it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…
My place is not a show house at Christmas time. I tend to go the sentimental route rather than ‘show stopper’. It’s not that I don’t want it to be beautiful, I’m just too darned attached to things from the past and their stories, for me to move on without them. I always threaten to not open my dusty old boxes one year and instead go for drama and stylish new glam, but it never happens. And to be honest, it likely never will.
Anyway, here are a few little tidbits from my house to yours that I thought might get the juices flowing if you’re a little dry on decorating at the moment. After all, it’s the little things that count at this overblown time of year….
Some ornaments are heavy for the tree and so I like to put them in my many (too many!) glass or creamware compotes.
I found adorable myrtle topiary at the Chinese flower store in Toronto and topped the soil with cranberries. So sweet.
I tie ribbons around the necks of most of my table lamps. Just a little trick but looks festive.
I also tie bits of ribbon around any of my favourite feathered friends. They seem to like looking festive too.
Here is our Santa collection to date…kids love it.
Over the last few years I’ve bought some over sized mercury balls. They just seem to fill in the blanks so easily.
I load my best silver tray in the middle of my dining table with all things sparkly glass and silver. The felt snowflake placemats are my favourite find this year and you’ll never guess where I found them ~ Wallyworld! (that’s Walmart for short) ~ who’d a guessed it?? Two for $6.00 I think.
Merry Decorating!
Comments
I like to bring a bit of the outdoors inside—evergreen branches in glass vases, and heaps of pine cones in bowls and baskets.
I finally have our non-traditional, eco-friendly tree up, decked out with the ornaments we’ve collected over the years, most of which are handmade.
I tried ‘dyeing’ thistles for my outdoor planter with berry juice, but the colour didn’t last. And now I see some of the birds and squirrels have knocked some of the thistles down, trying to get at the seeds. Oh, the follies of wildlife!
Christmas doesn’t feel the same without the traditions we create year, after year. They’re like that cozy woolen blanket you pull out of the closet soon as the furnace kicks in.
Those cranberry glass ornaments are gorgeous!
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Lovely Blog!
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Sentimental - that would be the word for my family’s Christmas style as well. Having collected ornaments (and having given them yearly to my two sons since before (!) they were born), we’ve amassed a huge variety - from the lovely to the rather kitschy. This year I thought that I would scale it down - especially as we are mid-reno - and pick up some glam colour coordinated unbreakables which wouldn’t break as a piece of window trim got swung around the room.
But upon reflection thought - it just wouldn’t be Christmas without hauling out all the boxes and finding the right places in our new home for the nutcrackers, the mercury glass snowmen, the wreaths, the school crafts, and yes the majority of the ornaments. So throwing caution to contractor winds, we baubled the inside of the house. It was the right decision - when I watched my sons show family friends their ornaments on the tree over the weekend - carefully warning smaller hands to “not touch so much” - I knew that Christmas had arrived.