In A Hurry?

The New York Times today listed 101 appetizers that you can prepare in 20 minutes or less.  This has nothing to do with decorating, but now that you've decorated, you may as well invite some folks over to oooh and ahhh....right?

Cute video

Totally Illini

I love this (being an Illinois fan)!

Tree Lighting

I think the angels are real people...what do you think?

Christmas In Japan

In case you've ever wondered.... :LM

more at twiigs.com...

Mother Nature: Decorating with Icicles

Not so great for power lines or airplane wings, but very pretty from the ground....  :LM

Stockings....

...our personalized stockings are finished and hung....  :LM

How do you decorate your tree?

more at twiigs.com...

This tree features colorful homemade decorations. Some where made by moms and grandmothers, others by the kids in this home. I think this tree best represents many trees gracing the homes of many families all over the world.

Tree Update...

...we still have garland to add and there's a 1/2 string of lights that won't light up no matter how many times I try changing the bulb in question ((sigh)), but we're getting there.  I think I need to double the number of ornaments, tho'....  :LM

Festival of Trees: The Bachelor Tree

We have our first submission to our online Festival of Trees - we call it the bachelor tree because it's easy and cheap:  "We used a pre-lit slim tree, wrapped it with ribbon, tied a ribbon bow on top and added three tubes of very inexpensive ornaments.  It was done in less than 30 minutes and didn't cost much at all."  :LM

Festival of Trees

Every year my mother and Grandmother get together for a weekend and work on the community's Festival of Trees. I dont typically get to go, but they always take lots of pictures that we go through together. Anyway, I thought in the spirit of Christmas, it may be neat to start a festival here online. We have already shared our trees, but if you would like to have yours added to the site, please send a photo and a short description to us at: bellebella77@gmail.com.

We'll accept photos up until the big day!
Merry Christmas!

Stocking Hangers

I found 2 of these rustic Christmas tree stocking hangers at a consignment shop and am looking for more - anyone know where I can find 'em? :LM

More SNOW!

What Holiday Colors Do You Use?

I love the color of green in this little ball ornament tree. :LM

Get In The Mood

I hear Muzak Christmas music all over the place this time of year, so when I'm looking for music to get me in the mood to decorate, I put on Aimee Mann's One More Drifter In The Snow  - and it even has a remake of the Grinch song....  :LM

Have a Merry, Modern Christmas

As mentioned, I'm struggling with ideas for warm and welcoming holiday decor without going too far.  My home's not incredibly modern, but it's certainly not french country, either, so I'm always on the lookout for ideas...and since I'm kind of lazy this morning, I'm just going to give you a list of tips & sources I've found helpful:

"...i can't think of anything more modern than abandoning staunch tradition to show off your personal interests and style..." :totallychristmas.com

"...try the wide array of Frank Lloyd Wright inspired ornaments at wrightstyle.com..." :purecontemporary.com

"...baubles aren't just for the tree; play with scale and display different-sized ones in a clear bowl..." :decorating ideas for a modern christmas

Let me know of any tips you might have....  :LM

One Minute Christmas Decorating+ Create Your Own Video Holiday "Card"

Huh. It had never dawned on me to create your own Christmas video and then youtube it out to all your friends & family as your holiday card. Here's one of the ones I liked called "One Minute Christmas Decorating" (wouldn't that be nice??).... :LM

Whoa!

This video's long, but you gotta see some of these houses....  wow! :LM

Christmas Floral Centerpiece-Type Thing

I'm learning that one way to make my house more Christmas-y without going the "blinking reindeer wall hanging" route is to intersperse pine cones & greenery throughout the house in interesting ways.  I already had this vase and couldn't figure out what to do with (it came with a lovely orchid arrangement that lasted for weeks and weeks, but the vase has sat empty since then) - so I tried my hand at a floral piece of sorts....  What do you think?

Here's the recipe: 

1 Weird Vase

Pine Cones (I used 2 bags of nice potpourri)

Misc Fresh Sprigs of Greenery

Some Red Sparkly Floral Things ($1.49 a piece)

My holiday table will have a more professionally designed centerpiece that I've already ordered, but I think my amateur arrangement helps round out the Christmas vibe in the house until then.  :LM

I thought I would share my tree, too!

I felt as though I should show my tree as well. I am proud of its progress over the years. I have been using much of the same decor for the past...7 years. I have added things here and there, different ornaments, I added the fake poinsettias (only 99 cents a piece). I have never used a tree topper for this tree-not because I dont like them, more because I just havent found one that compliments. I have tried a few, but they seem to top-heavy or they just dont seem to fit. So I just have the bow act as a topper-I think it works. I found my stockings at a discount store and they go well with the gold and jewel-tones I have in my tree. I also like how the vintage tree seems to go with the overall feel of my old home.

