Decking the Halls

 It's starting to feel pretty festive around here.  The tree is up, the lights are on, Christmas music is playing, and we've got some of the greatest snow on earth accumulating outside.

While thumbing through last year's December Volume of Better Homes and gardens, I saw this patterned wrapping paper, paired with this wrapping paper in "pool"  and red and fell a little bit in love.  So I decided to change up my usual red-green-silver holiday decor and add some blue and brown. 

Last year I bought this wrapping paper in green, and after seeing the BHG wrapping paper I had been hoping to find it in blue.  I bought the green stuff at the grocery store in town, and I don't even know who makes it. Luckily for me, they still had some in blue, and it was half off! Score.

 Our tree was cut fresh from Jonny's parents' property up the canyon.  This is the second year we've elected to go with a miniature version on top of the mantle... I mean entertainment center.  We were crunched for space last year, and although there is more room now, we thought it would still be a good plan due to the fact that our almost-two-year-old is INTO EVERYTHING.  I have to say I absolutely LOVE our tree.  It's perfect.  And it's got all the things I think every good Christmas tree needs. (Minus the lights... once I strung them, you couldn't see the poor little branches anymore.  So I bagged the Christmas tree lights and taped some to the back of my empty blue picture frame instead.)

But like I was saying... All the things a great Christmas tree needs:

Some pretty Christmas balls (get them at Michaels or Joanns with a coupon and they're super cheap).

Some handcrafted goodness- I made the garland with jute cord and wooden beads.

A little sentiment-those silver things are old fishing lures that used to belong to Jonny's grandpa.  His brother(who shall remain nameless) did a little man-craft and turned them into ornaments for all of us. I love them because they have a special meaning, and because they match my other ornaments so well! There are a few that don't match as nicely... they're on there too, just a little harder to see :)  My mom hangs our old ski passes on her tree. They're unique to our family and it's fun to look at all our old pictures.

And of course, some bling.  The sparkly buttons came from Grandma Carol. They aren't exactly a special heirloom entrusted in my care, in fact, I acutally bought them from her. It's a funny story and it makes me smile every time I look at them.  Also found hanging on the tree- a prism from my mom, a snowflake crystal I bought to hang in the rear view window of my first vehicle, and some jewelry from my grandma. Sparkly AND sentimental.

 

And there's a little birdie sitting under the tree.  I bought him at the dollar store. No sentiment, just cute.

And since we don't have a mantle, or any other horizontal surface for that matter, I made a swag from which  to hang our stockings.

I used some sticks I picked up on a walk up the creek and the leftover boughs from our tree.

I attached the biggest boughs with floral wire and then added the sticks.  Then I added the smaller boughs and used them to hide all the wires.

I hung our stockings on another stick and attached it with some jute cord.  I used the tails of the cord to make loops that I hung on the hooks on the wall.  I think it could use a bow or some red berries to spruce it up a little.  I'm sure that will happen sometime in the near future.

Last but not least, the sleigh bells hanging on our door.  They were made by Grandpa Ike and they're so fun and festive!