6. When do you put up your decorations?
Most years we start decorating as soon as the Thanksgiving dishes are put away. A couple of times in the past few years, I've decorated before Thanksgiving, and that is AWESOME! I always feel a bit guilty about it, but it is really nice to have some extra time to enjoy them. This year, I wanted to start early, and I 'proclaimed' that whatever wasn't put out before the bird was in the oven wasn't going to be done. Chicken Little and I slaved over the house and tree for the two days before Thanksgiving, and by the time the bird was out of the oven we were done. LOVE being finished already!!!
And that makes the perfect intro to the holiday house tour! :-) It may not look like it, but I really did try to simplify this year. We really only festive-ied the living room, dining room and kitchen. Ch-ch-ch-check it out...
Always, the Nativity is the first thing I set up. This year, it's sitting on top of a cabinet in the living room. The lights look a bit trailer-park in the picture, but trust me, when the lights in the room are dim, it really is pretty.
Next, I just did a couple of things on the tables - books, ornaments, and then the reindeer in the top photo is sitting on the chest in our entry way to hold the Christmas cards.
I had a vision for the dining room, and it came out PERFECT! Once I unearthed the reindeer and glued the antlers back on (bummer!), it took about 5 minutes. Simple, easy and pretty! L.O.V.E.
And we're walking....walking...walking... into the living room.
We hang the stockings on the hall tree because our mantle is pretty small.
Aren't these wooden shoes wonderful?! Chicken Little's great aunt (? - not sure if that's the right designation, but you get the idea) painted these for us when CL was just a toddler.
Just keepin' it simple. (right....)
I like my traditional hodge-podgey tree with a million-billion ornaments, bubble lights, and lights of every color. It's my favorite! (Yes, that's a peacock at the top - stay tuned for more about him in a future post.)
And we're walking.... walking...into the kitchen.
These shelves have been empty all year - I never got around to putting the dishes back in them after last Christmas! So, all my little holiday folks just hopped right back up there like they never left.
On the table, I kept the same hurricanes and burlap runner we had at Thanksgiving (maybe I'll play catch up later this week and show you some of those pictures). I also had pumpkins out, so I replaced those with Santa and some trees... et voila!
C'est fini! I'm done! (As usual, Lola cannot be bothered with any of it.)
So that's it! Today I just wanted to give you the quick tour. Later in the week, I've got a couple of 'detail' photos to share of the tree, mantle and dining room decorations up-close-and-personal.
Have you finished all of your decorating yet? Are you getting excited? I am! I'm thrilled that I have this entire month off of work, so that I can take some time to really enjoy this holiday. What a blessing!
Linking up EVERYWHERE: here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
Always, the Nativity is the first thing I set up. This year, it's sitting on top of a cabinet in the living room. The lights look a bit trailer-park in the picture, but trust me, when the lights in the room are dim, it really is pretty.
We hang the stockings on the hall tree because our mantle is pretty small.
Aren't these wooden shoes wonderful?! Chicken Little's great aunt (? - not sure if that's the right designation, but you get the idea) painted these for us when CL was just a toddler.
Just keepin' it simple. (right....)
These shelves have been empty all year - I never got around to putting the dishes back in them after last Christmas! So, all my little holiday folks just hopped right back up there like they never left.
