Christmas decor

allwildgirl

allwildgirl

Cathlete
I don't usually do much more than put up a tree, but for some reason, this year I'm feeling inspired to do more. That being said, I have no idea where to start!

What do you do? Do you go all out or just do minimal decorations? What kinds of things do you use?

Oh, and I mean inside the house. Outside we always do nice lights through all our bushes in the front of the house and I'm happy with that.

Thanks for any input!
 
I usually just do a tree too but this year I bought some Xmas rugs and a nice table runner for my dining room. I also bought some cute place mats for my kitchen and I put some greenery on my chandelier in my DR. I bought a magazine called Christmas Ideas at Lowes. It was a special edition from Better Homes and Gardens. It had a lot of neat ideas for a non crafty person like myself.
LD
 
Hey Shelley,

It sounds like you've been bitten by a pixie this year :7

I like to decorate with things from nature -- birds, fruit, evergreen sprigs -- things like that. Decorations are restricted to my living room, entry, and family room.

I put a fruit topiary in my entry. The living room is decorated with a couple of table top trees -- an antique feather tree with antique glass birds, and another tree with berry sprigs, pine cones, and lights. I have a small collection of snow babies and antique Christmas boxes that I put out.

The family room is decked out with vintage ornaments. Bottle brush trees that I found in antique shops line my fireplace mantle, and I have a small feather tree that I decorate with plush snowmen and those goofy felt elves.

That's pretty much it. I'm sure whatever you do will be lovely. Of course, we'll want to see pictures :)

I almost forgot -- I fill crystal and pewter bowls with vintage glass ornaments and set them around.
 
Hi Shelley,
My family all thinks I need to be institutionalized because I put up 17 Christmas trees. I have one in every room each with a different theme. My dog actually has one in the laundry room full of Golden Retriever ornaments. It takes about 2 days to get them all up but I love it when the house is all decorated. Some of the themes are golf, a wine tree, my teacher tree (I teach preschool and gets lots of ornaments:) ), and a Michigan State tree to name a few.
It makes it fun to shop because now I love to look for ornaments at places.
It becomes very addictive:)
Laura
 
i have a few mini wreaths i put up(about the size of a saucer plate). we do some garlad around the doorways and this year i took all the cards i saved and put them on string and used them as garlad around my kitchen doorway and some on a blank wall in my dining area. it doesn't take much since i live in a small place. this year we also have a train to put under the tree but i don't have batteries for it yet so its just sittin' pretty! and i have a wreath on my front door that i made out of mini ball ornaments i don't use anymore and some ribbon. micheal's or any craft store have blank wreaths that you can just recycle some old ornaments into a new decoration.

kassia
 
We do just the tree, but sometimes (if I feel like it), I'll get greens and holly from trees in the neighborhood and put them on the mantel with a string of lights scattered through them. I put the xmas cards we get on them, and maybe some old ornaments (DH has some cool elf ones from when he was a kid.) That's about the most I can muster...I'm no Martha Stewart, I tell you.
 
Inside we usually have a tree as well as garland and lights on our bannisters. We also have a really nice manger set that we put out as well as a few other little things. However, this year we have something we haven't in the past....an 8 month old puppy, so I'm not sure what kind of things we'll have up this year!
 
Shelley,

I usually decorate the room where the Christmas tree is placed. This year, due to puppy woes, I put the tree in the dining room. I decorated the table with festive placemats. I also put miscellaneous nutcrackers and Christmas nick nacks on my buffet. I usually go totally Griswald outside. Saturday, I saw this idea on NBC Today show...I unfortunately had tossed most of my tomato cages this year but I will save them next year...

1 Tomato plant cage
Wire
2 Evergreen garlands (9 foot)
1 50-light strand
Christmas tree decorations
Instructions:

1. Turn cage upright with the 3 prongs on top.

2. Wrap a wire around the prongs to secure, it now should look like a wire teepee.

3. You can add additional wire between the circled rungs of the tomato cage to help hold the garland.

4. Wrap and secure ("I used small amount of green flower wire to secure each section") garland around the cage and shape it until it resembles an artifical tree.

5. Add the lights and decorations to your miniature Christmas tree.

Optional - you can affix your tree to any kind of stand,column or flower pot for height.
 
My daughter thinks I've become a scrooge because DH and I no longer put up outside lights or a Christmas tree. Both my children are married now and have very young kids, so they put up a tree and we go to one of their houses for our family gathering. I thought I would miss decorating our house, but, frankly, it's quite a relief. Maybe if I didn't work full-time, I would feel differently. DH and I do stockings for each other, display our Christmas cards, put up a few figurines here and there and that's it. This way, I have time to do things like attend a Christmas concert or two.
 
