It’s time to get jolly with it! ‘Tis the season to perform your best impression of Clark Griswold—minus overloading your electrical system and electrocuting yourself in the process, of course. 2020 has been a tough year, but it’s the holiday season, and that trumps all.
Decorating for the holidays is especially exciting for people spending their first holiday season in their new homes. There’s no better way to coronate a new home than get the holiday tunes and vibes going. Continue reading to get some home decor tips that’ll help chase away the COVID-19 blues and bring some holiday cheer into your home.
Make sure your electrical system is up to date.
Everyone’s excited about the holiday season, and you may be ready to put up your Christmas tree and enough lights to illuminate a large Christmas village. Still, it’s important to keep safety first. Every holiday season, there are heart-wrenching tales of families losing their homes, and sometimes family members, because of bad electrical wiring or an outdated electrical system.
If you plan to put up an elaborate display of electrically powered Christmas decor, then you should get your electrical system checked first. It’s even more important to have the electrical wiring checked if this is your first Christmas in an older home. Sometimes the wiring in them is no longer even up to code.
One of the benefits of an electric system upgrade is that you’ll have an electrical system capable of efficiently powering modern appliances and electronics. Hooking modern appliances and electrical Christmas decor up to an outdated electrical system exposes you to fire hazards like blown circuit breakers.
Prep the halls before you deck the halls.
Before you start transforming your home into a winter wonderland, spring clean your home. Yeah, it’s winter, but you get the gist. The fact is that because of COVID-19, people have spent a lot more time in their homes over the past months than people usually do during the spring, summer, and fall months. That means your home has been collecting more dirt from being lived in more. When you’re winter cleaning, it’s also a good time to get rid of any worn-out decorations you no longer use.
Start decorating early.
There’s no rule of thumb about decorating in time for Christmas, but consider getting a jump start on your holiday decorating this holiday season, especially if you plan to get a real Christmas tree. The quicker you get the tree home and off the lot, the sooner you can get it home and in a suitable environment. Of course, real trees aren’t chopped down on the spot, and the closer it gets to Christmas, the longer the trees have been out of their natural environment. You can provide a better environment for the tree than most stores do, so the sooner you buy your tree, the better.
Also, you should have your decorations up before you even start doing your Christmas shopping just in case you run out of space to hide gifts and have to start placing them under the tree.
Have a decorating party.
Who says you have to wait until Christmas Day to party? Decorating your new home isn’t just an opportunity to give the home some holiday spirit—it’s a cause for celebration in itself. Create a playlist of hours’ worth of your favorite Christmas music, bake some goodies, have a little wine, and deck the halls.
If you can provide a COVID-19 safe environment, then you should consider inviting some friends over to join the festivities. It’s a great way of getting some extra help with decorating and spending some much-needed quality time with good friends you haven’t seen in a while.
