Holiday Decor

It's no secret that I love to decorate. But, with our busy little toddler all about I decided that this year some of our holiday decor needed to be edited. Things that didn't make the cut were a) a normal sized tree b) anything with small objects that could be choked on, swallowed, or lodged in places they don't belong and c) things that I would be sad if broken. That still left us with quite a bit to display and on the bright side, less to put up and take down. Here's pics of some of our holiday decor along with a link to a blog post from The Inspired Room on how you can be more creative with your holiday decor.  

also notice my red IKEA pillow covers!

Oh how I love the coziness of plaid. I'm really into it this year, as you can see with my new plaid pillows, our Christmas card, and our place mats. I'm trying hard NOT to buy one of those plaid maternity button-downs that I keep seeing in holiday clothing ads so I don't camouflage with my own home. 

Close-up of my mini-wreath display in one of our living room windows. They were super easy to do and put up. For those of you who are interested, here's a quick how-to: Buy your desired amount and size of mini-wreaths at Hobby Lobby (this size were like 99 cents). Buy or use some pretty ribbon to hang and tie bows around the wreath with (I used velvet to hang and skinny red satin for the bows). Use hooks (this size of wreath are very light weight) or tie directly to any tieable (I think I just created that word) part of your window treatments.

 Like the creative holiday decor post states, don't just hang stockings on the mantle. Try hanging off of shelves, picture ledges, door knobs, hooks, or like I showed last year, string across a window.

Don't feel like you have to put up big extravagant displays everywhere. These can feel too store-bought and cold. I did this simple one atop our armoire with a couple of Santas and an array of different sized eclectic boxes and tins. 

What a work of art this handmade stocking by my sister turned out to be. She worked long and hard on this last year so that her nephew would have in time for Christmas. I love how she did it in deep red and olive greens and customized it with his name. So special and something our family will always treasure. (Jen, if you're reading this know that we hope to get another one for baby #2!)

Last year I showed you how I like to hang snowflake ornaments from the window but this year I switched it up a bit by changing their ribbon to red grosgrain. I think it adds a bit of a bolder and rustic touch.

Like the article also states, don't be afraid to experiment and do something a bit unexpected. In our kitchen I decided to hang one of my holly berry wreaths in the window, but in our bathroom decided to use it as a candle decoration. I love them in both ways and in both places!

Remember that not every place in your home has to scream red and green. This year I decided that I liked how our nativity set blended with all of our other year-round decor, so left all of our pictures up around it. I also didn't want to clutter the beauty of Christ's birth with anything too commercial.


And last, but not least...

Our humble little tree.
Did you know that they make tree skirts for mini-trees? We're just borrowing this tree from my mom, but when I saw this little patchwork tree skirt at Hobby Lobby, I knew it was worth the $3. We didn't put ornaments on it because we didn't want to tempt our son to pull on it and so far he's been so great with it. He points to it when it's plugged in (he notices it right away) and only occasionally asks for it to be taken off the shelf so that he can to examine it (he always has to figure out how things work). Glad he's learning proper Christmas tree etiquette on this mini one! 


~Wishes for you each to enjoy the magic of this season through the festive surroundings of your home.~

p.s. for those of you who like Sarah Richardson (interior designer from the show "Sarah's House") she now has a new show that I just found on HGTV called Design Inc.