Christmas in the Living Room- Daylight

I guess we're just stuck with the gray clouds for a bit.  I went ahead and took some pictures though I would have preferred them with some sunlight to help!

A wool tartan throw from Williams Sonoma and a reindeer pillow from Pier 1

Under the tree you can see the wicker tree collar surrounding the bottom of the tree.  I made a last minute decision to put the tree skirt flat on the floor underneath it all to give it a little more presence in the room.

 Jingle Bells Poinsettia- one of my favorites

I used a little candle ring to rest on the rim of the pot and dress up the poinsettia a bit more.

 One of my favorites this year is the sleigh with the fur I added to it.

These are all RAZ pieces I've accumulated over the past 4 yrs. except the ornaments in the sleigh.

These reindeer plaques are from Pier 1 this year. 

 I love this guy (Pier 1)

The bottle brush branches ended up pairing well with the long birch logs.  They have glitter on them too but it's not showing up in the picture.

 I found the clip on gold mesh poinsettias at Bronner's a giant Christmas store here in Michigan.

The glass ornaments came from there a few years ago  I guess I should use a satin ribbon to tie them on with but I got lazy!

I found this nativity scene at the same store and love how compact it is and it's all one piece.  I enjoy viewing it each evening as I sit next to it on the sofa.

O come let us adore him…..

O Come, All Ye Faithful

 I'll show you whats on top of the wood top on the left in my next post.

So that's my Christmas living room in the daylight!

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Holiday Glow- Living Room

I've been waiting for the sun or at least some bright skies to take pictures but we seem to be stuck under a gray dome right now so I will start with evening pictures of the living room decorated for Christmas!

This is the first time we've ever mounted a garland in the framework below the mantel top.  I'm glad I finally gave it a try.

The new tree is a 7 1/2' not 9' like I've had before.  We reasoned that it's much easier to decorate this height than the other and of course it was!

I used a roll of red tartan plaid to gently weave into the garland.  The golden pine cones and beaded garland have been with me for a while.  I knew I wasn't going to hang stockings and figured I'd hang garland from them but I didn't know I was going to have the 2nd evergreen garland too.  It's a real different look for me and I'm enjoying it.

Sorry this is so dark.  The deer head is mounted on a plaque and accented with cedar.  This is made for a wall but my vision was for it on these lanterns.  I also wove in some green ribbon on the lanterns for a more festive look.

There are antler horns, berries, and more tartan ribbon on the tree.

This is a new piece from Pottery Barn.  The top twists and turns on an LED light inside and it's on a timer so it comes on each day at the same time.

That's one of the poinsettias that I picked up after Thanksgiving while visiting our family.

I spotted this silver box with a tartan top at Pottery Barn.  To ease the silver box into my setting I set it on a little golden candle ring made of finely woven stick like material to warm it up. 

Found this is my stash of goodies so I hung it on the lamp.

A little tree with a group of ornaments given to me by my Daughter in-law and her mother over the past several years.

This striped chest holds my table linens is decorated with Santa, a sleigh and two large candlesticks. The candlesticks were picked up on clearance last year so this is the first time I got to use them.  The red luminara candles were also picked up then too- I love them!

I hot glued fur to the edge of the sleigh this year and I love how it looks.  I found this roll of faux fur at Pier 1 and the ornaments.

 If you follow me you'll notice I moved the sofa.  

The coffee table is decorated with an adorable lantern and some little cottage pieces.  I sprinkled faux snow in there too.

This is my game table dressed up with a gorgeous golden table topper that was my Mom's and a nativity scene.

 I filled the lantern with ornaments and I have a Santa dressed with velvet and tartan plaid standing on the hearth.  I'll take better shots in the daylight when I can get a brighter day!

The basket is loaded up with some birch logs, pine cones and bottle brush branches.

I took this in the morning with no overhead lights on. This is my favorite part of Christmas decorating-seeing the magical glow!  We have these on timers so I get to enjoy them early in the morning and all through the evenings.

