For some reason, this year I am getting my holiday decorations up quickly and much more easily than I usually do. Why? No idea. But I am enjoying feeling well enough to be hauling tubs downstairs and making my home look Christmassy.
I always begin the day after Thanksgiving with the front porch. It's not a lot, but it is enough to make me feel the holiday spirit.
My red mini me Short and Sweet arrived and after shooting some pics, I decided to leave all the candy stripers out, at least for a while.
My sisters were also decorating their homes. When I saw Jenny's tree, I knew I had found our new tree. I loved how her collection of antique ornaments could be seen so well from this giant ornament tree. And, that they were far less likely to slide off a flimsy branch and break.
So I ordered my own. It arrived yesterday and it was quick and easy for me to assemble.
This one has lights but that's today's project.
I sure wish I could also copy Leslie's outdoor gate decor, too.
Her farm is so pretty in the snow.
The greenery is on the player piano and my mother's nativity will go on top when Lisa comes over. (We always do that together.) The ornaments will go on my new ornament tree after I get the lights on it.
A painting that my mom did as her father's Christmas gift dated 1944, another nativity, a pink candy cane box that Sarah made me years ago (note to self: replenish those candy canes!), a mini ceramic tree made by my mother, and my favorite childhood ornament, the "pink ornament" as it is called. Oh, and I have turned the pillars between the dining and living rooms into giant candy canes.
Chrismas mugs made by my mom, a Christmas train from Lisa, and two snow people that Cambria made us last Christmas. Nearly everything I put out in our home has sentimental significance.
I made this tablecloth when the kids were little. Its colors are fading, but it still gets put out. A mini ornament tree is on the table with the ornaments from my childhood that my kids surprised me with last Mother's Day.
The dining room piano's decor. I always open the hymnal to Christmas songs this time of year. Right now my favorite is up - O, Come All Ye Faithful.
My dad made the ornament tree for me early in our marriage and is considered a family heirloom. (He loved Christmas!) The German nativity was something Craig bought the family years ago - another family heirloom.
The nutcrackers are also a gift from Dad, the Swedish Yule goat is a gift from Emily that she brought back from her year in Sweden (she is half Swedish/half Canadian), a wooden reindeer from Jessica, and two nativities from my mother.
I still have things to put out, but like I said, it is going quickly and easily.
Finally, our neighborhood rock fairy posted a sneak peak of his or her holiday rocks. These will be hidden around our neighborhood as gifts to the lucky finders.
Aren't they pretty? I hope I find one but honestly, I already have three so unless it's placed on my mailbox or park bench and obviously meant for me, I will probably leave it for someone else to have.
I plan to write a second post this morning with today's Yuletide Challenge pictures, but I've got Nash and Mama coming for the day and need to run to the vet and then to Meijer. If it's not up by noon Eastern time, I'll bump it to tomorrow.
Stay 'tooned!
Where did you find the ornament tree? We often refer to our tree as an ornament stand because the branches are built in a series of "shelves" which makes it easy to display ornaments two and three deep. A tree like that is a true ornament display!
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