Holiday Decor

This will be our second Christmas in this house, and we just haven’t been compelled to get a tree.  We’ll be going up to PA for the actual holiday again, so it has just seemed like overkill to put one up for a few busy weeks before we head out of town. Plus we don’t have a good spot for it, the animals will mess with it, and several other excuses to rationalize this decision.

But this year I felt a little more compelled to put some things up to remind us that yes, it is December.

I bought a few tree shaped things in natural and red tones, added a wire basket with glass ornaments, and put some seasonal type stuff in the vases I already had around the house.  Plus I tried my hand at making this bunting garland with fabric scraps I had lying around.

The bunting doesn’t exactly scream “Christmas” in these particular fabrics, plus it needs to come down when we light an actual fire.  But it was very easy project that I just wanted to experiment with a little.  I just cut out many of these diamond shaped pieces of fabric and glued them around a length of kitchen twine.

If you’re only using this for a temporary seasonal or party decoration, I would recommend doing it with paper or card stock instead.  You’d get the same exact look, but it would be lighter and easier to cut.  It would be cute in different colors for a kid’s room, or a birthday party or something.

For whatever reason, one single solitary stem of holly started growing in our front garden bed this fall.  Rather than nurture it into a tree, I snipped it off and put it in a vase.

The red berries are also from a larger bush out front.  Last year I used them in a wreath for the door.  But as they started drying out, they started falling off every time the door was opened.  Then the dog started eating them, and it caused some… issues.

So this year, I went way more minimal with the wreath.  This is an idea that (of course) came from pinterest, that I thought would be a good use for this grapevine wreath that I already painted white last year.  I used lengths of fuzzy red wool yarn and just wrapped it neatly around the wider branches on the wreath.  I like it though, kind of minimal and cool, but still stands out on the red door.

So I’ve progressed a little in my holiday spirit since last year.  We’re getting a little closer to acting like normal festive adults.  Maybe next year we’ll go all out… no promises though.

Happy holidays to everyone out there!