Finally...We are starting to decorate for Christmas!! (And a sneak peek of some new colors...)

That's right people...I know you've been seeing all kinds of Christmas decorating going on already in blogland.  It makes me feel like I'm a little behind the times, but here in our home there can be no decorating before December 1st - says a proclamation sent down by King McG himself....

Actually if he had his way I think we wouldn't decorate at all...(shh - he's a bit of a scrooge!!)

Many years we didn't decorate until after his birthday, but then it just feels like we are making a whole lot of effort for nothing as he likes to take it all down and put it away on Boxing Day!! - told ya - S-C-R-O-O-G-E!!

Today we will be working on getting all the boxes out from under the stairs - and tomorrow I will be in full force decorating around here.

I wanted to share a few photos of some new colours that are being used on our small tree upstairs in the living room...not really traditional colours....

TEAL AND ORANGE!!

These pictures make the orange ornaments look kind of red, but they are a coppery orange.

These beauties I found at the Dollarama  - $1 each - SCORE!!  The glittery orange pinecones below were three for a dollar!  I paired them with some mat-finish teal ornaments that I found at a local greenhouse 6 for $6.99.

Here they are tucked in an arrangement on my dining room table.

I can't wait to get the decorations flowing around here...I am definitely in the Christmas mood...

I know you are going to hate me for this but...
I am done my Christmas shopping and have everything wrapped!!  
All I have left to do is to send out my Christmas cards and get this place decorated!!

I will be back with more details on my decorating adventures this weekend...with lots of pictures so stay tuned!!

Tell me...is your home decorated already for Christmas...or do you live with a Scrooge too!


Cheryl

Our Christmas Tree - 2012

OK - so last night I shared a sneak peek of our new Christmas tree...

We purchased a new 6ft artificial tree this year - a Fraser Fir that is just 37 inches around at the base...Our old tree was 7 1/2 ft tall and 5 ft around at the base - it was a lovely tree, but it just took up too much floor space.   I found this new beauty at Target in Michigan this past weekend for just $20!! - SCORE !! It was just what I was looking for and it was in the price bracket I was willing to spend.

We put it up in our basement family room - last year we had the tree in what is now our dining room, because last year we didn't have dining room furniture and used the space as an extension of our living room.

I decided to place the new tree inside an antique trunk that we had in our family room...first I tried it on top of the trunk, but then decided the vignette would be better with the tree placed inside.  Our family room includes lots of "manly" touches like McG's duck decoys and rusty tin items like a deer and a moose that we've collected over the years.  I wanted to include them in our decorating to keep the lodge-y feel that McG and I love.

The ribbon and ornaments are all ones that I had on hand.  We added white lights and red ribbon that has a gold shimmer to it.  Red, green and silver ornaments and red and silver birds are what I decorated it with.  The birds were purchased last year from the Dollarama.  Also I added green and red glittery springs which I bought last year.  I placed some of McG's decoys around the base of the trunk and added glittery stems to the crock.  The deer was on our mantel, but now joins the ducks near the tree.

This is a view of our tree and mantel this year.  I love the lodge-y look of our basement family room with its warm gold and browns and our cedar ceiling.  Here's one last look at the tree with the lights lit at night.

Do you have your tree up? Do you place it in a cool container or a traditional stand?  I'd love to hear from you!

Cheryl
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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

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