Our Unique and Simplistic Christmas Decor...the RV Way

There is one thing you need for Christmas decorating that a camper is limited on…

1. SPACE!

You need storage space if you’re going to be traveling around with decorations.  Where are you going to keep ornaments, a tree, stockings, blow ups, nativities, and more? You need an area to put up your tree, stockings, and other decorations. 

This is our third Christmas celebrated in our camper and our first in our upgraded camper. Even though we have more room, our living space is precious to us. Putting up a traditional tree inside the camper is out of the question. There’s no place we could put it that it wouldn’t be in front of or blocking something. We can’t rearrange the furniture like your house furnishings, so we decided to continue the tradition of putting up our Christmas tree outside in front of our camper. I like this placement better than putting it up inside anyway because now others can enjoy our decorations too. 

Setting up a tree outside, isn’t for everyone. We’re in south Florida where the temperature has been in the 70s – 80s on Christmas. People celebrating Christmas with a three foot deep blanket of snow surrounding their camper probably don’t want to spend time setting up and decorating a tree outside, much less open Christmas presents outside. There are people that choose to put a Christmas tree inside. Some have pop up trees, but I believe most have small trees that usually go on the dining table.

We buy a once-alive tree so we don’t have store a fake tree for the rest of the year. This year, we have an extra outdoor plug close to the front of the camper so we were able to light up the tree including our star topper. I love it! We haven’t done that in the past. All the ornaments I purchase (or make with the kids) are weather-proof and not fragile. I want my little ones to be involved in the decorating process and they like to decorate and redecorate many times before Christmas comes. Like I said before, we are loving the outdoor speakers. It was nice to sing along with beautiful Christmas songs while decorating our tree together. It’s a great way to get you in the Christmas spirit.

Our Christmas tree is our main decoration outside, but we also have a small post that we hang seasonal flags on and a wreath on our door made from once-alive tree branches. Our first year, I bought giant clear plastic snowflakes that I hung from our awning with S hooks along with our large ball lights. I wish I had a picture of it, because it really was a pretty site, but it didn’t last long. Being in Florida, we can have very windy days. While you can tie down your awning, we’ve never felt comfortable doing that. We’ve seen way too many awnings break with a big enough wind gust, so we only put our awning out when there is little to no wind and put it up when wind speeds pick up. Thankfully, with our new camper putting the awning in is as simple as pressing a button! Since our awning is constantly being rolled out and in, adding decorations that you have to remove all the time isn’t for us. We talked about getting one of those blow ups of the RV where the door opens and a penguin pops out, but I chose not to for two reasons.

1. Our kids would think they are the blow ups that they get to jump on at those indoor playground areas and it would be a constant battle to keep them away from it. It’s hard enough to keep them out of other people’s yards and away from their decorations. They just get so excited and want to touch, touch, touch!

2. SPACE. I know they don’t take a lot of room, but it does take some and there are other things I’d like to save my space for. (like more books! Yes! I am a children’s book addict. I should attend Children’s Book Addict Anonymous!)

Inside, we used 3M hooks to hang our stockings on the wall. I also use 3M stickers to hang our artwork on the walks. Keep checking back to see more examples of our holiday themed learning and crafts! The only other thing I plan to add is a nativity set. In the past, I’ve had beautiful porcelain scenes, but I’m into making my life easier and adding breakable things my kids aren’t allowed to touch just doesn’t work for me. Don’t worry though, they get plenty of practice “Not Touching” other things, but we have enough of those. No reason to add any more. That said, I still want a nativity, so I’m looking at getting the Melissa& Doug wooden nativity for their room. I don’t mind if they play with it. In fact, if they do, it gives me a great opportunity to retell the story of Jesus’ birth, the reason for the season.

We’ve been fortunate to have good weather on Christmas day the last two years, so we’re hoping our streak continues. In the past, Santa has delivered our gifts right to our tree outside where we crank up the Christmas tunes while we begin the paper ripping process. If we have bad weather that makes this scenario impossible this year or in the future, Santa knows where the extra key is hidden so he can deliver the gifts inside. (wink, wink)

Remember, whether you’re in a house, apartment, or camper, there’s only one right way to decorate your home.

http://rvclassroom.blogspot.com/2015/11/our-unique-and-simplistic-christmas.html

Have you been in the decorating spirit? I'd love to hear how you decorate your camper. Feel free to share your comments here below or find me on Facebook at The Learning Wagon!

God Bless You on Your Learning Journey ~

You can find me at these great Link Ups!