Christmas time is here

I've been seeing a lot of lovely home tours lately of people's abodes all gussied up for Christmas.  Now I don't have some big ol' house to show you my many rooms, nooks and crannies because it's just the Mr and I and we live in a shoebox that is close to being paid off.  But that doesn't mean you can't come on in and sit a spell.  Hot chocolate is on the stove...come on in.

This is the project I've been eluding to the past few days...

I saw this picture on Country Living's website and given how much the Mr loves skiing and our recent stay in a skiing mecca of Stowe, VT, I knew I wanted to do it in our home.  Two days later, I was hunting through antique shows and stumbled upon this set of skis for $25!  One of them was stained but we can either keep them that way or when the season is over, I can strip the wooden skis and re-stain them.

I knew if I did the wreath on them it would add a ton more weight and cover the leather straps on the skis so we got this swag of greens to hang in the middle instead.  I also hung up some small ski art prints I picked up in Stowe and love the way it all came together.

You may remember what the mantel area looked like when I did the post about creating a Fall vignette.  Well, it was time to get a splash of Christmas!

Oh, let's not forget the tree...

Yes, I totally have a star on top and I like it that way.  It's how I always drew them as a kid and for me an angel, big bow or anything else won't do.  It's filled with red and opal white ornaments as well as some shiny ornaments from our travels.  I put the travel ornaments that didn't go with my motif on a smaller tree I'll show you in a few.

But let's get back to the mantel.

I decided to keep the birch tube vase and added some fresh greens, two sprigs of sparkly holly from World Market, a couple of pine cones and an antique sheet music paper chain.  The candle smells like pine so it's nice to light and take in the smell of Christmas when I go nose blind to the greens.

On the window, I used a 6" candle ring centerpiece with fir, cedar and boxwood hung with a red ribbon.  Simple but still conveys the cozy feel of Christmas.

Of course I have to have up our old school ceramic tree we picked up last year!  I put it on a book just to vary the height a little and I love this sparkly candle with the poinsettia ring.  Don't worry, it's a battery-operated votive candle (affiliate link) so no real flame has a chance of setting fire to the wreath.  They aren't cheap but were worth every penny.

This sparkly vintage Christmas bulb garland was a project last year and I loved it so much it made a return appearance this year.

I took my Fall flowers out of my coal bucket and replaced them with some birch logs, more World Market sparkly holly and a few ornaments.

The armoire is pretty simple this year.  I just put up a poinsettia swag I used to hang on the wall on top.

The little converted CD shelves house a couple of knick knacks.  On the left is a Santa drinking cocoa and a fireplace.  The bottom is a little putz house knock off I made last year.  You can lift the top off and put a faux votive in there.  On the right is a wooden Santa that holds candy canes that my work dad gave me for Christmas many years ago.  If you look behind him, you can see he's hiding our Christmas DVD's to watch.  On the bottom is a vintage hen that I painted with mirror spray paint and a decorative pine incense box.

On the top shelf is just a votive holder with some boxwood and faux berries.  There is a hole in the back of the armoire so I used a vintage tin lid to cover it.

On to the other armoire...

Let's take a look at each shelf.  On the top is the white nativity scene I've had since before the Mr and I were married.  It's from Christmas Around the World.  Anyone remember that company?  On the top shelf is a J O Y decoration I made a few weeks ago with antique sheet music, ribbon and sparkly glitter.  There's a small birch tube with fresh greens and this gigantor pine cone we got from the nursery.  It's way too big for the shelf but I have nowhere else to put it right now so we'll deal with it for this year.

On the second shelf is another tin lid, some porcelain carolers I've had forever in front of a bottle brush tree.  I also have my grandma's gumdrop tree up as well.

On the bottom shelf is my sewing drawer I did, a cloche full of vintage ornaments and bulbs with fairy lights and small stack of vintage books and of course another tin lid.

I tied together the Christmas colored books with jute twine secured with a jingle bell and pine cone.

The other tree with the travel ornaments was stuck in a vintage cookie tin and put in a corner on an old stool.  That area needed a little Christmas...right this very minute.

Because I like simple wreaths, I just decorate with a string of faux berries.  Because our weather is so unpredictable and the front door is in direct sunlight, I hang it inside most of the time and when we're expecting company, I'll flip it to the front of the door to welcome guests.  You may also recognize the quick craft project of the hanging tea towel on the wall.  I still need to twist the top a bit to hang it higher.

That's about it!

Now, let's plug in the tree, grab some hot cocoa and gab by the fire!

What colors do you use to decorate?  Do you have a "theme" or a mish mash of things collected over the years?

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