Christmas Decorating

 

Boy, I had planned to get back to this little series of posts about Christmas decor but somehow life got in the way! We are expected our daughter and her boyfriend in just a few days, so I'm scurrying like a little beaver (actually more like a SQUIRREL!) as I try to finish up a number of class projects before they arrive. And of course I need to finish shopping, cleaning, and hopefully do a little baking!

 So back to the Christmas trees! In my recent Feline Friday post, I shared some photos of our old dining room tree. Lily knocked that tree over so many times that it was getting pretty bedraggled, so this year we decided to replace it. Spouse found a very nice pre-lit small tree at Hobby Lobby at a good price. Although it's the same height, it's a little bit narrower than the old tree. I love the tree but am going to keep a close eye on the lights, after our recent "fire" scare with our big pre-lit tree!

I put this new tree in the dining room in front of the bay window. I really like having it there because the lights look really pretty from the street. Since Lily is much better behaved these days, I can safely put my grandma's old mercury glass ornaments on this tree.

This year, I kept with the gold/silver/copper color scheme which works well since I have a lot of ornaments in those colors! To fill in around Grandma's ornaments, I added a few mercury glass ornaments that I picked up on the cheap at a garage sale last year. The gal hosting the sale was GOING TO THROW THEM AWAY and offered them to me, so how could I refuse? LOL

 Speaking of the old dining room tree, I decided that it could be deconstructed and still used. In fact, the top of the tree was in perfect condition -- undamaged by little white paws -- so I poked it down into a metal bucket. This worked great and now I have a small tree for the hearth! (Not that I needed more trees...) The only "ornaments" are pine cones from a recent visit to Texas.

 

In addition to the top of the tree, many of the branches from the old dining room tree are still in pretty good shape so I've used them as "greenery" around the house. I see no reason to throw out the tree when it clearly has more life in it...transformed!

Moving on to another tree! I have a 4 foot pencil tree on the landing. Over the years, this tree has had various themes. This year it holds a set of old world Santa Clauses given to us by Spouse's parents many years ago.

I filled in with some inexpensive red balls and silver "bell" balls, as well as some snowflakes punched from white cardstock.

I have a second pencil tree in the living room next to my grandma's old desk. The decorations also vary but this year I used more mercury glass ornaments in reds and blues to match the decor in that room.

My grandma's desk is one of my most treasured possessions. When I was growing up, we went to her house for Sunday lunch almost every week and after the meal was over, I was allowed to color and draw pictures at her desk. After she passed away, my parents had the desk refinished for me to keep. The typewriter is also very special and belonged to Spouse and his family.

On the desk you'll find my old camping lantern and a small shadow box I made this year. I really don't need any more Christmas decor but sometimes I just can't help myself! I had a lot of fun putting this little box together using some Christmas goodies from Tim Holtz.

The old calendar and snowman came from my grandma's house. I actually found them in a tub out in my parents' garden shed as I was preparing for their auction. Mom had brought home a lot of treasures from Grandma's house but didn't have a chance to sort through them all before she passed away. Finding treasures such as these brought me great joy and now I enjoy getting them out each year.

In the next few days I hope to share a few more Christmas decor and crafting posts! Thank you all for stopping by and I wish you the merriest of holidays!

jp