Holiday Decorating

Although you might not care, it is important for me document my holiday decorating. Why? That way it's easier to get started next year. All I do is glance back at the pictures and replicate what I liked. It saves me time and  creative energy during a period where both are in high demand.

So, here they are. This year's festive touches.

The tree is pretty much decorated with any ornament that won't break. That includes a hand-made paper chain, paper ornaments, plastic icicles, silver and clear snowflakes, and picture frames with photos of past years. At the top is our snowflake that we purchased our first year of marriage. It is engraved with "Our First Christmas 2001". We also have keepsake ornaments for 2 of our 3 cats (sorry, Peabody, you arrived the same year as the kid) and Linus's commemorative locket ornament.

Off to the left, you see the mini artificial trees that Linus and friends can decorate with pom-poms and pipe cleaners whenever the mood strikes.

The jars are filled with red glass balls and faux cranberries. After given a little supervised time to touch and look at these, Linus no longer takes much interest and leaves them alone.

My versatile Ikea frames are filled with a different words throughout the year. You wouldn't believe how hard thinking of a seven letter word can be at times. Last year, we came up with "Festive" that we cut out of assorted papers. We just leave them in the frames when we rotate to a different word.

There's also paper chain hanging from the picture rail at the ceiling line. My dad pretty much put this entire length together for me last year and I saved it by hanging it from wrapping paper rolls. There's also a string of lights mixed in with ornaments in a large hurricane on the piano.

Random holiday touches including faux snowballs that Adrian and I made before we had a child. This year's candy display required an out of reach place because that was just too much temptation to expect Linus to resist.

Baskets are filled with lots of holiday stories and our temporary advent calendar house is at a height for Linus to open.

The mantle pretty much changes every year but of course includes Linus's stocking and three little ones for the cats.

The cat stockings have to be up high or else Wednesday tends to knock them down since the once contained catnip treats.

My bow tree is in the background. It is decorated with thin ribbon tied into shoestring bows.

Assorted ornaments are on display on the table as well as some of my holiday dishes. The rose is a random addition as the roses in our yard are STILL blooming.

The fabric, yet to be sewn into a tablecloth, is authentic 40's fitting perfectly with the house's era.

New addition this year is the hanging of the card holder in the dining room. I just attached it with some command hooks. This is before the cards arrived. It is now quickly filling up despite my Christmas cards not yet being sent.

I had to do a little something in the attic this year, so my snowflakes are attached with command hooks and I have since added snowflake lights to the windows.

We went through a blue phase one Christmas (at my husband's request) and now have the perfect place to use all those ornaments that have been in storage.

My best idea of 2009? A wrapping paper station. If I had to haul out and put away the gift wrap every time I wanted to wrap something, I'd never get it all done. This table is bar height and perfect for keeping a toddler at bay. Bows are in the basket and boxes are below. I flipped a flower pot over, stuck in a dowel, and made a holder for all the ribbons.

This year my bedroom even got a few festive additions with the "Peace" letters and hand-me-down red bedding from my mom. That's Peabody modeling the new-to-us bedding.














And for those of you wondering, Linus did help with SOME decorating. Here's evidence. Of course, he was put to bed shortly after this photo, but he did help as long as his interest held.

So there you have it. That's most of our decorations. There are some jars full of ornaments in the bathroom and mini cranberry wreaths on all the interior doors, but my camera batteries died before I got those photos.

If you've written a post about your holiday decorating, link it up in the comments. I'd love to see.