Better Late Than Never...The Christmas Tour

I'm really behind in showing you my holiday decor this year, but as the saying goes....

Better Late Than Never!

I really didn't do any big decorating this year and it feels good to keep things simple.  With the kitchen renovations taking up quite a bit of our time, I needed to wait longer than I wanted to, to put my decorations out.

I hope you take the time to look around the house as we continue to getting ready to celebrate

Christmas later this week.

The table got a small Christmas runner that I purchased at the thrift store for a dollar, along with a

metal basket that I had on hand here filled with a garland and topped with ornaments and pine cones.

I also added these cute wooden tags that I purchased on clearance last year at Target.

 I kept the living room very simple with just some pine cones in a basket on the coffee table and some lighted branches in my owl vase in the corner and some ornaments on the shelves of the bookcase.  I let the tree take center stage in the living room.

 Our tree is in the corner of the living room by the front door.

I went with a blue, green and silver theme.  All these ornaments are new and were purchased on
Boxing Day last year at Home Sense.

In the family room I just decorated the hearth and hung the stockings.

I will be taking the rest of the year off from the blog to enjoy time with family and friends.

I'd like to wish you all a safe and Happy Holiday season and a very Merry Christmas!

Cheryl

Christmas Mantel

December is upon us - wow time flies!  It was a crazy-busy weekend around here.  McG and I did some Christmas shopping this past weekend and decorated the house.  We bought a new tree at Target, which will be coming up in a post later this week.  In the meantime, I thought I'd show you the mantel in our family room.

Normally it looks like this...

Our family room is in the basement of our home and is decorated in warm golds, browns and olive green.  For this reason I chose to go with traditional red and green for my Christmas decorating here.

Here is how the mantel looks now...

 As you can see I hung the stockings that I bought at the Dollarama and personalized in this post here.

 I switched out the antique mirror for a large rusty star, a rusty candle holder and moose.  I added a pail with birch logs on the hearth and stuck in the lighted branches.  Here are a few more close-ups.

I chose to use multi-coloured lights in the garland.  I purchased it last year, and it stays up all year long.  It is covered with rusty sleigh bells and plaid bows that co-ordinate well with the plaid fabric on the stockings.

Hope you enjoyed my mantel...glad you stopped by.  I'm sure I'll be tweaking things for next few days...

Cheryl

Linking up @: Uncommon Slice of Suburbia,
                                    The Lettered Cottage,
                                    52 Mantels
                                                      Embracing Change

Exciting News!

Hey there!  Just jumping on quickly this morning to share some great news - this little blog has been nominated for a Liebster Blog Award!!!

Thanks so much to Sarah @ Sarah Saturdiy for the nomination...I will be back soon with my acceptance post - stay tuned!

I thought I'd leave you with a sneak peek of some more Christmas decorating I've been doing...

Cheryl

What I'm Working on Today...

While many of the bloggers I follow are readying their homes for Thanksgiving and the holiday season, I was hesitant to take out Christmas decorations this early...McG's birthday is at the beginning of December and he really hates having Christmas stuff out before his birthday (he is a Scrooge sometimes)...

I was out today running some errands and stopped by the Dollarama and look what I found!

I was actually only looking for one...our daughter has been dating a young man now for the better part of the year and he will be joining us during the upcoming holiday season.  I wanted him to feel part of the family, and wanted him to have his own stocking.   We've had our stockings for a long time, and I knew I wouldn't be able to find one to match.  While in the local dollar store I found these lovely ones for just $2 each...so it wouldn't break the bank to get everyone a new stocking!!! ( Like how I rationalized that spending..LOL)

I brought them home and used my Tulip Glitter Fabric paint to personalize each one with our names.  I must confess that I've had this paint since the early '90's - but it worked like a charm!

I bought my daughter and her beau stockings with matching plaid trim.  The others all have snowmen on them.  They were quite nicely made considering they were from the dollar store...

Are you buying or making new stockings this year? Check out your local dollar store..it's amazing sometimes the great things you can find there!

Cheryl