It happens every December 27. This is the day that I finally sit back after a month of preparing, decorating, shopping, wrapping, cooking, baking and entertaining and realize just how messy, cluttered and disheveled my house is. It is usually the day that something mysterious overtakes me and I become obsessed with ridding the house of all signs of the Christmas season in an effort to achieve ULTIMATE HOUSE PERFECTION (please read this in your best Masters of the Universe narrator voice).

But this year was different. All year I’ve been making small changes in an attempt to refocus our home on our family and how we live. This year on December 27th I didn’t find myself in a cleaning whirlwind. Instead, I found myself in pajamas, eating leftover cheesecake (chocolate caramel, of course), watching Netflix and playing games with my family.

This year’s Christmas decorations were far less and only included our favourites. The kids got their very own tree in the family room that was loaded with ALL the ornaments and lots of colourful lights – they thought it was the best. We also had a small tree tree in the living room with some of our vintage bulbs and white lights- I thought it was the best.

I baked but only made three batches of treats. Neighbours, teachers and friends all received the same gift – boxed paper whites.

The decorations did eventually get taken down. But not until January 6th. This is the longest I’ve ever left them up. To be honest, it wasn’t the worst thing ever. Since I really loved how we decorated I didn’t get tired of it all like in the past. Having less was so freeing. Another key component of our relaxed season was learning to let things go. Christmas wasn’t perfect. There was sickness, sibling rivalry and more than one batch of burnt cookies. But I’ll take real and imperfect over staged any day!

Which is why I’m excited that home decor trends are finally feeling more authentic and less carefully curated. When I look at a design magazine or website I want to see rooms that are filled with the personality of the people who live in them, not some carefully staged reproduction of family life. I want the fridge with fingerprints, the gallery wall with the quirky memorabilia and the kids rooms that actually look like real kids sleep there. So here’s to a 2018 full of the imperfect, the unstaged and homes that share the stories of the people who live there.

Happy New Year and Happy Hunting!