You’ve heard the expression, “home is where the heart is.” There’s a whole world out there that can tug and tug and tug at you. And even if you find all that tugging invigorating, it’s important to have a place that you can call home, hang your heart and simply take a break.

That can be especially true during the holiday season when there are a dozen additional things to do each day to make everything extra special. The tugging and rushing and “gotta dos” can be overwhelming.

When it comes to decorating your home for the holidays, you can make it easier on yourself by decorating with the color white. White simplifies things because it’s a neutral and can go with any color scheme. It creates a calm and serene environment that invites you to rest and relax and really enjoy your home. It’s often a color associated with purity or innocence thus, at Christmas it can symbolize the purity of Christ’s birth. It can also stand for cleanliness and beauty and may remind us of the beauty of a winter wonderland. If nothing else, white can provide a simple and charming elegance to our homes without all the frou-frou of lots of colors and patterns.

When decorating with white, choose a mix of textures through fabrics and hard and soft surfaces along with a mix of shades like creams and ivories. Look for areas in your home that you can dress up with white lights, white poinsettias, white ornaments, white garlands, white throws, and so on. Add some sparkle with silver and gold and other reflective accents.

When your home is transformed with white decorations, the results are enchanting. It simply lifts your heart when you walk through the door after a day of rushing around. It's an ideal color to embrace the spirit of the season. Whether you choose white or a whole other decorating plan this season, the most important goal is to create rooms where you can relax with friends and family and find personal meaning in your celebrations.