One of our favorite times of year here at Yellow Bungalow is the holiday season and all of the fun, unique holiday decor it brings. Here are some of our favorite decorations and the memories behind them.

Dorian: Garland, Lights & Stockings

One of my favorite ways to decorate for Christmas is by hanging Christmas tree garland with lights all around the house. Growing up, my family would string garland down our staircase, over the mantel, and even over windows. The greenery helps a space feel warm and cozy for the sometimes cold and dreary season and lights really bring out that holiday cheer.

Hanging stockings is another nostalgic way I like to decorate for the holidays. Fun, personalized stockings function as both a festive decoration and a handy holder for extra gifts. The surprise element of waiting to see what's inside your stocking is a fun little activity to look forward to on Christmas day.

Guy: Nativity Scenes

My parents used to build a big nativity village under our tree every Christmas. It would take them at least 2-3 days to build it completely and its size was approximately 10 by 6 feet. It was mostly hand made and built by my mom and dad and it had multiple main “attractions”: a flowing stream running through the length of the village, small lit houses and a windmill (made out of medicine boxes), dozens of Santons de Provence, small hand-painted terracotta figurines produced in France, etc. It even had real greenery: sprouted lentils, beans and chickpeas planted at the beginning of December in little saucers on a bed of cotton wool (it originally symbolized the future harvest). In a way, it was more important than the tree itself.

Knowing that I will not be able to top this Christmas deco, I decided to go a different route with this modern, funky, minimalistic and lazy nativity village. It is produced by a famous Italian design firm called Alessi and both older and newer versions are available on Amazon.

Verena: Porcelain Houses & Milestone Ornaments

I'm obsessed with decorating with porcelain white houses for the holidays. I love these because you can put a candle in them and the windows light up yellow (of course). I think this comes from me spending most of my Christmases in Florida growing up and feeling it was not magical. White houses remind me of a cold, snowy Christmas, in a small village of houses with their fireplace on, all cozy inside. It makes me happy. I love that these are architectural. I also love the vases with the white villages on them and their architectural elements.

Another thing I love is collecting meaningful ornaments every year. These ornaments aren’t “pretty ornaments” per se, but ones that relate to my family’s life. For example, the year Guy got his US citizenship, I got him a US passport ornament that now hangs on our tree and reminds us of that milestone.

Victoria: A Colorful Tree & Fun Ornaments

Growing up, I always loved visiting my grandmother’s house for Christmas. Christmas is her favorite holiday, and when she was younger, she used to create the most elaborate, colorful Christmas trees with a menagerie of ornaments. Last year, when I decorated my own Christmas tree for the first time, I wanted to capture the same spirit.

Some of my favorite additions to my tree include a green dinosaur ornament she gave me years ago (he’s even had surgery for a broken leg over the years), and this year’s newest addition, a grey tabby cat ornament that looks like my cat Quincy. I also hand-painted glass ornaments to add color and fill in empty spaces on the tree.