Christmas Tidings - Living Room Edition

It's no secret that one of my favorite decorating themes during the holidays are poinsettias. Over the years, my grandmother and I collected so many silk floral poinsettias that hazarding a guess at how many I have would be like one of those "guess how many jelly beans are packed in this Subaru" type games. I like to stick the flowers all over the place during the holidays. It makes everything very streamlined. One way that I stretch what I have is I remove many of the poinsettia flowers from the floral stem and bushes that one can buy at any dollar store or craft store. They just pop right off. Then I can place just the flower anywhere. I always leave one or two per plant so that I have a nice, long, piece of greenery with a flower or two on the end. This makes decorating with the flower a lot easier, and the stem can be placed easily into places that might otherwise be a challenge.

For example, the poinsettias in the garland above the window are still attached to a  long stem. Just placing a flower in that garland and making it stay securely is difficult. Difficult is not a good word when you're decorating anything that requires standing on a chair. Weaving a long stem with a flower at the end into the greenery is super easy and takes just a second. The garland then echoes the same look as the main tree.

My little fiber optic tree in the corner of the living room has some very old plastic poinsettias around the base. They are very heavy and have a lot of presence, and I don't have very many of them. Still, when put together, they go very well with all the other poinsettias in the room.

The little tree itself has a theme. Purple beaded garland, a set of matching gold ornaments, and a bunch of beaded bells that my grandparents and I made, and a glass star on top.

Hi, Pandora.

There are also shelves over the front door now, and I decorated those with small trees. I ran a poinsettia garland across the front for more continuity.

There is a smaller tree on each side. They are both really old.

They are full of very old little present ornaments and gold and white ornaments.

I also love the tiny pipe cleaner candy canes, which are attached to the tree.

The tree in the middle is a little insane but it's pretty from afar. It didn't have a basket and is not as old as the other two, so I put small picks of little red flower clusters around the plastic leg bottom. I bent them one one side and at an angle so they wouldn't fall off of the small shelves. Even from the side, as you can see, they look pretty good.

Mav says, "Is it Christmas yet? I'm bored."

The blankets and throws upstairs are all in greens and cranberry colors.

The main thing in the living room is of course the big tree. How do you make a very, very cheap tree look full and festive year after year? The answer is to fill in any spaces with pieces of old Christmas trees and stuff that sucker full of fake poinsettia flowers and ornaments of various shapes and sizes.

Like so.

This year, I had a Sears gift card from the fridge we bought so many months ago. Add to that an excellent coupon + a great sale, and I bought one large +100 piece ornament set for less than 15 bucks. I thought it would be a nice edition to the main tree and that the color scheme in the set would be lovely. Every piece was red and/or gold, and there were shatterproof ornaments along with little swirly hanger bits (technical terms) and glitter snowflakes. There were not only multiples of everything but the same basic pieces in lots of different sizes. This allowed the tree some continuity and really made everything flow a little better.

I'm thinking that was an excellent purchase.

Sparkles, the edition only someone with an excellent sweeper could love.

The kitties love sleeping in beds under the trees.

Merry Christmas, Atlas.

There are no presents under the tree this year. We didn't really buy presents for ourselves, and I spent so much time and energy wrapping the presents for my family that I couldn't bring myself to put them out. I want them to stay beautiful. The bows and ribbons to stay tied on and perfectly placed. Presents that are out under the tree every year do not escape unscathed. So most everything wrapped is in the broken shower in the tiny second bathroom we have that we never use. Not finding ribbons and bows all over the house? A special holiday gift to myself!

"Wait! Seriously? Maybe we can talk about this?

What if I promise no hairballs?

Then you bring out the shiny and stringys for me?

Don't walk away! Noooooooooo!"

No deals, Atlas. Sorry, Bud.

You're a cat, how do I know what you're thinking anyway?

Maybe you're all, "High fives?"

"Stop in the name of love?"

"Talk to the hand?"

"Live long and prosper?"

I changed my mind. It's definitely the last one.

Because I love that idea the most.

My kitties, dreaming of Star Trek in their

beds under the tree.

