Hang it!

Time for new holiday decorations? 

Colorful beaded ornaments are wonderful on a whimsical tree 

or a sun catcher in your kitchen window. 

Hanging from a beautiful ribbon they make a cheerful hostess gift.

  Made to Order so please place Holiday orders soon!

2015 Guide to Holiday Decorating

Get ready -- here is this year's complete guide on one sentence.

Do Less, Enjoy More.

I love the holidays and I love decorating, but I'm tired. I'm tired of all the effort, the clean up, the cajoling hubs to line the entire roofline and every tree in the yard with lights, the frozen dead branches in January (or the naked ones in May :), the pine needles all over the house, the putting up and the taking down and I repeat, the clean up and the worry about the boughs on the mantle spontaneously combusting if the fire gets too hot. 

So this year, I've decided to lighten up - ALL of it. And, I'm excited to pick just a few things that I will do and we will enjoy and will welcome family and friends to our home this holiday season.

Outside, I've filled one (not 7) windowboxes with evergreen boughs, a few logs from the woodpile and twinkly lights. I've made a 'bouquet' in the basket of my much loved vintage green metal shopping cart.  There are 3 (not 30) strands of lights in total and I love them.  They looked so pretty last night after dark and I appreciated every twinkle! 

My rusty milk tin and this old window frame hold the rest of the boughs I cut from our own overgrown trees. And while I love walking in the woods this time of year, these boughs needed to be trimmed anyway, were already in our yard and look beautiful on our back step. I hung two huge rusty metal stars from a beautiful snowy celebration at school many years ago among the pine trees by the driveway.  They are lovely when the snow settles on them. 

Tomorrow, I'm going to visit the Christmas storage 'closet' under the basement stairs looking for a few bits that mean Christmas at our house. In a few weeks, we'll put up a tree that fills the house with the fragrance of evergreen, fill some bowls with old ornaments, build a cosy fire and set the table. It sounds heavenly to me!

And I think we'll be ready.  

xo

karon

Holiday Lights...

...yes, BEFORE Halloween!

 

I love decorating for the holidays! Lighting the house and yard is one of my favorite things.  As I'm hanging the lights, I can see the night of the first snow lightly falling, gently illuminated by the sparkling white lights against fresh evergreens...so magical!

 

A little story unfolds inviting you in from the beginning of our driveway where an Austrian Pine is draped with strands of tiny white lights.  Two shingled posts are wrapped with lights and hung with simple evergreen wreaths.  Two large and simple rusty iron stars are spotlighted on the lawn that leads you to our yard.  All the flower boxes on the house, garage and garden shed are filled with evergreen boughs - fresh pine and spruce cut from our own trees.  More lights beckon you to come have a peek!

 

 

 Our house welcomes you with large tin containers filled with boughs, an evergreen tree draped in lights and pinecones, more wreaths and a festive holiday mat at the door. The story says we are glad to have you here!

 

 

 I know it's only October but Sunday dawned sunny and mild, a perfect day for a walk in the woods and some tree trimming in the yard.  Our huge pines needed a haircut which resulted in a pile of boughs just begging for a holiday home.  So...

 

 

welcome!



Deck the Halls!

Oh, I had fun on Sunday afternoon! It was time to begin decking our halls, so I headed to the basement storage closet with a flashlight and a glass of wine! I can't seem to resist vintage ornaments and over the years, I've collected boxes of them in all colors and sizes. Since choosing a color scheme proved more challenging than holiday decorations should be, I decided to go with a rainbow of color and stacked them in these old jars I usually keep in the kitchen. I think they look wonderful all together on this bureau in the living room. Next came my little sparkly silver and white vintage tree... with more vintage ornaments. This sweet little star came from 5gardenias on Etsy. It looks perfect atop a little white wicker table in our dining room, waiting to light the corner at Christmas dinner.

... a couple of gorgeous white poinsettias, a pair of sculptural silver reindeer, a beautiful blue and green 'stained glass' fabric star, a distressed silver metal angel and some glitter trees complete the picture. I can't wait to put up the tree this weekend!