favorite one I can't wait to do that one this year I know that's almost actually one of the things I started the Channel with was the gift wrap that's one of your very first one of my first videos was the gift wrap video and it's something I do every year so that one is coming up soon so make sure you hit subscribe so you don't miss out on that and the big home tour that is coming up but thank you so much for hanging out with us we hope that you had a chance to sit down and have a little treat and coffee as well we always just love when you stop by so we will see you guys in the next one bye are you literally on the floor at one point pull it together woman no no if I start laughing right now it's gonna be three days from now I didn't even get to see my one big line I'm gonna eat some more coffeejust like I don't think that's a nice thing to do in front of the camera oh okay this is going to be upsetting for some people you know what I'm saying you go to your mother-in-law's just like don't use the towels you're like get out of your system all right good we good now nice people really get offended about this one well hello and welcome to the house of Valentina I'm Valentina and my husband Jack and I we have been decorating this entire house I'm gonna set my cup back down we've been decorating the house for the holidays and we've been having so much fun and we've gone a little bit overboard this year and and whenever we say a little bit we mean that much of a boy like doesn't fit inside the camera screen yeah no not at all we've had a lot of fun but we were talking last night as we were getting our son's room ready make sure you hit subscribe because we're going to be sharing the rest of these rooms we're gonna be sharing a full home tour you don't want to miss out on all that good stuff that's coming out but we um we've been decorating all the rooms and we were sitting and chatting and we were like you know what's funny is there's a lot of things that we didn't buy yes there's a lot of things we didn't do yes so we thought it'd be really helpful at least we're kind of hoping you'll find it helpful for us to share the things that we didn't buy one of the things that I noticed is that I actually don't buy a lot of certain Christmas decor things that in the past I used to buy a lot of and then this year actually the last couple years yeah I've really kind of changed the way that I shop and the way that I buy for the holidays and I found that it's actually saved me a lot of money because I'm able to really build on what I bought each year and now that we're really starting to get into that Groove yeah I'm really seeing the effect of buying in this way and how it's really just really effective and really helping us to create beautiful rooms all right let's jump in foreign so the first thing I've noticed that I do not buy and I used to buy a lot of I don't buy the soap pumps anymore that are like shaped like things we pushed Santa's head and so it comes out his mouth that type of thing well you know they're really cute and I'm not 100 opposed to them I've just found that I haven't been buying them I realized that I prefer to have a soap pump that that I use a lot longer than that oh yeah so so I noticed this year instead what I have been buying uh actually the last couple years is the winter forest from William Sonoma the reason I noticed I was doing this I think the reason why is that I feel like the soap pumps first of all they're really cute I mean let's just be honest those little ones that are shaped like Santa and snowmen yeah they're really cute and I'm not opposed to putting those especially like in my kids bathrooms I probably still buy one if I get past would it just being honest so I'd be like I shouldn't buy this but I'm gonna do it I never asked for anything especially the holidays uh but the thing that I started to buy instead especially for like the main bathrooms the kitchen and all the different areas is actually something that will last not from late basically from fall all the way through winter yeah these are like winter smells these are not and they're not they're wintry looks Christmassy they're not Christmassy yeah they're they're festive and they feel like they're it's really fun to use these actually oh it is and afterwards you're just like I don't think that's a nice thing to do in front of the camera oh okay hahaha oh God this isn't alive event comment section you're growing up so I think that these are really great to buy because you can use them all the way from fall all the way through winter yeah and you don't feel like you have to take the soap pump out and I think that's really nice and these are recyclable or you can also refill them so yeah it's nice because you can pull them out actually you can buy the refills at William sedoma oh Pine Cedar and cinnamon yeah love it so there you go that's what we do instead can we manage to get through towels more of you all right so the next one is that we've stopped buying holiday towels at least I have I Don't Know Jack might buy those stuff so I can't wash my I can't drive my hands on Santa's face no what is wrong with you man that's all I used to think I used to have to dry on the back side because I felt like I was being like anti-christmas you're not supposed to touch the front of those anyway you don't have to touch them at all you're supposed to wash your hands and then do this in the bathroom because you're not allowed to touch the towels so many reasons why we don't buy those anymore you guys know what I'm saying you go to your mother-in-law's she's like don't use the towels you're like and you don't want to wipe it on Santa's face poor guy you go to the naughty list I would typology I am so excited to tell you about typology I have been absolutely Blown Away a few weeks ago they sent me their products and they are absolutely beautiful I've had them sitting out on my countertop I love literally just absolutely in love with the beautiful packaging but this company goes so far beyond that one of my favorite parts that really got me excited about wanting to test out all their products was the fact that they first of all they're a b core they have a mission to demystify skin care with simple