Decorating…
I love to decorate for the holidays and seasons. In fact, in my storage area I have bins with the following labels: Winter, St. Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, Spring/Summer, Autumn (which includes Thanksgiving themed decorations), Hallowe’en, and Christmas. I have LOTS of Christmas bins. Most people I know decorate in some way for the winter holidays – Christmas, Hannukah, and all of the others which I’m still learning about. Lights seem to be the most prevalent decoration used.
This blog is about how I decorate: where I decorate, what I use, and what it means to me. The writing will be shorter than usual since I want to share lots of pictures.
Like I said above, I love to decorate. I consider décor to be the constants in my house. The wall colours, rugs, lighting, furniture, etc. Decorations, however, are temporary. They highlight the season or a celebration. I have loads of decorations that have been given to me over the years from my mom. Guess who loves decorating more than I do and who passed that love down??
I think decorating for a holiday is a way to extend the celebration and to appreciate it when you look around. The Christmas season seems to be the one that calls to the majority of people – whether it’s Christmas itself or another celebration at this time of year. Perhaps it’s because we lose so much light. The sun sets early and rises late leaving us in the dark for much of the day. Lights on houses and in trees make me feel good and I’m sure I’m not the only one that feels that way. I love taking evening walks when it’s dark out and the lights are on, both outside and inside of houses. It makes the world look warm and inviting.
Inside the house, maybe most people don’t do quite as much as I do. People who have Christmas trees have lights and baubles on those and seem to choose an area where they can be seen and appreciated throughout the season. I’m the same. I like to have a tree in my primary living area so that whether I’m reading or watching tv or just relaxing, I can enjoy the view. I especially love when I get the presents wrapped and piled underneath. They’re never there long but it gives me a special glow to know I’ve got something to give to others.
So, I try to decorate most areas of my house. This year the upstairs is lacking since I’m still doing so much work and it has a bit of an “under construction” feel to it. The main floor though, is wonderful, in my opinion. I have so many pieces that have been given to me over the years and I try to use them all!
I hope you’ll enjoy the pictures below as I share what my Christmas home looks like. These pictures are all from the inside and I’m not quite finished with my set up. I’ll share final pictures and those from outside the house in my next blog.
These Christmas angels are keeping watch in the kitchen, on top of my china cabinet.
Christmas in my kitchen! I have a wreath in each of my kitchen windows - I’ve hung them using some pretty white ribbon with silver stars. The bottom two pictures are some of the decorations I’ve put on my kitchen shelves.
The top picture is a couple of Christmas characters from my son’s childhood while the bottom picture is the tea towel hanging on my stove. I have so many pretty tea towels that I change them every couple of days so that I can enjoy them all!!
I have had Santa and Mrs. Claus for years - I’ll have to spruce up his beard before next year! Hanging Santa is on the inside of my front door and the penguin is sitting on my main stairs (a special gift from my sister one year).
A lovely nativity scene that lights up with tealights. The diffuser in the background is filled with a wonderful evergreen scent that I will keep out all winter.
Some of my Christmas table tops. The top pictures are my dining table and a close-up of the centrepiece. The bottom left is my telephone table and the bottom right is my kitchen island.
Some of the Christmas wreaths/door hangings I have inside the house!
Christmas lights to brighten up my living room windows. Ceramic tree on the bottom and the decorative lighted plates telling the story of The Night Before Christmas were all gifts from my mom over the years. (Am I a lucky daughter or what??)
On the left is a gorgeous basket of pine cones with mini lights and on the right is an idea I stole from my mom. She put an autumn wreath at the base of a side lamp and I loved it! I think this one looks pretty good, too!
Well, obviously my Christmas tree is on the left. This is the first year I’ve had an angel on the top! On the right are my crazy stairs to the loft and all of the winter or Christmas fuzzies my son and I collected over the years!
There is still a little clean up and finishing up that I have left to do. I’ll share more pictures in the next blog; I won’t take nearly as long to publish it!
Oh, but one more…
As you can see, there was a lot of craft work on the go! I decided to paint the accent wall in my office. I’m so happy with the colour! However, it is making me re-think the choice for the rest of the walls. Glad I didn’t buy the rest of the paint!!