I hope you like it!

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December Greetings!

Greetings everyone!  Sorry its been a while since I posted.  I hope you are all having a nice December and getting into the holiday spirit!

I wanted to start out by mentioning an article that was recently written and posted on CountryLiving.com that included a couple of pictures from a feature post I did about a friend's place in Hendersonville, North Carolina.  This is the original link to the article I featured "here"  The writer for this article Ellen Sturm Niz had contacted me to get permission to use a couple of the pictures from my post so I accepted!

This is the link to the feature- 16 Small Space Christmas Decorating Ideas

We were downstate visiting family for our Thanksgiving Day celebration.  On Saturday I had to go visit my favorite garden center and I snapped a few cell phone pictures while I was there.  

These are an orange/red color.

A sea of Poinsettias, Christmas Cactus and Cyclamen

They had a 50% off sale going on which I was surprised about.  They aren't usually so generous this early in the season.

This grouping were all special order and on hold for customers.  Even though I might not like these colors for myself they are interesting.   I think they add a colorant when they water the plant and it draws it up into the leaves and changes the colors.  

Always new varieties each year.  

I like these combos with red, pink and white

Red is my all time favorite poinsettia color so that's the color I picked up for myself.  

My mother loves blue so we bought her this color enhanced version complete with sparkles!

Later that day while at a local shopping center and I loved this display of flowering kale.  The little pansies had been hit by the frost and weren't too perky looking but the kale stole the show anyway!  I looked it up and this one is called Purple Prince Flowering Kale.

My Christmas Cactus already bloomed.  I have an amaryllis potted that hadn't started growing just yet 

in this picture but it's doing well now and looking like it will be blooming for Christmas yay!

I left the pot kind of raw from the outdoor growing season including algae thinking it would look interesting but I think I'll add a layer of Spanish Moss to the top to dress it up.  These will be a very deep red when they bloom.

We've had one measurable snowfall in November (overnight about 8" ugh) but it melted in a few days (thank goodness!).

Generally we've been enjoying some very nice weather.  The morning skies can be so pretty.  

Stay safe and say a prayer for all of these victims and their families that have been affected by these senseless mass shootings both here in the U.S. and abroad.  You might want to watch this video I found on CNN about things to do or not do if you find yourself in one of these horrible situations.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/19/world/terror-attack-threat-preparations-what-countries-advise/

Wishing you all joy and happiness through this holiday season.  

Friday Quick Notes and Ideas #4

Boy I haven't had anything to post all week because I've started my Christmas Decorating.  I know some of you are long done but not me!
I do want to thank Linda from Life and Linda for updating my blog and giving it a new holiday look- she's the best!

This year I got interested in some reindeer accents and...

Tartan!  

I'm not ready to post yet so this is all I'm showing!  Sorry about the cheesy iPhone pictures but that's all I've taken for now!  I've got to wrap this decorating up this weekend because the mess from all these containers is making me crazy!

I had to change the "Friday Quickies" name to "Friday Quick Notes and Ideas" because some nasty perverted emails came through.  I was afraid I was asking for trouble with that name...oh well!

This song has been floating through my head- it's from the movie Home Alone
Somewhere in my Memory

Candles in the window
Shadows painting the ceiling
Gazing at the fire glow
Feeling that gingerbread feeling

Precious moments
Special people
Happy faces
I can see

Somewhere in my mem'ry
Christmas joys all around me
Living in my mem'ry
All of the music, all of the magic
All of the fam'ly home here with me

While I've been decorating I've also been watching the news about the shootings in San Bernardino.  It's all so sickening.  I was thinking about how sad it is that we're approaching this Holy holiday and all these families have just lost their loved ones in such a heinous way.  How does one comfort those at this time.  Prayers for all of the grieving families and for those who were injured.

Wishing you a great weekend!