Or right next to their beds.

They do stuff like this just to mess with me.

At least Hermes is happy. Even if she is possibly just doing this in order to give me the proverbial finger. Hipster Hermes says, "Kitty beds are too mainstream. I only sleeps on the floor." 

I think I'll give her an empty box for Christmas. We'll see if she'll keep on her little hoodie and sunglasses and be all "Boxes are so bourgeois." I'm betting I'll break her. Oh yeah. It's on, Hermes. It's on. 

Christmas Tidings - Dining Room Edition

Don't forget more is more. It wasn't just the theme for the kitchen. I wanted CHRISTMAS FESTIVE FESTIVE HI FESTIVE to just jump out and scream at you in the dining room, too.

You know what's fun? Unfolding a brand new tablecloth straight out of the package and thinking, "How pretty!"

Because you don't focus on the wrinkles. Follow that up by ironing a tablecloth. To no avail. So then, decide to wash a tablecloth and throw it in the dryer for 5 minutes. Then 10. Then give up and put a wrinkly tablecloth on your dining room table.

I digress. Easy peasy solution, though. Placemats and dinnerware. So much dinnerware. Better Homes and Gardens, I heart you. Dishwasher and microwave safe? 4 place settings in the box? Done. Get in my cart and I am taking you home.

I used some of my bulkier Hallmark ornaments around the center of the table. Snoopy there dances along with a little song, and Rudolph lights up and sings. Godzilla and Indiana Jones may or may not be on the other side just out of view. Don't judge the awesome.

The rest of my Hallmark and Hallmark-type ornaments went on the garland and lights framing my grandmother's painting. Nothing goes better with the serene front-yard-of-my-mother's-childhood treescape like a KISS ornament that plays very loud KISS music. Me-ow, Fellas. I like my holidays with a bit of rocker chic.

Also, can you spy the Simpsons riding reindeer in a little candy cane mug overflowing with evergreen picks and tiny glittery round ornaments?

The light fixture is a little different this year. I still put some of my favorite hand-made ornaments on there. I decided to cascade them from the ceiling down this year instead of just putting them all around the actual glass hanging around the light bulbs. Since the dining room's decorations bring the eye up anyway, I thought it was a nice touch.

Really, though, you have to take a wider view of the whole room to truly appreciate it.

The fiber optic opera house is back again. I bought that for my grandmother the year I got us season tickets to the Lyric Opera of Chicago. At the time, it was the most expensive thing my just-graduated-from-college, just-started-my-first-real-job self had ever purchased. That was one of the things she had told me in passing that she had wanted to do in her life that she never had. See an opera. We didn't just see an opera together; we saw a frickin' season of 'em. One year of shopping for fancy outfits,one year of me reading her the translations of each show before seeing them, one year of road trips to the Windy City. I have so many great memories from that. One of the best things I ever did, buy us those season tickets. 

Also, I never need to see another opera. Ever. Please. Never again.

When I saw this little opera house in Walmart that Christmas, I just couldn't resist. It was too perfect. All these years later, she still lights up as brightly as that first year. On the same shelf that it sat on in my grandmother's house, only now in mine. As close to the opera as I need be, thank you.

That shelf also houses a little Santa lamp my mother bought me, a very old family ornament of a fuzzy reindeer I always loved, and a sweet scene from the movie Bambi, along with many other things.

I really love the china cupboard this year. The top has some greenery with my grandma's giant old light up Christmas tree. I flocked it by putting a shatterproof QVC ornament wreath on each side. I love how rich the colors are on those ornaments.

The inside of the cabinet holds what really is closest to my heart, though. I put my gram's old placemats in there as the background and really went to town with pieces of an old fake tree for some of what would be dead space. I put the festive breakables I love too much to keep hidden away inside the cabinet, away from prying kitty paws.

The first Christmas decoration my grandpa bought my grandma. Loving it does not mean I am under the illusion that it's lovely. It's not. My grandma and I used to laugh at that little couple and how creepy looking the whole little scene was. It's so ugly that it's beautiful. My favorite kind of beauty. Also, the giant bright pink ornate beaded ornament behind them? Used to be the centerpiece to my grandmother's Christmas living room. Her living room was decorated in pinks and mint greens, and during Christmas, she decorated it with that same color scheme.

