{ home } Christmas decorating

I know, it's not even Thanksgiving.  But let's be fair;  everything takes me extra time these days, so I might as well start before I get behind the ball completely.  And there are no outside decs yet.  And the tree isn't up (more on that later.)  The holiday is just trickling in, so to speak.  We're not blasting holiday music.  Yet.

I've hung ornaments from my kitchen curtains with ribbon.

And brought out the greenery.  This year I wanted to switch all the red I've used forever with some blues and greens. I didn't get rid of any of my old stuff -- I'll reuse most of it downstairs in the man cave.

It helps to discuss Important Things like New Christmas Color Schemes with your friends, because they might happen upon 30 peacock blue glass ornaments at a garage sale and pick them up for 50 cents.  Thank you, Jenn.

Or they might call to tell you about all the teal and blue ornaments at a dollar store in town.  Thank you, Michelle.

I stuffed some 2008 clearance chartreuse poinsettias and berries into my old standby pot-o-greens and wrapped a  ribbon around the lampshade. Woohoo!  Festive.

As for the tree.  If you have ever wondered how long it would take two adults to remove every light from a full 10' pre-lit tree, wonder no more!  Six man hours.  I know this because that is how hubs and I spent our Sunday afternoon.  Our 5-year old tree had only 1 of the 9 strands working, so we decided to cut them all out. Talk about quality together time.

We thought we'd celebrate by putting new lights on the old beauty.  So we left the top off, since it's kind of heavy, and we'll wait until we have lights on it before we stick it on the top.  That's right.  The top of my (now, light-less) Christmas tree is on the floor in my living room.  Because nothing says Let's Celebrate the Blessings of the Season like dime store decorations and a decapitated artificial douglas fir. 

Before you know it we'll have a leg lamp in the front window. 

You think I'm kidding.

Comments

[nikko]

Ah yes, the leg lamp. :o) Time to get out "Christmas Story" so DH and I can laugh hysterically till tears run down our cheeks and the boys can look at us like we're loony!

I haven't even begun to think about decorating for Christmas yet. To be honest, the Halloween stuff just barely made it up to the attic this past weekend and I put up my little pilgrim couple on the mantle this morning!

[Jade]

woman. i am just getting some thanksgiving items up and there you go. hmph. so i guess i should get started on christmas since i only have about 30 minutes to myself each day. and i've been thinking about changing up the colors too... i'm thinking pinks, blues, and greens. my stockings won't match, which will give me anxiety, but we'll see...

[Lia]

Wow. You are on the ball. I'm beginning to wonder if I'm ever going to get anything done in time for Christmas!

[Lera]

I just tuned the XM radio to the Christmas station. It doesn't even seem like Christmas is coming. And it's making me terribly nervous that I have no care in the world about it.

We had some pre-lit lights go out, but I just put up new lights. Well, actually, I always put up more lights anyway, with or without the cooperation of the pre-lit. I did not cut them out. They are masked by the millions of ornaments the kids put on them. (It's the kids' tree.)

I'm hoping our tree is okay this year. It was in the basement when we had the sewage backup in the summer ...

[Autum]

Festive indeed! I love your wreath!!

[Liz]

Just say no to the leg lamp. Then again, it might look nice down in the man cave...

[laeroport]

oh, you're funny. :)
I have driven past two houses with full-on Christmas decorations already. One was a veritable fiesta of lights, complete with fake deer and santa, the other was a tree up in the front window all ablaze. I must stay, they both brought out my inner Scrooge. But your color scheme is lovely. :)

[mary smith]

You are inspiring me to get started!!

[Online Colleges]

Cute decorations. I love the idea of hanging ornaments from ribbon; I might just have to try it.

[Nicole]

Hi there,

I was wondering where you got the lamp from that is in the picture? I am head over heels in love with it and have been looking for something like it for what feels like an eternity. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

P.S. My husband and I own the "leg lamp" nightlight and I keep it plugged in year round. It is cute as ever and doesn't come off as tacky.

[Jeannine]

I feel silly, but I was going to ask where you got your couch? Love it, and wondered whether those were slipcovered. If not, how in the world do you keep it clean with three children. Hope you don't think this is too personal. Your house is lovely.

[chris carleton]

Jeannine, you make me laugh!   Thank you! 

It is slipcovered, it is the Pottery Barn Basic sofa, in brushed natural white canvas.  It gets washed a lot -- maybe every 8 weeks or so.  Believe me it does get dirty!!  One nice thing is that all of the cushions flip over, so there is always the other clean side in-between washings. ;)

I think JCP is offering a similar sofa these days, too...

xoxo
C.

[julia]

You and I should pool our ornaments...We have the same taste in colors. We just decorated our tree over the weekend. If my husband would let me, I think I'd decorate starting on Halloween. Wink.

Your house looks so, so, so beautiful.