Living Alone - Do you decorate for Christmas?
tamarisk
17 years ago
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mjmercer
17 years agoRelated Discussions
What would you do with this mantel for christmas decorating?
Comments (21)It's a great space, though challenging. My suggestion would be to add something with height, to break up all those horizontal lines. How 'bout cutting some branches and spraying them white or gold and putting them in a vase near one end? You could wrap them with small lights for even more impact--just be sure to try to match the wire color to the branches. Watch the sales and maybe pick up one or two LARGE items, like the nutcrackers others have mentioned. You don't necessarily need a lot of items, but you need drama and impact and height. Two large, graduated nutcrackers (or snowmen or Santa's, you get the idea) near one end would have a lot of impact. Other thoughts: have you experimented hanging the wreath separately from the mirror? Can the mirror stand vertically instead of horizontally? You want to break up those long horizontal lines. Or maybe hang large ornaments from the ceiling against the wall, varying the lengths of the ribbons. Take a look at well-decorated stores or malls, that's a good place to get inspiration. Great job on the staircase!...See MoreDo you do Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving?
Comments (26)I love Autumn and I love Thanksgiving and so I can't imagine ruining it (for me) by putting up Christmas decs beforehand. Thanks AWM for posting the words to my favorite Thanksgiving song, "Over The River and Through The Woods". It makes me happy every time I hear it. If it were up to me, I'd wait and put up our Christmas decs the first weekend in December, so that we could really enjoy a long weekend, leisurely, holiday weekend after Thanksgiving. But, I "shot myself in the foot" years ago by letting my kiddos talk me into starting the day after Tday. It's now become "the tradition" and my sweet 16 y/o DD tells me it would "ruin everything" to not decorate for Christmas the entire long weekend after Thanksgiving (sigh!). So, younger parents, be careful of the traditions you start early on, as they may turn around and bite you in the butt later ;^D Wishing everyone who's celebrating, a very Happy Thanksgiving!!! Lynn...See MoreHow are you doing with your Christmas decorating?
Comments (62)The holidays are a little bit of a sad time for me. I love decorating the house, listening to the same old carols over and over again, buying gifts that I think people will want. Then it all is a little disappointing since my DH isn;t interested in the decorations, doesn't like the carols and doesn't want me to spend much money on things he can pick out for himself. In addition, my DIL is Jewish and although they come for Christmas Eve and we all spend Christmas Day with some cousins, it isn't "their holiday". My son has adopted her faith and that hurts me more than anything else. I'm pretty much alone as far as being the only Christian in my family even though DH has started going to church with me. Now that we have a grandson, I would so love to share all the traditions with him that we did with our son but I can't. When he came over today, he noticed that I had changed the wreath on the front door from the fall one to the Christmas one. He said, "What did you do, Nana? It's so pretty." (he's only 29 months but very aware of things like that) I told him I took down the fall things and am putting up the winter things. I have started decorating inside but haven't put up the tree. Not quite sure how I will approach that subject. This will be the first year that I know he will ask alot of questions. Last year he wanted to touch the ornaments and would look at the lights but that was about all. I gues all in all, I end up feeling a little disappointed as each year I hope it will be better. I truly am grateful for all that I have and I don't have a real reason to feel neglected. Trailrunner - I hope you get back with us. Will post pictures when done decorating....See MoreWhen do you take your Christmas decor down?
Comments (52)Re housecleaners--that was another motivation for me to at least get my tree down last week; I did it the day before the incredibly efficient person who cleans for me came so she could really get everything scrubbed and vacuumed up :). And about lights-after many years of carefully winding them around cardboard or storing in bags, and then taking them out the next year and trying to find strings that didn't have burnt bulbs and/ weren't twisted up....I am living the truly decadent lifestyle of buying several boxes of the 300-light strings from Home Depot, putting them on the tree and then THROWING THEM OUT. It makes me feel sorta guilty but mostly delighted to know that next year I will just spend another $10 and not have to worry or fuss with lights! I finally got all my holiday decorations down, boxed and back in the garage loft on Monday. I use only red or green plastic bins that seal tightly, the color so they are easily identifiable and sealed so no critters or dust can get in. Each box is numbered and I long ago created a corresponding list of the box numbers with the contents of each in detail. I sometimes make a few changes in content so I update the printed list each year and one copy goes in the loft with the supplies, the other stays on my desk. Each year when it's time to decorate I know exactly which boxes have what, which makes it super easy to unload and unpack when I get ready to decorate. It sounds more complicated than it really is I suppose--was a bit of a chore to set up but has saved untold hours of aggravation over the years and makes the holiday effort a lot easier. Controlling type A personality? Nah, not me.......lol...See Moremariaocean
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