A Scrooge No More

Until earlier this week, I had always been a Scrooge about Christmas.  Oh sure, I loved it when I was little just like the rest of you.  But for some reason, I have always preferred Thanksgiving as an adult.  I just don't like redecorating my house, shopping with crowds, spending lots of money on other people, and stressing about what to get everyone.  But some time at the beginning of this week, all of that changed.  I committed to Christmas!  Ryan showed up at our house with two 3 foot light up reindeer, Alli's eyes lit up, and that was the end of it.  We added peppermints and plan to light the whole house tomorrow.

So this weekend, I spent a  LOT of time in the frou frou Little Rock decor stores my mother and I adore - such as Silks-A-Bloom, Phoenix Interiors, Austin's, Claybourne's, and Pazzazz.  And I was bombarded with the over-the-top Christmas decorations that  I love, envy, and assumed I could never afford.  Until...I noticed they were selling everything you needed to make all of it.  And it wasn't that expensive.  So I bought some large ornaments, about $5 each, some swag, and 10 yards of the floral decor mesh and thought I'd give it a try.  Below is the end result, hanging on my mom's door.

Pretty awesome, huh?  The wreath itself was half off at Hobby Lobby.  I wound the decor mesh through it, added the ornaments, made the bow, and voila!  They sell these wreaths for $250-300, and I made this one for just under $100.  Not half bad!  So of course I went back and spent another hundred, because one is never enough, and made this little beauty:

I don't think that one is quite done, but it's close.  It will hang on the window behind the reindeer.  And I still have enough leftover to do garland over our fireplace!  I am so excited to get back home and finish decorating!  More pics to come, I hope, if the fireplace turns out as well as the wreaths!