straight talking transparency I love the fact that they make naturally active effective and sustainable skin care products I love the fact that they offer top quality products and yet they're still at such an affordable price they're really popular in France I had not heard of them and I just wasn't sure but once I saw that you get to fill out a questionnaire about your skin I knew okay this is something I'm really interested in because everybody's skin is different different and so they don't sell the same products to every single person what you're going to do what you do is you get online and you fill out their little questionnaire and it helps connect you to the right products to your skin and your goals the products are absolutely gorgeous they all smell amazing this is the cleansing gel that they sent me which has a pH five percent and the aloe vera cleansing gel this is the micellar water I love this it's only seven ingredients I also got raw 3011 and this one is very hydrating I have this amazing little stash of serums this is so cool because I like to have a morning and evening routine and they have broken that down for me as well I absolutely love these products I know that you will love them as well right now if you click that link you can take typology's skin diagnostic test to receive a personalized skin care routine that matches your needs plus when you spend 30 or more on typology's website you will get a free Radiance face scrub with rose hip oil the value to thirty dollars with your purchase and when you spend sixty dollars or more you'll get free shipping this offer is for new and existing customers it's an amazing deal so take advantage while it lasts I will leave all the details Down Below in the show notes and now I'm going to go ahead and actually use all my products and do my my little evening routine I'm so excited because it's always it's always such a treat I feel like I'm pampering myself and I'm definitely taking good care of my skin as well the other thing that I do not buy and I don't think I've ever actually bought but I did see this in the store and we were like I'm curious we do not buy uh toilet covers or bath mats that are easily themed we were at Target the other day and they had them we were both like we both screeched in place I was like who buys that that puts you on the naughty list yeah really quickly it's just not nice we don't put Santa on the toilet like this just it just seemed so well it was funny I would do it as a joke but I wouldn't but then it's like you've spent your money on it I don't know it's just like we bought the funny toilet paper because you can actually use that but still there's something wrong about that I don't know it just seemed wrong it just seemed wrong it just seemed and even the little bath bats like we don't we don't change out all that stuff we don't change out the soap pumps we don't change out the even in the kitchen we don't change out the towels it's not just the bathroom but we don't put down holiday rugs maybe no one does this maybe it's just my mom I hope she's not watching she's still under Cruise Line I don't think so she's gonna be back I love you sit with me by the way I love you look beautiful coming to visit yes you can eat mine I won't yell at you but yeah no we don't we don't change out all that stuff because it just it's a lot of money and I'd rather have things that are things that we can use year-round so anyways moving on so the other thing that I think is kind of unusual is that we don't buy festive pillows and I feel like that's something that a lot of people buy and it's something we just don't do now what we do do is that we buy like stuff that we buy furry pillows we buy furry pillows I think that faux fur pillows velvet pillows uh Sherpa oh we got some Sherpa ones put into Landon's room they're so cute yes so we buy seasonal blue clay stuff like that we use yeah yeah and I left a lot of the pillows that we use year round uh but I just I don't buy things with sayings on them I haven't been buying even just a festive pillow like sometimes I really like the ones that have a Pottery Barn they have like the snowflakes embroidered in them I think I'd be tempted by those yeah but we don't buy stuff says Ho Ho on it no and I just don't normally buy even the embroidered ones I just haven't been buying things that felt overly themed yeah I've tried to buy things that are more seasonal like those faux fur and the food clay and the sherpa because it feels like this is the reason I don't have time to redecorate the entire house the day after Christmas and then that weird zone between January and then I don't decorate for Valentine's so we're gonna spray and there's like this weird dead zone so if I don't if I if I don't decorate with all that festivy stuff I don't have a lot to put away I'm just going to put away a couple of the mercury glass trays I'm going to put away a little bit of the ornaments and the tree and then the rest that I've put in there it's actually really wintry and that's why I think we do that because it's actually it's a money saver and a Time Saver and the house feels happier after Christmas because otherwise it's like pillaged afterwards like there's nothing left I think that depression that a lot of people hit right after the holidays first of all it's probably because you know we all have to lose weight and you're like I don't want to I gotta lose weight the credit card bills come in and then your house is literally just bare and you're like yeah let's it just I think it helps pad that that moment and you know you just have like this you've actually spent your money really well and now you're going to be able to enjoy it for a lot longer and I can't help you on your waistline because we're you know we're telling you go by buckle up but I do think that that transition is a lot better and your house just still feels wintry and it's winterized and Christmas time I know that's Jack's word but just a little bit but not too much laughs too much okay so the next one I know this is going to be upsetting for some people probably more than any of the other ones because I think this is the stuff that people spend the most money on you don't even know what I'm gonna say nope