Decorating with Meaning: How Handmade Holiday Pieces Change the Atmosphere
Forget perfect. Decorate with feeling. Tell your story.
I sometimes feel holiday decorating has a way of becoming... automatic. We pull out the same old boxes, fill the shelves, match the colours. Maybe we add a few trendy touches from a shop window… or many (!). The result? It looks good, of course. It’s all very pretty. But sometimes it feels just a bit empty. “Perfect” maybe, but not personal. Matching, but meaningless.
🎄 The Pieces That Matter Most
My mother-in-law has a Santa decoration she brings out every year. It’s made from a sick bag.
Seriously — a white paper bag, turned into Santa with scraps and scribbles and a child’s full-hearted effort. You can see the Santa sick bag at the bottom of this post.
No store sells it, but nothing on the shelf comes close. Every year, she places it right in the centre of the mantel. Like a treasure.
To her, it’s everything.
It doesn’t match anything. It’s crumpled. It’s weird. But it carries something no department store ornament ever could: a memory, a story, a whole feeling. That’s what I think a lot of holiday décor is missing — sparkle and style, sure, but not much soul.
✋ Why Handmade Changes the Atmosphere
There’s something different about a handmade piece. It feels warm. Intentional. Full of presence.It draws people in — not just because it looks beautiful, but because it feels like something. The brushstrokes, the imperfect lines, the textures — they carry the story of the hands that made them.
And somehow, that shifts the entire energy of a room. It softens it. Grounds it. Makes it feel more human. Handmade things don’t just decorate a space — they hold space.
And maybe that’s what handmade things really do — remind us to feel instead of rush.
🏠 Each Piece is Its Own Little World
That’s the kind of feeling I hope lives in each piece I make — quiet, imperfect, but full of soul. Tiny pastel houses, with hand-painted windows and little crooked chimneys — each with its own colour story, charm, and quiet little mood.They’re not perfect. They’re not mass-produced. And that’s the point.
They’re made to feel real — like something that belongs in the kind of holiday you actually want to live in. You don’t just put them out. You bring them back. You remember them. You pack them away carefully. You tell stories around them. They become part of your tradition.
Guests will sometimes ask about them — because they feel different.
✨ Decorating with Intention
When we fill our homes with objects that matter — things with memory, or meaning, or just a beautiful kind of imperfection — people feel it. Even if they can’t say why.
So instead of trying to get the “look” right, maybe the better question is: What do I want this room to feel like? Should it feel warm? Inviting? Magical? Should it tell a story?
Decorating with meaning isn’t about buying more — it’s about choosing better. Choosing what gives something back, whether that’s laughter, nostalgia, or just a sense of calm.
🎁 Giving with Soul
The same goes for gifting. When you give someone a handmade piece — even the smallest one — it says: “I thought of you. I felt you in this.”That’s the kind of gift that doesn’t get lost in a pile. It gets remembered. Because it gives something deeper than surprise — it gives connection.
🧠 The Real Takeaway
The things we remember most rarely match the catalogue. They’re mismatched, a little strange — maybe even made from a sick bag.But they stick with us. And they shape the way we feel in a space, and the way we show love in it.
A handmade piece doesn’t just decorate your holiday — it becomes part of its story.
