Merry and Bright

I don't even need to link up to the posts to remind you that your favorite blogger is on a Christmas kick this year (but I will here and here and here).  Hosting a Christmas shower and making a pre-New Year's resolution to be more productive will do that to a girl.  So now that it's December 5th and I'm fully decorated and 2 presents away from being done shopping, let's do the Lowe Down Christmas Decor Rundown!

Let's start with the fireplace, the center of any home.  A little busy, eh?  I think/hope/pray it's a little easier to look at in person.  Of course you see the garland, complete with oversize ornaments and fabulous deco mesh that I did last year.  Hoping to find some lighted garland to replace it for next year.  Then there's a wooden reindeer that my grandmother gave me ages ago because she thought Alli would like it (and the woman has Christmas coming out of her ears, so I doubt she even misses it).  My other grandmother gave me the little Christmas village houses for Alli a few years ago when we were short on decor.  They are really cute and actually buildings from the North Pole - a mail building, a toy factory, etc.  Across the top you can see our Mudpie initial stockings (wish I had blogged last year about all the trouble I went through to get that "A" one...only to find it here in Fayetteville.  Sigh.).  And the stocking holders are reindeer (my favorite Christmas symbol) from Pier One that got a new coat of red spray paint this year (who's ever heard of a brown deer?).

 

Here are the side tables in our living room.  I've updated the photo frame to this year's picture of Alli with Santa (got that done yesterday and avoided the lines, I am on a ROLL).  You can also see empty candy dishes abound.  We can't keep a lot of candy around here because of the dogs.  And me. 

Here's one of my favorite gifts from Christmas-crazy grandma, Santa and his sleigh.  It sits on the coffee table.

Moving into the kitchen, here are some little touches I've added to less-obvious places.  I think it's really the small things that make a house feel festive.  The Christmas tree with the red candles was a gift from my aunt in Finland.

Here is one of my favorite Christmas displays in the house.  You can see the huge hurricanes I got for the the kitchen and added pumpkins to this fall.  Now I've replaced the pumpkins with Christmas balls, topped the hurricanes with Santa hats, updated the framed picture to a fun pic of our kids in their Christmas best, and put up the very special Nativity scene passed on to me after my grandfather died.  As a kid, I always played with this at their house, and as an adult I admired it.  It is the Nativity scene that all others must live up to in my eye.  So I was absolutely beside myself when my grandmother gave it to me after my grandfather passed away.   Ignore the pears, I'm hoping to get a fun, modern tabletop Christmas tree on clearance this year.



Circa Christmas 2006

Now, on to the three Christmas trees that grace Chateau de Lowe this year.  Here's the "fun" Christmas tree in the guest bedroom, on display in our only front-facing window.  See why I had to replace this kid this year?  What a sad little tree.  It's 6 feet tall and the entire bottom layer sags from the games of my little cats when they were little kittens. 

But, as Ryan said, our Christmas ornaments wait all year to be on display, so just because Mom wants a fancy tree this year doesn't mean they shouldn't get out of the box!  Methinks we will be on the look out for a discount tree after Christmas.  I'm hoping for a non-green one.  You know how I am about weird decor.  Look for a later post to detail some of my favorite sentimental ornaments on this tree.

I surprised Princess Alli with her very own pink and purple Christmas tree in her room.  She quickly moved the purple ornaments aside to display her newest ornaments:  a bulldog from my aunt and grandma, a pink pig from Grandma Christmas, and a flamingo from our family vacation to Myrtle Beach this summer.

And now, my pride and joy after years of wanting my very own tree!  How pretty is this?  First of all, we got a brand new 7.5' tree.  You can see I used the deco mesh as garland and bough about $20,000 worth of ornaments from local decor store Signed Sealed Delivered.  It still felt plain to me, but once I added the picks to the sides and top, the whole thing popped!  I am so in love with this tree.   This year, I am getting more comfortable working with the mesh, so I am thinking next year I will do the more chain-like look with it (those who know what I mean, I might need your help). 

I eventually want a less traditionally colored "done" tree - like pink and orange, or a peacock tree, or the fabulous green and white one I spied at Silks A Bloom in Little Rock.  Until then though, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

This post is dedicated to my beloved Grandaddy who died two years ago today (with his Christmas decor up and his shopping done).  He loved Christmas like a child and always made it special for me.  Love and miss you always.