Oh Christmas Tree part 1

Boy, it feels great to be back and sleeping in my own bed. Don't get me wrong, it was a wonderful trip to Boise; very productive and the hotel room was fantastic but there is no place like home.

I set up the Christmas tree in the master bedroom today and later this week I will show you "J's" tree. His is hodge podge and CRAZY--sorry babe but it is true, where mine is loverly and themed (ahhh..I love order). My tree is fake but I enjoy the ambiance more than I do the scent so I am good with it. I have had this fake tree for almost 8 years now (maybe 9; I can't remember..it's been so long). For years I always did red and gold; it was beautiful but the last two years I have decided to switch it up. This year I went with red, green and white as previously mentioned.

Here is the tree after I finally got the lights on it...

Everything but the tree, the lights and the sprigs of berries I found at the Dollar Tree. I didn't want to do the same as last year and I knew I didn't want to purchase new decorations at full price since I already had an idea for next year's tree so the Dollar Tree was the solution.

Oh a couple are kind of blurry, sorry. I bought 4 tubes of the red and green balls; half were matte with painted snowflakes and the other half were glittered. I then purchased one box of white "curly" ornaments (set of 4). I also found the ribbon at the Dollar Tree. All I did with it was cut sections off (however long or short you want) and just tucked both ends into the "center" of the tree to hide them and to give it the apprearance that I wrapped the tree with the ribbon.

I wasn't sure about these green glittery 3-D snowflakes so I only bought one package (set of 2) but I like them so I will be heading back there tomorrow to find some more.

I also bought these snowflakes and used 2 of them for a different project...

I just kept stuffing ornaments and sprigs of berries until I got my desired look. To top the tree I found this pre-made bow with a cute little bell at the end. It's the perfect topper for my tree this year.

I don't have a tree skirt and I may attempt to make one some day (maybe) so this year I used a tablecloth that is too small for our table. I bought it years ago to fit a smaller table I had but it will suffice for now.

Here it is with the lights out...

I will be back later this week with a new Christmas project. I found it in a magazine this week when I was flying. I'm excited to show you but for now I am going to go enjoy my tree and have a glass of Ho Cho.

A little Christmas cheer

Thanksgiving is over and well quite frankly I am still stuffed. I took advantage of the holiday season and threw caution to the wind and ate all that I could. Next week I will pick myself up, dust myself off and start back on my weight loss journey.

Now for a little Christmas cheer...

I pulled out all of our Christmas decor and soon realized that we need a lot more in order to decorate our new house the way I want. I figured for now I would start putting some items out and hopefully by Christmas the entire house will look like my vision.

First I decided to hang my wreaths. One I made and one my mom made and I can't get enough of them. I think I might make a few more this year and who knows maybe give some as gifts to others.

This one is on our front door...

And this one is on our pantry door...

I had decided that I would decorate in theme this year and when I started pulling out all my treasures I realized that I have a crazy love for Frosty, you know the Snowman. I am not sure what that is all about but he is so lovable that I couldn't leave him in the box. I figured I would decorate my table scape and one of my trees with red, white and green but the rest of the house would be a good mixture of holiday items. Here are some items around our house. The task is not complete and there is still plenty to do, including finishing up the lights outside.

This is above our DVD case, the snowman lights up with fiber optics, sings a Christmas song and the little ice skaters inside skate around the rink. I just placed white Christmas balls around the items that were located there, put up one of my Christmas signs I showed you earlier and pulled out the frosted candles; super easy.

Here is a sign one of my good friends gave me. She also gave me a ton of snowmen too! Isn't it the cutest thing! It is located by the front door to direct traffic to either Santa's Garden or Snowflake Park.

I took the lovely glass vases from the Fall table scape and put the left over Spanish moss inside. The big vase I put more white Christmas bulbs in it and stuck it in the back on our kitchen counter.


Then I added green "pine" scented candles to the other two vases and some garland behind to pull it together. It still needed something...

So I decided to put our small Christmas tree in front of the vases. I put red bows from my tree last year and voila!


This is a black bird cage that we used to hold our cards at our wedding. I stuffed it with white tissue paper, some red Christmas bulbs and my candy cane candle....

Now for the table...it isn't complete yet but it will be soon. Like I said before, decorating for Christmas is a process for me. I have this gigantic tea cup that I used for the centerpiece. Last year it had real poinsettia's in it but this year I decided to do fake. I put a piece of my floral foam into the teacup and started stuffing in poinsettia stems until I reached my desired look.

I got these wine glasses at the Dollar Store; I love the green hue and it will work perfectly with my table scape.

Here is a picture of the whole table (before I found the green wine glasses)...

I found fake snow today that I plan to fill the glass jars with, maybe some glitter confetti also, I need some green and red tissue paper, some green cloth napkins for the cute red napkin rings (they look like Christmas bulbs) and lots and lots of garland and lights.

I will be in Boise, ID all week but shortly after I get back I will show you how I decorate our tree for the master bedroom. I will also show you some more holiday decor (I even have some in the bathrooms).

Advent Calendar

One of my wonderful SIL's (sister in-law) sent me a link for a free advent calendar. I have never had one but always desperately longed for one. There are several floating around blogland that I would just. die. to. have, I mean they are GORGEOUS but I don't have the time this year to pull one off before Dec 1st. This one you can download and print yourself, could it get any easier? I think this will be the way to go this year and then maybe I will attempt a far more extravagant and beautiful version next year.

Here is the link...

http://mibostudio.co.uk/freeadventcalendar

If you are feeling more adventurous and brave then check out these great ideas...

Both of these were found at Martha Stewart.

If you can sew, I cannot-Dang it!, try this one from Better Homes and Gardens. It would be cute on a pantry door, hanging next to the mantle on the fireplace (Oh how I wish I had a fireplace and mantle, someday my dreams will come true), on the back of a chair; there are many options.

In related news (sorta), I have officially pulled out all of the Christmas decorations (well all that I could see or remember having) and the boxes are sitting in the living room awaiting patiently for me to open them and pull out the treasures. Decorating for Christmas is a process for me but I enjoy every minute. I will arrange, then rearrange and maybe even rearrange the items again to find their perfect home for the season. I cannot wait to show you the finished product. Later this week I will showcase some more Christmas/Holiday items; until then enjoy your Thanksgiving with your loved ones and try not to eat so much you are forced into a comatose state. :)