A {Tiny} Bit Of Christmas From Our House

I just have to face it....my decorating this year is just not up to par!  There are only eight more days left till Christmas and I did not do everything I wanted to do.  I have decided to be more like the victorian housewives {instead of the Boston housewives-wonder if they will do a show here}.  Anyway, since the victorian woman had to make everything by hand they began at least three months in advance {I think}.  This is where I need to be next year, starting in August!  On average woman spend about 300 hours or 38 working days preparing for the festivities {source here}.  I may have spent that amount of time thinking "I really need to get started".  Shamefully, our tree isn't fully decorated.  I will not be showing a picture right now because I hope to get to it this weekend!

This display on my sideboard I literally threw together in about 10 minutes.  Good for now.  My daughter made the sparkly red pine cones.  Great project to do with kids and they make cute gifts as ornaments.  Just buy red glitter, get some glue and get to work!  Cute!

Lovely sweet gingerbread house purchased from here.  We will be eating this soon...

How many days or hours have you spent getting ready?

xojamilyn

{All images taken via me}

Our Easy Christmas Decorations For Front Door {Side Door}

One of the best things I have ever bought {for outside} are my black metal urns.  I use them over and over for every season.  This festive display only took me about fifteen minutes to arrange.  You can find the large red twigs and fresh greenery at your local nursery.  To do these two containers cost me around thirty dollars.  As far as a wreath, you don't need to get to complicated.  Just pick up an evergreen wreath and tie a simple red bow on it.  Now, there are years were I would like to do something different or more elaborate {like this year}.  However, this display is the fastest way to get your front entrance looking good and you can move on to more important things...like gifts!

To arrange these decorations, it is really easy.  First you start with dirt...you need that to hold everything in place.  I like to keep the red branches bundled together in the middle.  I usually tie them at the end with rubber bands and  place them in the middle deep in the dirt.  I then take each evergreen branch and stick them around the pot.  The large pine cones you can add in anywhere.  I think they look best clustered in a pair.  That is it and you are done!  I purchased all of these at Fran's Flowers in Natick, MA.  Go here to see there video on how to arrange a beautiful holiday display for your winter containers.

Our side door decorations.  Again, this was easy and simple.  I picked up two small trees and just placed them in my urns.  I then found some pine cones lying around outside and tucked them in.  Done!

I just saw snow flurries today.  Expecting snow by the end of the week?  Already?  I still have Christmas lights to hang outside!

Have fun decorating!

xojamilyn

Seasonal Decorating At Russell's

These rustic decorations are perfect for Thanksgiving.  Grab a wreath and go!

They have an abundance of dried flowers and beautiful tall twigs.

Adorable twigs with little bells on them.  Coming back for these!

Country wreath, leave it as is or add a pop of color.

I have an obsession with mushrooms.  These dried mushrooms are sold in bags and would be great to add texture to any vignette or flower arrangement!  I will be picking some of these up!

Russell's Garden Center in Wayland, Mass. has a very large department for Christmas decorating.  They will make a custom wreath for you or flower arrangement.  They do a really beautiful job.

Lovely large pine cones at only $1.50 each.  These are the most affordable and make for a simple, elegant decoration.  Check out Two Ellie's post at Mrs. French on decorating with pine cones.  Below is a photo of Paula's dinning room over at Two Ellie.  She used one large pine cone as a simple decoration on her beautiful dinning room table.  Her mother has had that pine cone since she was a little girl.  How wonderful and sentimental is that?  I think her home looks absolutely lovely for this season.

Image via Mrs. French via Two Ellie

I used to collect Dept. 56 Christmas In The City.  The tall brownstone to the left is new.  I would love to live in something like that.

Picked up one of these lovely rosemary topiaries.  I usually get one every season for my kitchen.  I eventually kill them though!  Very unfortunate that I don't have a green thumb!  Poor plant!  I love the way they look!

I am coming back for this Norfolk Island Pine.  Isn't it just gorgeous?  I want to find an urn to place it in my kitchen.  It is like a little whimsical Christmas tree.  I will not be putting any ornaments on it.  I like it just the way it is.  Go here to see when I first fell in love with this pine and the lovely urns they are planted in.

Happy Hunting!

xojamilyn

Photo's via me except for dinning room via Two Ellie