You Can Have A Colorful Minimalist Holiday Season

If you spend much time visiting minimalist lifestyle blogs, you are likely bombarded by unrealistic images of white walls, new white furnishings, and austere white decor items all meticulously arranged as though ready for inclusion in a designer magazine. This aesthetic is particularly amplified around the December holidays with images of cold-looking Christmas trees sparely decorated with only white lights (or no lights), a few matching monochromatic ornaments, and a handful of identically wrapped presents.

On one blog site, a mother of four kids under age 10 with a fifth on the way, posted a picture of such an austere tree. Missing were the children’s handmade ornaments, mismatched ornaments representing milestones such as the couple’s first Christmas, each baby’s first Christmas, and family ornaments passed down from parents or grandparents. Also missing were other personalized decorations. I suspect that these mismatched items exist in this home, but have been relegated to a box, the back of the tree, or maybe a second tree hidden from the camera’s view. A minimalist Christmas—a minimalist life for that matter—does not need to be this way. A minimalist Christmas can be colorful, mismatched, and still reflect our family’s holiday traditions.

When my wife and I downsized 98% of our belongings to travel full-time, we still kept Christmas treasures that were important to us such as our personalized red and green stockings bought soon after our youngest was born 23 years ago, and ornaments celebrating special times in our lives including many colorful and oddly shaped ornaments made by our young kids. We kept a wax Nuremberg angel for the top of the tree passed down from my wife’s family, and a small manger scene purchased on a special trip. All of these carry memories for our family that we cherish during the holidays.

Before downsizing, we had accumulated seven large boxes of Christmas decorations over the first 30 years of our marriage—two of which were filled with ornaments. It was tough to fit them even on a very large Christmas tree. So when we decided to downsize, we asked our kids to identify the ornaments that were special to them. We did the same and let go of the ornaments that, while pretty, didn’t add meaning to our family celebrations and detracted our focus from the ornaments that meant the most.

Fewer ornaments meant we could enjoy a small tree and still display all of our most cherished ornaments. The smaller tree was easier to place in the house. No need to move furniture to make way—we have put our small tree on the buffet or in a bay window where it still holds prominence in our home. The presents around the tree were also mismatched, with several wrapped in towels, dish cloths, or available reusable bags. These mismatched wrappings were not Instagram worthy but successfully shifted the focus from the packaging to the gift itself. These repurposed wrappings also meant no large trash bag of barely used wrapping paper, ribbons, and bows.

We let go of other holiday stuff, too. We no longer needed the set of Christmas-specific plates to display Christmas cookies—our day-to-day plates expressed the spirit of the holidays just as well. We let go of our numerous nutcrackers when one—our favorite—was plenty to keep watch over our festivities. We let go of our extra nativity scene, extra set of Christmas tree decorations (at one point we had two trees), and the box of string and net lights. We kept just a couple of strings to illuminate our small tree and our front door.

Similarly, our home holds furniture that is eclectic but reflects our history as a family. After moving into 13 houses during my 20-year military career, our furniture was varied and reflected our desire for warm colors. As we became minimalists we didn’t need to replace any of our furniture or decor with new white pieces. We just kept less of what we already had. Minimalist homes do not need to be all-white tableaus—at Christmas or any time of the year.

Since downsizing and slow traveling full-time the past couple of years, we have celebrated Christmas on the road. We celebrated with our daughter in 2023 in an AirBnB in Sevilla Spain where a 30-inch tree provided by the hosts and some homemade decorations made from festive napkins helped us enjoy the season. The next year we celebrated on Komodo Island in Indonesia with our son where we wished each other a merry Christmas and toasted with a cup of tea. This year (2025) we are visiting our extended family and enjoying their decorations, but more importantly enjoying time with them and cashing in on our memory dividends—our most precious possession.

We have found that the holidays are kept in our hearts, and we don’t need a lot of decorations to make it joyful. It is the time we spend with our friends and family that make our holidays special.

I wish you a relaxing, safe, and colorful holiday season!

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About the Author: Justin Hall retired early from civil service, let go of 98 percent of his possessions, and travels the world full-time with his wife. Find him at Living The FIgh Life.