Wonderful Christmas Time

Can you believe it is already December 2nd and I haven’t posted one thing about Christmas yet!?!  I know, it’s unbelievable.  Well, I am here to rectify this situation with the big reveal of my Christmas tree!  I haven’t visited the blog much lately, but I’ve been busy working my magic behind the scenes on Christmas decorations and crafts. 

I actually started decorating for Christmas before Thanksgiving this year (eek!) but we had to wait until after Turkey Day to get our tree or else the Thanksgiving sanctity police (AKA Michael) were gonna put me away. :)  Anyway, the tree is up and here it is:

It is hard to think of new creative things to do with the tree each year that don’t involve buying all new decorations and lights… so I decided to once again switch up the ribbon on the tree.  Last year I used gold mesh ribbon and the year before I had red beads.  I like the red ribbon so much more!  I got a new tree stand and to accommodate it I had to cut off a lot more branches from the bottom of my tree.  Good for wreaths, bad for tree.  I’m still filling in the space beneath with presents.  By Christmas Eve I’ll be glad for the extra room!

There’s something else new under the tree this year, a little red sleigh:

Papa has been busy building sleighs this year and here is mine!  It’s holding a few gifts, as well, and taking up some more of the too-much space under the tree. :) 

The tree is the star of the show, but here’s the rest of the room:

I put my cranberry trees in the mercury glass pots that I got for Christmas last year.  They are tres fancy.

And my couch is sporting a couple of new pillows, too!  I made them for my sister, but before they were delivered, I “borrowed” them for my blog photos.  Sneaky, huh?

I love them.  I want to steal them.  Barring that, I’ll have to settle for making a set of my own.  They are green and cream felt.  I printed the template for the snowflake one from BHG.  (They have a bunch of good holiday ideas with felt!)  You can’t really tell from this picture, but I sewed all the way around the snowflakes instead of gluing them on.  It was annoying, and took forever.  But, it’s pretty! :)

For this one, I borrowed an idea from Pottery Barn and applied it to a pillow.  I love it especially.  I’m thinking I’ll have to whip up something for my den couch, too. :)

I brought back the plaid topper and Santa over on the console cabinet and spruced it up with some greenery and pinecones.  I would have added lights, but 1) I have no lights left and 2) the outlet is behind the cabinet, so I would never plug them in.  Just imagine there are lights. :)

To finish off the space, I hung my garland on the railing and added shiny ornaments and bows.  Let’s just ignore the fact that I hit my head on this all the time while coming up the stairs and trying not to trip on the puppy/kitty. 

Here’s the view from the foyer:

I’m sure you’re wondering how I hit my head on this… well, trust me, anything is possible if you try hard enough. :) 

It’s all so much prettier after dark…

Come on over one night and I’ll fix us a cup of hot cocoa and we’ll sit and stare at the tree.  :)  Ahhh, Christmas…