The Tree's Up, Now What?

Ok, the tree's up. It's lit. And the star's on top already because that's the only thing I'm *sure* is going on the tree this year. What now?  :LM

Technorati Profile

Bow Tying: Harder Than It Looks

The wreath might need lights (or something else), don't you think? I attempted to add some sprigs of sparkly silver whatchamacallits to the wreath, but ended up liking it better with only the big red bow, which I tied myself using about.com's bow tying instructions.  :LM

The First Snow!

Nothing gets you in the mood to decorate for Christmas like the season's first snow....  :LM

DIY Stockings?

If you ask me, stockings are the best part of Christmas morning. My kids always seem to play with the silly putty and yo-yo's from their stockings for waaay longer than the $120 My Size Barbie my daughter begged for for 7 months, unwrapped, ripped the clothes off of and promptly shoved in her closet.

But, I digress.

This year, I decided we should each have a personalized stocking embroidered with our name. I went straight to Amazon and there they were - for $29.95 A PIECE. (Um, I'm not spending that on stockings unless they're La Perla and me and Santa have a date.)

So, here's my embroidered stocking hack: I bought plain stockings and took them to my local alterations shop to be embroidered. Their charge? $6 a piece. So, next Monday we'll have personalized stockings for the whole family for about 7 bucks a piece. Which I suppose is not so much DIY as PSTDIFY (Pay Someone To Do It For You), but I'm pleased with my savings, nonetheless.  :LM

Ok, This Much I Can Handle....

So, the mantle's easy, right? Add some antique angels that my aunt gave me, use pre-lit garland from totally christmas that I don't even have to wrap...but it could use a little color perhaps.... any ideas?  :LM

Guest Blogger (Read: Guinea Pig) Introduction: Lisa Meid

I suspect I was asked to guest blog because I'm in some sort of Christmas transition (traNSition, not traDition). I need Christmas magic, but don't prefer a lot of fuss. I definitely want chestnuts roasting, but too many jingling bells and I may freak out.

See, once upon a time, I lived in what we call a "bedroom community" (like a suburb, but smaller and even less to do). While there - in my twenties and having babies at an alarming pace - I came dangerously close to overdosing on Christmas.

Case(s) in point: 180 handmade, hand-addressed Christmas cards (with personal notes inside each, of course). 28 christmas presents for one child. (Don't tell my younger two. And, anyway, it only happened once - when the eldest was an only child.) One year, we even created handmade gifts - partnering with a carpenter neighbor and then handpainting hundreds of sickeningly crafty snowmen that counted down the days 'til Christmas on their little pegged number holders.

It was all too much. (And - er - I mean ALL of it, not just the Christmases.) The problem is, when I left, I sort of left behind Christmas, too.

We still *have* Christmas, of course. But I'd gotten so stressed and exhausted - so removed from Christmas being about peace and joy - that, for a time, I made a fairly clean break from my Christmas past.

Some of this was good for me: I didn't send out Christmas cards for at least 4 years. I started saying no to most holiday parties and stopped buying obligatory gifts (I don't really think your babysitter/mailperson/hairdresser wants you to buy her a sweater, anyway. Write her a check and be done with it.). And I very, very rarely force my children to sit for holiday portraits.

But some of it wasn't so great: There's no way to say it other than to admit that we lost a little Christmas joy around our house. In learning not to let the holiday completely take over our lives, we might wait 'til December 20th to put up our tree. While trying to master a Christmas-Doesn't-Need-To-Be-All-About-Gifts approach, I might not wrap anything until Christmas Eve day.

In the last several years, tho', we've found a nice balance with most of those things. We put up our tree in early December at the latest and the kids have wrapped packages to shake for at least a week or so before Santa arrives (they just no longer have peppermints hotglued in the shape of a Christmas tree to the packaging and ornate, 15 dollar-a-roll ribbons) (I was *nuts,* I tell you).

Still, I'm never quite sure what to do about decorating. Now that I've given away all my country crafts and learned that I don't so much love knickknacks, I'm a little stymied about what the heck to do to make our house FEEL like Christmas.

So this year I've given myself a challenge to *do* something about it - and stop with these half baked attempts at holiday decor. decorating 4 christmas has agreed to let me embarrass myself here publicly and I'll be posting my progress (or lack thereof) as we go along....