Christmas Decorating: Old & New

 

 I'm finally back with the second part of my Christmas decorating post. I have a good excuse this time: We've been in Indiana visiting our daughter and attending her last performances before she begins student teaching in January. One of these days I will share some photos from our very fun weekend!

In my first post about my dining room decorating, I mentioned that I changed the color scheme to match a sign I bought at Memory Bound recently. When I bought it, I wasn't sure where I would put it but the china cabinet ended up being the perfect spot for it. I decided to add natural elements to the color scheme, such as pine cones and wood.

Since I shifted to a different color scheme, I decided to put only matching ornaments on the small tree in the dining room. I sorted out all of my gold/silver Shiny Bright ornaments and combined them with other gold ornaments I've used in the past on a smaller tree. This tree has seen better days! As a kitten, Lily knocked it down numerous times. I even tethered it to the windows with fishing line! Thankfully, she is no longer interested in it, so it is safe for my Shiny Bright ornaments!

I mixed old and new ornaments in order to have enough to fill the tree.

In years past, I've put lots of different things on my dining room table. Last year, I put some of my Dickens Village houses down the center. This time I tried something completely different using a combination of old, new, and thrifted items.

I found the wooden trees at a local thrift store for 50 cents! I seriously did not need them but I loved the simple shape. I bought the box/drawer from Memory Bound. Our store owner's daughter re-purposed it and added the pull. I love that it could be used for anything! I initially planned to put greenery in it but couldn't find exactly what I wanted so I decided to fill it with these pine cones instead. I found them in my mom's old Christmas decorations and they work perfectly in the box. I filled the bottom of it with wadded up paper to build it up slightly.

On the left of the photo below is a nut tree I made the Christmas before Bailey was born. It has held up really well and the color is perfect so I brought it out after a multi-year sabbatical! I'm not sure what came over me that year but I made hanging nut balls, too. They sort of look like medieval weapons!

My favorite thing is the little domed piece at the right. I've been seeing so many domes/bell jars this season and love them but they can get pretty pricey. Then I remembered this old cheese plate I had packed away in the basement. The base is made of some weird striped veneer so I opted not to use it. But the dome was the perfect size for the woodland animals I bought in Germany back when I was in college.

At first I put the animals on a plate and covered them with the dome, but it wasn't flat enough, and it looked like they were destined to be someone's dinner! What I really wanted was a piece of wood which I happened to find at Hobby Lobby. This small birch piece fit the dome perfectly and was exactly what I envisioned. Score!

 I bought some small Tim Holtz trees to add to my little scene. I considered dying them but decided to leave them as is because the color seemed perfect. I'm really happy with how this little piece turned out!

Meanwhile, I've been keeping my eye out at thrift stores for another dome of a similar size. I have a tiny wooden village which would be adorable under a dome!

I'm usually not so great with change but I'll admit that it was good to re-think some of my holiday decorations. I was able to use some things which hadn't seen the light of day in many years. Combining those old things with a few new pieces makes everything feel a little bit updated yet still familiar and homey, which is important to me at Christmas.