Keeping Up With You Girls!

Can't let you girls out do me on posting your Christmas decorating pictures!   Why do the pictures NEVER look as good as the real thing when it comes to Christmas decorations?  My fireplace looks the best it has ever looked but you can't tell it from the pictures.  I bought some new cedar garland last year on sale and it is absolutely gorgeous on the mantle.  The two outside houses were from Pottery Barn last year and the church in the middle is from Target.  You can't tell they weren't all meant to be together and there was certainly a cost difference. In case you can't tell, they have glittery rooftops, and then there are glittery swags draped in the garland and glitter reindeer and sleigh from Frontgate catalogue last year after they did their markdowns.  Sorry you can't get the real effect from this picture.  The picture below is a close up of my coffee table keeping the woodsy theme going.  Looks like I went out and collected berries for the season.  Wrong! ha

And the picture on the left is a larger view of the same coffee table with the tree in the background.  For those of you who have never been to my house, the tree is on a rolling base and we wheel it into a Christmas tree closet every year after the season is over - fully decorated.  Saves a lot of time each year, but I dread when the lights quite working.  All those ornaments are wired on tight for the 25' trip they take twice a year - once in and once out.  Below is another view of the living area.  This year I had the decorators put a few santas in the transoms. 

On the right is a picture of my staircase.  Each year we do something different with it.  This year it had to have the stockings hang there since I went woodsy on the fireplace - all those red and green stockings did NOT fit in.  We did add the fruit to the garlands at the bottom of the stairs.  Another neat trick is all of the lights come on with remote controls on the stairs and on the mantle.  Below is the arrangement on the dining table - all kinds of things going on there - even Pottery Barn ornaments hanging from the branches.

And last but not least, our island with a collection of large to small nutcrackers.  Note the Christmas trees on top of the candle holders.  Now that was different! 

The fun thing about doing all of this is to put away your everyday things into a closet or maybe the storage containers that the Christmas things came out of.  When Christmas is over, they seem new again.  Hope you enjoy decorating your house as much as I do.
Merry Christmas and have a Blessed day!