2020, The Year We Stayed Gnome for Christmas: Holiday Decor Roundup

Christmas looked a lot different this year. Due to the pandemic, we didn’t have our traditional Christmas Eve and Christmas Day family get togethers. Instead I celebrated Christmas with my quarantine crew, my parents, at their house on Christmas Day. The three of us had a delicious ham feast my mom prepared, opened presents and ate dessert, and were very thankful for our health and that we could celebrate safely with each other.

I missed attending our favorite Christmas events like the Festival of Trees, Christkindlmarkt and the Old World Village and Christmas Market, and did all of my Christmas shopping online instead of in in brick and mortar stores. We did get to attend Winterlights at Newfields, because it was an all-outdoor, socially distanced, time-ticketed event with outstanding safety protocols. I’ll be sharing our visit soon on the blog! The Festival of Trees offered a free virtual experience, where you could view photos of more than fifty decorated trees online and vote for your favorites. And I enjoyed watching a Christmas Eve candlelight service online.

2020 was also strange because I didn’t have a Christmas tree this year. That had nothing to do with the pandemic, but was a wise decision I made considering I have a very active and destructive kitten! I’m determined to have a tree next year – perhaps in the front window where I can close the door if Ellery bothers it – because I really missed having one!

I had to get creative with my Christmas decor this year and limit the number of breakable items on display because Ellery is interested in licking, biting and knocking over almost everything! She even pulls herself up to a standing position to bother things hanging on the wall, and jumps at the wreath on the front door! She was definitely on the Naughty list but somehow ended up with a bunch of presents anyway.

The mantel is one of Ellery’s favorite places to explore so I skipped using fresh greenery and snowflake lights on it this year, and instead decorated it in a red and white Nordic gnome theme, using soft gnomes and presents made from empty boxes I gift wrapped in coordinating paper. The idea to use presents as part of the mantel display came from my mom, who saw the idea in an email from HGTV. For the mantel, small, shallow boxes work best, such as the boxes that granola bars, cereal, and greeting cards come in. The wrapped boxes were an easy, cat-proof way to decorate a lot of space without spending a dime. I used wrapping paper from my mom’s stash, empty boxes, and ribbon I already had on hand.

The gnome garland is Ellery’s favorite part of the mantel. She unhooks one end of it to play with and watch it swing. The reindeer lantern was an advent box gift from my friend Megan this year. I added red and white ribbon to it and one of my battery operated candles. I scattered more of these candles around the mantel, plus a set of red and white gnome IKEA candles my mom gave me for Christmas last year. The three gnomes in the center and the two gnomes on either side of them are all from Amazon.

The bottom of the fireplace was decorated with the lanterns I used last year, plus a few more, and a tall gnome to tie in with the theme. I used a lot of red and white objects to coordinate with the mantel’s color scheme, adding ribbons and some shatterproof ornaments as accents. I particularly love the gnome because he’s height-adjustable. I was able to raise him to just the right height to hold the Santa sack, which is a burlap wine gift bag with a Nordic print I stuffed with tissue paper. My mom had it with her gift wrap and thought it might work with my display. It’s the perfect touch!

The gallery wall looks a lot different this year from last year’s display. Along with the mantel, the gallery wall and console table were my favorite areas to decorate this year because I took a lot of my favorite decorations from my collection and used them in new ways. The sled shelf is new for 2020 and was part of the Decocrated subscription winter box. I made it the focal point of the gallery wall, adding some vintage items to it I love, including my Grandma’s nativity figurine and angels, and a vintage elf and deer. The gnome at top left is perfect to place high up on the wall, because at table height you can’t see his face, since he is looking down.

I’m really tired of the beige Berber carpet in my living room and dining room, so I thought a red rug would add some holiday color and also match Valentines Day and Fourth of July decorations later. I think it was my favorite frugal purchase this year. I bought it on Amazon and was shocked at how good the quality was for the price. It’s a 4 X 6 foot rug available in a variety of colors (mine is called cherry red) and only cost $28.46. The bonus is that the deep pile is super warm on my feet when I watch TV in the evening. I have a heated throw and Ellery likes to curl up in the foot pocket of it or burrow into the warm rug; we’re both fans of it!

My coffee table has a winter village theme, similar to past years but with a completely different look. I knew Ellery would bother the porcelain village set if I used it on my living room window ledge like I did last year, with the snow blanket, sparkling snow and snowflake garland, so I arranged it on a tray on the bottom shelf of my coffee table, so the tray could be easily moved if she attacked the village. She hasn’t bothered the winter scene atop my coffee table though, which also features a tray and lots of winter trees and buildings. I really like how it turned out.

The ledge above my couch also featured non-breakable materials this year – paper, wood, fabric, and plastic. I absolutely love the winter animal paper sculpture set designed by artist Kim Pjecha that was part of the 2015 Hallmark Christmas collection. I normally set it on my end table every year but this year I realized the ledge is also a good spot for it.

I hung a galvanized metal wall pocket on my wall and filled it with leftover fresh greenery and winterberry, but it still looked bare so I cut some boxwood branches from the shrubs in my yard to fill it in. Why have I never thought to use my own boxwood before? I’ll be using it a lot more in the future! I love the festive color and texture of it. The elf is vintage and I thought the deer and ice skate looked retro enough to match.

My mom got a new end table some months back, and gave me her old one at the beginning of December. I put it near my entryway and created a display using the gifts from my friend Megan’s advent box, arranging some of them into two baskets.

Later I added a few Christmas decorations to the display. It was such a fun way to enjoy and open my gifts from her each day without having a tree to put them under. Exchanging advent boxes with each other has been a Christmas tradition we’ve enjoyed throughout our friendship of more than two decades.

Even though the Old World Christmas Village & Market was canceled because of COVID-19 this year, greenery could still be pre-ordered and picked up the week the market is typically held. Everything my mom and I ordered was lovely as ever and nothing beats the smell of fresh greenery! I think this year’s wreath was my prettiest one yet. I tucked some winterberry (also from the market) in it for a pop of red.

I also used fresh greenery and winterberry from the market in my gnome porch arrangement. The flocked tree is real too. It’s a small potted cypress tree I found at Ace Hardware.

I was looking for a new porch tree this year and the name of this one, Snow Flurry Potted Tree, caught my attention when I was browsing online since it reminds me of my sweet cat Flurry who passed away last year with its bright white lights and ornaments and flocked branches. I’ve been enjoying looking at it through my storm door.

I’ve never attempted an outdoor fairy garden this late in the year, but fall was warm so my former Halloween fairy garden was still half alive. I decided to go for it. I got out my box of winter fairy garden miniatures from past indoor faux-snowscapes and used almost everything to create a Christmas tree lot theme.

My outdoor decorations also included a new gnome garden flag with a different design on each side, and two mini Christmas trees I got on Amazon. They are battery operated and come on for six hours each night on a timer, so I didn’t have to think about managing any cords or turning them off and on. The lighted garland on my lamp post and burlap fox make an appearance every year for Christmas.

Several more photos from my 2020 Christmas decor are below. How did you celebrate and decorate for Christmas this year? I’d love to hear about how Christmas 2020 looked for you this year in the comments. Wishing you a happy and healthy 2021 at home!