>My daughter thinks I've become a scrooge because DH and I no
>longer put up outside lights or a Christmas tree. Both my
>children are married now and have very young kids, so they put
>up a tree and we go to one of their houses for our family
>gathering. I thought I would miss decorating our house, but,
>frankly, it's quite a relief. Maybe if I didn't work
>full-time, I would feel differently. DH and I do stockings for
>each other, display our Christmas cards, put up a few
>figurines here and there and that's it. This way, I have time
>to do things like attend a Christmas concert or two.

Melrose, I know what you mean. We don't fuss with a big tree anymore. My tabletop trees are stored fully decorated, so all I have to do is pull them out of the closet and plug them in :7
 
Ah yes, I did the table top tree this year. It's been a really crappy year so I thought I'd pull the tree out and hope to lessen the gloom. I also hung a wreath on the door, one my mom made back when she was up to such things.
 
Well, all I did was put a little arrangement on my coffee table. But let me give you some examples of what my mother does. She goes all out, even though it's just her and Dad in the house. She's a holiday nut.

Outside: lights all over the house and shrubs. An older artificial tree with lights on the porch, along with a plastic snowman in the yard and some other sort of arrangement on her flower cart. I can't remember what all she put on it. She also hangs wreaths on either side of the garage, and the front window of the house.

Inside:
Living room: A big tree, of course. Greenery and candles in the window sills and draped over doorways, etc. (Most of her greenery is artificial). Christmas slipcovers on all the pillows on the couch. A couple of tabletop nativity scenes and wind-up music thingies on the coffee and end tables. A snowman hanging on the wall, or sometimes she drapes it over the back of the couch. She hangs Christmas cards around a doorway as she gets them.

Kitchen - holiday placemats on the bar and table. Christmas dishes used at every meal. Christmas cookie cannisters, hand towels and dish cloths.

Bathroom - Christmas hand towels

Windows - those plastic sticky things, .... oh, you know, you can stick them on the windows and make little Christmas scenes with them - snowflakes, trees, Santa and his reindeer... lots of fun when we were kids!

I strongly suspect I'm missing a few things, but you get the idea.
 
I dig a moat and fill it with red & green M&M's. I also put an "attack santa" to guard said moat.


Debbie


Google. It is there for a reason.
 
Well darn. I'm just like Shannon's mom. :+

Besides the tree, I have tablecloths/runners on all tables. I have Xmas towels in the kitchen & bathroom. I have mistletoe in every doorway (real mistletoe is a must, ya know!). I have the fake green garland w/colored lights on banisters, over doorways, along counters, etc.

I also have a ton of tabletop stuff. Candleholders, Santas, lighted glass trees, the list goes on & on.

Outside nothing fancy b/c I'm too short & tired to do that crap myself. I have a fake green wreath w/colored lights I hang on my front door.

One thing I've done every year since I moved out of my dad's is have a tree trimming party. Some years it's a bash, some years it's just close friends & family. But the point of the party is everyone has to bring an ornament. I've collected some really nice stuff over the years.
 
>I dig a moat and fill it with red & green M&M's. I also put
>an "attack santa" to guard said moat.
>
>
>Debbie
>
>
>Google. It is there for a reason.

What, no red M&Ms? You are such a grinch. }(
 
<I dig a moat and fill it with red & green M&M's. I also put an "attack santa" to guard said moat.>

Dives head first into Debbie's moat, evading secret attack Santa!
 
I am sure that every year I will add a little more now that we are a bit settled. This year I have a wreath next to the front door (there's a place to hang it to the right of the door but not on the door itself). I also have a wreath over the mantel and stockings hung along the mantel. My mantel happens to be in the kitchen over my stove (the stockings are hung to either side of the stove part so they don't catch fire) because that's the only mantel I have. I also run a garland up my stairway and along the balcony by the stairs and tie little wine-red bows along it. I put the garland on the bottom--twisting in and out of the railing--but not on the banister itself since my kids need to hang on to the banister going up and down.

My stepmom was my example of awesome Christmas decor. She has the "Christmas village" setup with lots of little lit-up houses and lays cotton around them like snow. She also has an extra little tree with special engraved ornaments for all the kids and grandkids. She also does plenty of candles and greenery all over the house. I love Christmas with her. Unfortunately she can't cook worth a darn but she makes some great wassail at least, which adds to the wonderful Christmas smell of her house.

[font face="comic sans ms" font color=purple]***Lainie***
My fitness blog: http://fitnessfig.blogspot.com/ http://bestsmileys.com/exercising/7.gif[/font]
 
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