Our Trimmed-Out Christmas Tree (and other decorations)

I shared my mantel on Monday, so now, it’s time to reveal the full monty tree. Here she is in all her nine-foot-majesty:

And lit up:

Lovely, right?

One of my favorite things about Christmas is remembering. There are so many memories that I associate with our ornaments and decorations that I love uncovering every December, like this one that we bought on our honeymoon in Maui…

Or this one to commemorate our big move last year…

But I think my MOST treasured set of Christmas decorations is our Nativity set, which my mom handed down to me last Christmas.

This set has been in my family for exactly 60 years. My grandfather purchased it in 1952, when my mom was 9 years old. It’s still in the original box, with the original postage stamp, and the original hand-written address.

I never met my grandfather. He passed away years before I was born. So I love that I have this little piece to remind me of him. Every Christmas, when my mom, dad and I would get out the decorations, I was given two important tasks: screwing in and checking each light bulb for the tree strands, and setting up the Nativity set. And I usually spent the rest of the holiday season playing with the animals, prompting my parents to exclaim that next year, they were wrapping up the Nativity animals instead of buying me toys.

What’s your favorite part of decorating for the holidays? Any special items that you’ve built memories around?

Weekly Wishlist: Holiday Chalkboard Prints

I have recently become obsessed with Chalkboard-style typography. So I thought I’d round up a few beauties from Etsy to share with you this week.

I’ve been practicing my skills and am working on my own version of this holiday-themed art! Check back soon to see how it turned out!

1. OliveRue / 2. SarahSaysSew / 3. – 5. LilyandVal

Dare to DIY: Deck the Halls

This is the last installment of the Dare to DIY challenge (sponsored by Two Twenty One, Newly Woodwards, Decor and the Dog, and Maybe Matilda), and I am sad to see it go! I really enjoyed each week’s challenge, and seeing all the great ideas that other bloggers came up with. Definitely found some great inspiration and some new blogs to follow! Whoo!

So, without further ado, here is how I’ve decked my halls for this holiday season:

I wanted to go for a “Winter Wonderland” theme, full of metallics and whites. It all started with the silver Ornament wreath I diy’ed a few weeks back, and from there, I started envisioning a mantel awash in mercury glass, silvers and golds. I would love to do our entire family room in silvers, golds, and whites (tree included), but… one thing at a time.

Some items I already had on hand, some are new additions, like the mercury glass pillars, metal reindeer, angel, and silver sequin tree (from Kohl’s and JoAnn Fabrics, respectively).

I used the branches on the far end in my Fall Mantel, but wanted to glam them up a bit for the holidays. I added glass vase fillers, a spray of white flowers, and swirly silver twig things that you always see in the floral section of craft stores. I have no idea what the official name is. Then I hung a few ornaments and mini-snowflakes from the branches to give them some festive flair.

The only items that don’t really fit the theme are our stockings and stocking holders, but they are too sentimental for me to switch them out, even for just one season. My stocking is the one on the right – my mom hand-stitched it for me when I was a baby, and my aunt made the Santa stocking holder. My mom also made Tom’s stocking. He’s always used whatever generic stocking we had stashed in with the Christmas decorations. But not this year! He’s finally got a personalized stocking 🙂

Check out more decked-out halls here!

I’m also sharing this at:

Acting Sketchy

So, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m not much of an artist or designer. But I still get the itch to draw from time to time. So, I thought I’d share some recent things from my “sketchbook” (read: whatever notebook is closest at hand) that I’ve been playing around with.

Weekly Wishlist: Holiday-Chic Pillows

This week, I’m really loving the idea of bringing some special throw pillows into our family room for the holidays. Specifically – metallic embellishments and textured neutrals to make the room feel chic and cozy. Imagine being curled up on the sofa, homemade hot cocoa in hand, fire roaring, and tree twinkling. Ah, heavenly!

All of these picks are from Pier 1. Enjoy!