Christmas Decorating ~ A Sneak Peak
Happy Monday~After~Thanksgiving
I hope everyone savored a delicious meal, shared with family and friends, and traveled safely. Since Thursday, we’ve watched 6 football games (some wins, some losses), saw a movie (Mockingjay, Part 4), went out to dinner Friday night and made a fabulous meal (braised, stuffed veal shoulder) at home Saturday night (I’ll probably share the recipe for the main course.)
Sweet Shark and I spent Friday packing up all our 21 turkeys, scarecrows, Pilgrims and Indians, pumpkins, and all things Thanksgiving; then we brought in all the boxes with Christmas decorations. Now for my favorite time of year ~ decorating the house for Christmas while Sweet Shark plays Christmas CD’s. (He has 50, but he hasn’t yet bought any this year, so that number will rise.) It usually takes us at least 5 days. First, I place all our Santas (I need to count how many we have.), snowmen, bears, and other assorted Christmas characters. Then, fluffing garland, arranging my Dicken’s Village (which gets a little bigger each year), and of course, lighting the tree (Sweet Shark’s job) and decorating the tree (mostly my job).
I wanted to share what we’ve done so far. It’s “beginning to look alot like Christmas”.
Christmas Decorating ~ A Sneak Peak
Let’s start with a few “characters”. I try to group a few together for more impact. We’ve been collecting these cute decorations for years and they still look brand new. (Just a little FYI: we haven’t seen the sun since the day before Thanksgiving so natural light is nonexistent.)
We have three open shelves above the TV in the living room so all these characters have a great view.
How do you feel about moose?
One of our many Santas, with the cutest little puppy face ~ a new addition this year.
A couple of years ago, I bought an finished crate at Joann’s, painted it with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Pure White. Next I stenciled 2 Christmas sayings in red. Then I added some birch logs that I bought at the grocery store, cut them into thirds, strayed glitter on, and tied them with ribbon.
Here is the other side.
Sweet Shark and I bought this creche in Oberammergau, Germany. We were there in 2000 for the 500th anniversary of the Passion Play. It was a once~in~a~lifetime, bucket list trip and setting up the creche always brings back wonderful memories of the experience. Each piece is hand painted.
I wanted to start with the centerpiece in the dining room. After putting away all the dishes and decorations from Thanksgiving, we added a leaf to the table for extra seating. In case you want to see the transformation of this vintage find into a “French” country table, check here.
I found this old rattan tray at a flea market a couple of years ago. It was brown with brown handles. I mixed Annie Sloan Pure White Chalk Paint with Pearl Plaster for a luminescent finish. I used Gilding Wax in silver on the handle. Here’s a post on How to Use Gilding Wax.
Next a piece of soft “snowy” looking fabric.
My color theme for the table is silver, gold, and white. I wanted candle light to be the focal point so I used my rose bowls as the foundation. Then I scattered small Christmas balls in silver, gold, and pearl and added a long strand of silver “pearls”.
I can’t have a centerpiece without some Santas, so I added these 2 in white and 2 votives in gold. Next step is to set the table. I may be tweaking this, adding more candles.
That’s all for now. All the big stuff comes next. I hope you’ll come back for a visit to see the finished decorations.