Last year we went on vacation for a week and a half starting on Thanksgiving day, which only left three weeks before Christmas to get a tree and decorate the house. It didn’t feel like enough time. I came home from vacation super sick so that delayed things even more and then we decided to have new wood floors laid in the dining and family rooms the week before Christmas, so it R E A L L Y did not feel like Christmas in our house last year and it was depressing.
I want rectify that and since there are only three weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year I decided we are going to get a jump start on it so that we can actually enjoy it. If all goes as planned here is what we are planning to do this weekend:
Orange garland: I want to decorate the new mantle in the living room with handmade orange garland. I’m taking tomorrow off just to make it (okay, more so for a three day weekend) and am going to follow this blog since I’ve never done it before. I’m also going to see if I can add these bells to the mantle as well and some greens. I bought the bells a couple years ago and they make the sweetest ringing sound. I might put a large wreath above the mantle as well, but am going to start with the oranges first.
Garland in the kitchen – I bought this garland from Target and am going to put it above the two large windows in the front of the kitchen. Now that we have roman shades in there it should be easier to lay something on top of the windows. I never know if you should really decorate your kitchen, but I figured a little garland can’t hurt.
Paper lights in the family room – I made some really neat paper lights that mimic the old, big colored Christmas light strands that I want to put on the bookshelves in the living room. That room tends to be our ‘fun’ Christmas room and usually houses the tree that has all of our ornaments from our childhood. I was also thinking of turning around all the books on the shelves so that the lights can make more of an impact, but I can see Andrew thinking I am crazy when I suggest it to him. I guess I will just play it by ear for now.
Rosemary wreaths in the dining room – I bought some tiny faux rosemary wreaths last year and hung them on the french doors leading out to the patio. I want to do the same this year. I found this ribbon that I think will look really pretty with them. I can’t find the rosemary wreaths that I bought, but this trio from Terrain is a close, close second.
Branches and berries for our outdoor planters – Thankfully living in Michigan with all of its trees has a few perks. This weekend I want to take a walk through the woods to find fallen birch branches, red berries and fallen evergreens to make a few winter planters for the outside entrances of our house. However, the fresh six inches of snow that we got this week might make it more challenging. Whatever I can’t find I will make up with the trimmings of our Christmas trees and what can be found in our yard. Sometimes if I hit Trader Joe’s just right I can find a good bunch of red winter berry branches, but I haven’t seen them just yet. I’ll also remember NOT to bring the planters into the house this year to unthaw in order to put them together. I did this last year and they leaked a TON of water on the hardwoods while unthawing. I totally forgot that they had a hole on the bottom of the planters! I thought I ruined the floors, but thankfully they dried up perfectly – two full months later. I will NOT make that mistake again this year!
That’s our plan for this weekend! We will save our Christmas trees for our tradition of putting them up the day after Thanksgiving. When do you typically buy or put up your Christmas tree? Will it change because there are only three weeks this year?
Happy almost Friday!
