We love the holidays, but all the extra stuff—gifts, decorations, and clutter on every surface—can start to feel overwhelming. In this episode we talk about how we’re approaching the season more simply so we can keep the joy alive. One frequent listener question is “help me pinpoint my style—I’m all over the place!” We walk through exactly how we narrow things down when multiple decorating directions pull us in different ways (this happens more than you might think). Sherry also revisits a controversial opinion she shared last week, and John announces a personal crackdown on screen time.
You can download this episode from Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, and TuneIn Radio — or listen to it using the embedded player below. Use this page to find any links, notes, or photos we mentioned. Note: If you’re reading in a feed reader, you may need to click through to the post to see the player.
What’s New
- This year we aimed to simplify our holiday look. In the photo above you can see Sherry’s faux magnolia garland she found earlier in the year, stockings she bought at Target last season, and an elephant chain from World Market that she cut into little stocking tassels. The overall approach is to pick a few meaningful pieces and let them shine rather than layering on more and more decor.
- I’ve been using the Moment app to monitor and reduce my phone usage. Below you’ll find screenshots showing recent tracking; the gray timeline dots on the right indicate short “pickups.” The app helped me notice habits and cut down distracted screen time.
- The “Bored & Brilliant” course I followed via the Moment app is also available as a book and a podcast series if you prefer those formats.
Updates
- If you want a deeper dive on “lamping” and its technical meaning, listen to our original conversation in Episode #71, which also links to informal definitions on Urban Dictionary and other slang sites.
- Episode #64 covers how we paid off our mortgage, which we referenced in today’s discussion and is worth revisiting if you’re interested in that process.
- Last week’s Episode #74 included Sherry’s passionate plea to preserve older houses and a conversation about foundation issues to help de-stigmatize them during a real estate search.
We’re Digging
- The photo above also shows our new Amazon Echo. I bought one on Black Friday with birthday gift cards and added an inexpensive smart plug as an add-on. We used the plug on our Christmas tree, and you can see it in action in an Instagram video we posted. The Echo ended up being a great fit because we use it for music a lot; it has a strong speaker for its size and a wide range of available skills.
- For nostalgic kids’ gifts, we found affordable boxed sets of classic series like Goosebumps, Boxcar Children, and The Babysitter’s Club—good options if you want to give reading classics rather than more toys.
If you’re trying to find something we mentioned in a past episode but can’t remember which show notes to open, we’ve compiled a master list of everything we’ve recommended from previous episodes to make it easy to track down those items and topics.
Finally, a thank you to The Annie Selke Companies for sponsoring this episode. Use the code YHL15 to get 15% off orders at AnnieSelke.com/YHL on bedding, rugs, and home goods.
Thanks for listening!
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