Hooray for living rooms! The more uppity sibling of the family room! The room you walk through to get to the rooms in the house where you actually live your life! The living room, that thing your grandparents used to have where you couldn't sit on any of the furniture or walk on the rug. RIP living rooms, circa 1972.

Onto more cherished memories of the past!

Little collection of very old angels. The largest one is holding a light in each hand. She used to sit on top of our tree. With her little white lights. Notice how dark they are now. She may or may not have started smoking on top of the Christmas tree one year. The insides of those little lights may or may not have sort of caught on fire. We just moved her off the top of the tree, never to be plugged in again. Grandma smoked most of her life. A little smoking, a flame here or there, not deal breakers in our home.

You may also be able to spy a little snowman detective in there. I picked that up two years ago and just loved it. I also got a little "German Bear" at the same place that was wearing lederhosen, holding a cuckoo clock in one hand, and holding a beer in the other hand. He broke unfortunately. Why I loved those two ornaments, I don't really know. They just cracked me up. The only criteria to make it into the cupboard is that it has to be A) breakable and B) loved. Antique or not, if there is some emotion or memory attached to it, it's probably in there.

I'll leave you with one of the very few things I still have of my grandfather's. It just happens to be a Christmas decoration. I laugh whenever I unpack it every year.

It's a cartridge! IN A BARE TREE!

Right? RIGHT?!

Am I the only one that finds this funny? Ah, who cares. I know where I get my sense of humor from. Thanks, Grandpa.

Christmas Tidings - Kitchen Edition

Buckle up because Christmas is again almost here. We're very excited in this household. Possibly too excited.

My husband came home from work for 2 weeks straight and told me, "The house looks great!"

That is because every day I would say, "Thank you. I'm not done yet."

Smart man, though. Smart man.

There has been a definite lack of dating recently, which I am hoping will change with the new year. *Big anime eyes inserted here*

The holidays are going to be lovely for us simply because the husband has a couple days off and we will actually be able to be together. Share a meal. Free up some of the DVR. You know, romance... Glamour... Naps... All the good stuff.

I cannot complain too much since the lack of dating is due to the husband having a job. A husband who I still adore is putting a roof over my head and the heads of all our 4 legged kids. Gee, heaven help me.

So, to comfort myself, I will shower you with how much of a Christmas genius I am. We'll start slow, since this year, I did not stop decorating when I was finished. I stopped when I ran out of stuff. I also decorated in a record number of rooms in our house.

Let's start with the kitchen. Decorated it last year in a similar fashion.

I went, as I have in the past couple years, for a lot of height. Not decorating isn't in the cards for me. What can I do if I shouldn't really decorate like a normal person? If certain members of the household require a certain level of, um, sanity? Decorate up high, of course. For protection.

From this.

Mary Lou is euphoric in this photo. I know because I was there.

What I didn't realize until later

was how much she was channeling

Brain from Pinky and The Brain.

What do you want to do tonight, Mary Lou?

TRY TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD, MAMA!

*Cackling cat laugh inserted here*

Sigh. My point is, ornaments I loved from childhood? Let's stick them someplace out of the way.

Like over the kitchen window.

Wow. My counters are nice and clean, right? I must have been so streamlined this year...

Oh, wait. I wasn't.

Because less isn't more. More is more.

Boom goes the dynamite!

Here's another view.

Even the light fixture couldn't escape my wrath festive joy this year.

Last year, my white tree had a penguin theme.

This year, it was more simple, concentrating on 

just white and silver colors.

See how this year I went classy with the plate rack?

Versus looking like Christmas had thrown up on it?

I also bought a ridiculous number of mugs this year.

Because I still have the Sam's Club ciders and hot chocolates

in bulk, at the ready, anytime, anywhere.

I'm gonna go and have some cider right now actually.

We'll move to the next room soon.

And not 2 months from now soon.

I promise.

For reals.