but I'm assuming it's from Olympics you're right it is and that is small holiday slash Christmas decor all of those little items going after everything today it's not that I'm opposed to those things it's just again this was me noticing I'm not buying that stuff I have a few mercury glass trees I have a few little gold uh reindeer I bought the letters letters to Santa box for a living room it's really cute but otherwise I didn't buy like all these little things that you can buy everywhere you go because I just feel like it first of all a lot of it's little and I've tried over the last few years to start up sizing the items that I put into my house very much part of our style yeah I felt like it just it feels like it makes things feel a lot more upgraded and makes the room just feel like it's not so full of things and yet you can have beautiful things in the space so I would say upsize the accessories that you do get minimize the number that you do buy it doesn't mean you have to stop buying all of them but like they just have like a million little houses and we have like one little set that we put in Landon's room yeah but then you could just keep going and what I've noticed is when it's the small things you actually don't notice them because there's so much yeah when you go with like more substantial things even just like one gold reindeer here or a few trees there you actually notice it I think you actually feel it more so I think so yeah yeah so that's why we we just skip on most of it I'll do this one why because you like it I like it it's not nice people really get offended about this one all right I'm gonna go after this one unless someone's brand new to your house and has no idea what time of the year it is because they plopped around from another planet they know it's Christmas baby our kids know because the 65 trees that we have around our house and the snow machine out front that's going to be installed next week see we just we're still very much into the Christmas spirit there's no Bahamas Parkers while living in here we're good people know that it's Christmas the 65 trees the ads the music it gives it away falling snow falling snow your ugly sweater you're wearing Christmas balls all over it everyone knows it's Christmas yeah we just don't do signage we don't but we don't do that at any time and our daughter said the other day Haley said we should have if we did that we would have a sign stare stand something like can you imagine if we labeled our entire house dresser couch it's Santa's corner like don't sit there in a Santa seat you don't need it so and a lot of people do but we just find even year round we don't use it at all no we don't no we don't so if you love it we're not going to take it away from you like if you just it you just find so much joy in it again like just enjoy it but yeah yeah you like how I'm justifying it just doesn't look very sophisticated and it really is a little bit unnecessary and you're spending a lot of money on it and you're not going to get this sort of like beautiful like I just assume that if you clicking on a designer's website you're wanting designer tips to make your home look like a designer was there those are the things that we skipped there said done okay we'll move on it's yours oh gosh this is mine okay obsessed with this and this is like I get it but you are obsessed with this okay so we go on walks all the time at night because we love going it's nice and cool out get to the point walk around and the one thing we notice over and over again is mix mismatched lightning I can't even show you because I don't have the other type he notices a lot all the time like he's just like look at the lights that I'm like they look very pretty what's the big deal he's like the same color no so really quickly and we'll add this in post-processing somewhere post editing so there are two types of Lights there are warm lights which is what we have on our tree over here and then they were cool lights don't mismatch them warm has a yellow yeah this has a yellow brown the cool has like a blue color to it yeah and when you put them together somewhere in the middle they just become like you know pea green and your eye just can't figure out where to land so it does actually just feel a little bit off-putting yeah I would I personally don't do any of the blue any of the cold lights I just don't do any of them not at all we just think that the the yellow light just looks warmer in general and the only time I could see myself doing it differently is if I was like all out doing like a snowy Vista with like blue icicles and like I was doing something specific to your theme one house yeah but generally we just wouldn't do that so he is obsessive about it so I don't have to worry about it thankfully yeah but and what I mean by matching is like our light bulbs are the same color as our Christmas lights and there's like outside like all of it has to match so yeah just go warm go warm go warm yeah there you go I got it out yep got it out of your system all right good we good now we're good okay so I don't buy themed blankets our daughter does and she loves them they have them for like five dollars at the end caps on Target and she can't walk past and not have them and we're like how many more do you need of these and she wants them for every single day I know it's so sweet and we give them too we buy it let's just be honest like she's in college I need to have a gingerbread if you have kids you know you're just like okay sweetie and then we go in a room and look for the sign that says blankets and we stack it right there she has a lot of them yes she does but I don't buy them for the rest of the house I buy them for Haley because Haley is beautiful and sweet and the most loving child ever and when she wants something we give it to her yes but for the rest of the house I don't buy themed blankets and the reason why is again I don't want to have to store all those things I'd rather just have the really nice Furs like this oh yeah this thing's amazing this is the one like if you saw our living room makeover and tour I would rather have this out than one that has Frosty the Snowman on it or you know little snowflakes even I would just rather have this