Never have I ever decorated (heck felt the desire to decorate) for Christmas BEFORE Thanksgiving. However this is a year of a lot of firsts, as well as a year of DO WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY. Because as we all know, nothing has been normal since March. It’s all out of the ordinary.

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But back to the mention of this being a year of firsts >> other than not leaving the house without a face mask in the last 8 months, this is also the first time I’m decorating my own home for the holidays AND the first time (in a long time) to have a real tree in the house! Growing up, we had real trees until my mom had an allergic reaction to the pine so bad that she had to go to the hospital. After that, artificial trees & garland were the only thing allowed inside during the holidays. So naturally, I was very excited to be able to bring a real tree into our own home this year (& for all the years to come!)

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The theme of my Christmas decor is ‘Woodland Apres Ski’ – I love the concept of incorporating a theme ever since visiting the Sickles Market Holiday Shoppe for the first time years ago. Every season, Sickles brings something so unique and creative to the table (or should I say tree) and it’s impossible not to walk away with tons of inspiration – from ideas like Under The Sea, Red & White All Over, to Candy Covered & everything inbetween. If you’re interested in seeing the Sickles Market Holiday Shoppe set up this year, I saved a bunch of Instastories to this Holiday IG Highlight here from my recent visit.

In fact, about 70% of my Christmas Decor is from Sickles Market (the other 30% Homegoods & Lowes.) Be sure to scroll down to take a look at all the fun things I got to decorate our first Christmas in our new house with!

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The ornaments you see featured are my favorite finds from Sickles Market. I can’t help but fall victim to anything that reminds me of a charming general store or apothecary, and how funny is it that I picked this adorable owl out only to learn the news of a REAL ONE traveling to NYC with the Rockefeller Tree!? What are the odds – and good news, the rescued lil’ owl will soon be released back to the wild after recovering from its long journey to The Big Apple.

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Honestly, what spearheaded my Woodland Apres Ski idea was coming across these adorable gnomes! But even year after year, these guys will still work with whatever theme I plan to incorporate. I love that they’re not the classic Santa or Snowman motif that often become the poster child decoration, if that makes sense.

I’m a sucker for any sort of seasonal scented candle, especially this time of year. I recently discovered TLC Candle Co. & fell in love with the creative names and packaging of each candle when they arrived. Also, very rarely do I buy candles online without smelling them first because 1) I have no idea what most of the scents actually are in the descriptions, and 2) most often I end up not being a fan of anything I get scent-unseen. But this time around, I had a good feeling about the 4 candles I picked from TLC based on the descriptions. Not only are they all AMAZING scents (even unlit they’re terrific) but they burn just as wonderfully and can be smelled throughout our home. Granted we have a tiny house but still, it’s so lovely getting whiffs of coziness through a temporarily closed door.

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Big fan of these 4 scents at the moment & HIGHLY recommend them if you’re looking for a gift idea for someone or yourself – plus, every purchase is another great way to support a small business during these times:

A Glass Of Red (shown above, deliciously musky & fruity), Hibernate (vanilla-meets-honeysuckle, currently lit on my desk now), Amber Noir (cedar-meets-sandalwood, one of TLC’s best-sellers) & By The Fire (pine-meets-gingery & not campfire-y at all)

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If you’re living in an apartment situation but still want to decorate for the holidays, I highly suggest the idea of getting a tabletop tree! I remember always wanting to get into the spirit with decorations when I lived in the city, but was always turned off in doing so because of the lack of storage space to put everything once the holidays were over. So I never did it. I honestly wish I knew about tabletop trees because it would’ve been so easy to decorate, display, and remove when the time came.

This one is from Sickles Market and I decorated it with some of the fun Red & White decorations from their Candy Cane Tree. We’re calling it Manny’s Tree because of the size and his interest in playing with the plastic & pom pom ornaments.

I hope you enjoyed my first attempt in sharing our Holiday Home Decoration Tour this year! Special thanks to Sickles Market for making this all possible & encouraging the spirit of the holidays for all of us, especially now when we need it most.

Wishing you all a very wonderful Thanksgiving & looking forward to all that’s to come in this holiday season. May we end this year on a high note, safely, healthy, & happily ❤️️