When it comes to decorating her home for Christmas, Joanna Gaines goes all out. But by December 30, the Magnolia founder faces the bittersweet task of packing away the ornaments.
The Fixer Upper star took to Instagram on Tuesday to document the process of taking down the Christmas decorations in her home. In the video, Joanna films her kitchen surfaces, finished in white marble and gray slate, as well as the wooden coffee tables in her living room, all piled with gold, green, and colorful ornaments that had been removed from the tree.
At the end of the clip, Joanna pans to her towering fir tree, positioned at the center of her wood-adorned living room, now stripped of its decorations and softly illuminated by warm-toned fairy lights.
© Getty ImagesIn the caption, she penned: "Packing up our collection of ornaments that go on the family tree – twenty five years of stories and memories. We are going to miss this beautiful tree. I like starting the new year off with a clean slate so we're taking the big tree down tomorrow so the goats can have their annual holiday feast on the farm."
Joanna lives in a 1,700-square-foot Victorian home in Crawford, Texas, a suburb of Waco, that sits on 40 acres so has more than enough space to house her large family, which includes her husband, Chip, and their five children Drake, Duke, Ella Rose, Emmie Kay, and Crew.
Before Christmas Day, Joanna documented her daughter Ella's anticipated return home for the holiday. The video showed Ella walking along the pathway, suitcases in hand, toward her Waco, Texas home, which was adorned with twinkling exterior Christmas lights casting a warm glow.
Ella left home for her freshman year in August, in a move that the Fixer Upper star shared was particularly emotional for her. BACP-accredited therapist Billie Dunlevy spoke to us about empty nest syndrome and how this relates to Joanna's current situation. "Many parents, particularly women as they are often the primary carers, feel grief and a profound sense of loss when their remaining child or children move out," they explained.
© Lisa Petrole for Magnolia Journal"Some parents can experience a loss of purpose, an identity crisis and an increase in anxiety or depression."
BACP-registered counsellor Georgina Sturmer adds that an empty nest can feel isolating: "Our homes feel quieter and we might feel as if we have left behind. It’s a reminder that we are moving through life and getting older. Our sense of purpose might feel diminished and our sense of identity can hang in the balance."
© Nick KelleyWhile the family spent the festive season in Texas, earlier this month, the Magnolia founder and her husband Chip Gaines premiered an all new Fixer Upper series, Fixer Upper: Colorado Mountain House, in which they took on the challenge of remodelling their very first out-of-state home, a 1960s Colorado mountain home.
"Over the last decade, Colorado has become a home away from home for our family. Between yearly ski trips and spring break getaways, we fell in love with the mountains, the rivers, and the abundance of fresh air," she wrote.
"As @chipgaines is known to do, he started looking at real estate — casually — until he stumbled upon this house nestled in the Rocky Mountains. From the moment we pulled into the long driveway, it immediately felt like we'd found far more than what we'd been looking for. It had good bones, the right square footage, but mostly, it felt like a home away from home. While we knew that saying 'yes' to a major renovation project outside of Texas (our first!) would require being stretched beyond our comfort zone, we had a feeling taking on this fixer upper would be worth it in the end," Joanna concluded.