blanket and I'm going to use this all throughout fall and all throughout winter and I just think that it's a better use of money it really looks sophisticated and I just think it's and honestly it's warmly it is it's warmer like these are actually warmer because the ones at Target especially in those types of places yeah that are more novelty they're thin they're not made for long-term usage but if you were cold yeah I know this is like we'll just keep that right on this guy's amazing I know I love it so yeah that's what we do instead yeah this one I'm a little bit on the fence about if I'm just being perfectly honest you said the other day we would never buy Christmas China or Christmas dishes and I'm like well we haven't bought them but I have been thinking about them if I'm being perfectly honest we used to do a lot of themed stuff we had when we first got married we moved overseas after we've been married for two years and then we sold a ton of our stuff yes and then we never repurchased a lot of these things so one of those things is we did actually have Christmas China yeah and Christmas plates they're actually really cute I do regret getting rid of them they were little travel ones with Santa kind of going around the Eiffel Tower really cute oh I remember that if I saw those again I would buy them so but I've noticed I haven't been buying a lot of Sword wear and I just feel like this is one that I'm like I haven't been buying it but I feel like I I would buy it you guys let me know what you think because I still think I've been focusing on buying almost like a caterer's kit for entertaining yeah I did a huge Amazon live where I showed all the stuff that I'd bought and I've been buying things beautiful white server pieces so I can make this gorgeous buffet and so I haven't been I'm dropping the blanket set it down I I haven't been buying things that are shaped like like Christmas trees and ornaments and all that kind of stuff but I think that's because we're still building on our home we're still rebuilding basically after being gone for so long and having to start all over so I think that those are things that I will actually add on but you guys can let me know if you think it's too cheesy to have like snowflake shaped plates no but I could see you buying like like China that has a nice Christmas pattern you would go more a little more elegant you'd still do fun but you would do it like in a way that's yeah so this year I bought Ralph Lauren plates to go on the table and they were zebra patterned and I could have bought the Plaid ones but I didn't so that's why I'm like oh I didn't actually buy the the Christmas themed ones but I still think I'd like to have some I keep eyeing them in William Sonoma as well and I'm like oh I just really love I just love I love a classic pattern like a pad I think you would do that I think I would but you guys let me know what you guys think and we'll see what happens next year yeah but the final one there's no way it will ever change on this one I'm like I still feel like it's embedded inside of my fingers from just taking a couple of words out of the boxes it just gets I feel like it literally gets embedded in your fingers I feel like I find it in my clothes and in my hair I went to Michael's the other day and I came home she's like you have it in your eyebrows yes and I didn't even like touch anything being in the air is just floating around yeah and the associate that was there was like there's glitter on me and she's like why I know she's like I'm gonna get fired I know she said she has a little girl she has glitter long it's so bad she did sneezes and it's like that's what it feels like we get literally is inside of you like oh my God this picture of the x-ray they do the X-ray and it's shiny oh you know I think if we took one of my Mom they're because there would be she's the complete opposite of me and she's like my best friend we are best friends so I love my mom so much you guys have seen her on the channel she is glitter she is she is glitter she's like shiny and happy and uh sweetheart and she just loves it so I get it some people she's just like oh spread the glitter all around and I'm like but there's something about Christmas that makes us want to put glitter on everything you can't buy Greenery you can't Garland everything has glitter on it everything has glitter on it so I just don't like it I don't like having it all over me it drives me crazy yeah but there you go that is our list of things that we have not been buying this season I hope that it's been good fun for you are the things this holiday season that you are not buying to decorate your home with are there things on our list that you were like I will defend to the death number seven no way that's my favorite Santa toilet seat cover he's my buddy that's coming home you guys let us know down in the comments uh we believe links were the items that we have mentioned in today's video all linked down below we also have our gift guide it's fully loaded with lots of ideas also don't forget to look down below and check out my typology link I think you guys are gonna absolutely love that I don't want you to miss out and of course we hope that you will check out our holiday playlist it is fully binge worthy we have holiday a literally just years of holiday content you can get ideas on how to put together your wreaths how to do how to do gift wraps my favorite that's my favorite one I can't wait to do that one this year I know that's almost actually one of the things I started the Channel with was the gift wrap that's one of your very first one of my first videos was the gift wrap video and it's something I do every year so that one is coming up soon so make sure you hit subscribe so you don't miss out on that and the big home tour that is coming up but thank you so much for hanging out with us we hope that you had a chance to sit down and have a little treat and coffee as well we always just love when you stop by so we will see you guys in the next one bye are you literally on the floor at one point pull it together woman no no if I start laughing right now it's gonna be three days from now I didn't even get to see my one big line I'm gonna eat some more coffee\n"