Christmas Decor ’23

Good morning, friends! I hope you all had a lovely Christmas. I have truly enjoyed all of it this year! The baking, the shopping, the gatherings, the goodies, the movies, the music, the decorating, and the worship! I had to cut out a few things this year, like getting Christmas cards printed and mailed, but it’s a balance, right!

I always hesitate to share photos of Christmas decor because I never want to appear that I’m showing off (I just enjoy decorating!) but also because Christmas decor has become so controversial. Has anyone else noticed that? The right time to put up your tree, the right kind of tree, and the right color schemes for your tree. In fact, there are arguments about all aspects of Christmas and how to do Christmas right. I believe everyone is entitled to their own style and I looooove that the homes of my friends and family are all so very different. It makes each home so cozy in its own way. How boring would it be if everyone’s Christmas home looked exactly the same!

I don’t really change much in my decor each year. The ornaments, garlands, stockings, etc pretty much stay the same, but I will change the colors of my ribbon. I was planning to go all cheery red and green this year– think traditional Christmas tartan. But then one little gift changed my mind. Care to know what that was? It was this ornament pictured below!

My sister-in-law lost her precious mother a few months ago and we all loved her dearly. She was Mama Gay to us all, the life of every party, and the most gracious Southern lady you’d ever meet. And, she had style! A Major’s wife in the Air Force, Mama Gay lived in several countries, taking decorating influence from each of their stations and creating an eclectic and tasteful collection of Asian, German, and American pieces. One of her many collections was blue and white dishes and jars beautifully displayed throughout her dining room and living room.

At Thanksgiving, my very thoughtful sister-in-law graciously gifted each of us ladies in the family a little blue and white ornament that had been purchased by Mama Gay before her passing. What a special gift! I brought mine home and placed it on my mantle which, at that time, was decorated for autumn. I was enjoying it so much that when it came time to decorate for Christmas, I decided to forgo the traditional red and green for touches of blue and I’ve enjoyed it so much this year. I already have a lot of blue and white accent pieces in my den year-round, so this was easy.

We’re fortunate to have a floral outlet near us which has rows and rows of ribbon at discounted prices. I purchased a wide brown gingham ribbon, a wide French blue ribbon, and a narrow bronze ribbon to use together.

You might notice new chairs in our den. There’s quite a lengthy story to those so I’ll save that for another day.

We don’t host Christmas at our house, so we love any reason to have company during December. My daughter and I had hosted a bridal shower earlier in the month (details coming!) and we had lots of tasty treats left over, so I invited my mom and sister-in-law over one afternoon for coffee and Christmas goodies. We sat around the den munching and sipping and having a good time together.

A local friend painted the pretty nativity you see below. She sells them in a shop in our downtown area and I was tickled to bring one home.

This is the second year we’ve had this artificial tree I purchased from a thrift store. We still miss much about having a fresh tree, but this artificial tree is much easier maintenance. The jury is still out for next year as to whether or not we’ll go back to a real one. We’ll probably take it on a year-by-year basis.

Since I spend a lot of time in my kitchen, it pleases me to have it decorated for the seasons. I found small wreaths at Hobby Lobby 50% off and tied them on the backs of each chair with blue ticking ribbon.

I love to display oranges at Christmas and throughout January. They’re bright and fresh!

I had a little fun with my baking areas!

That cute doggie cookie jar was a gift from my daughter one year and now he’s like an old friend.

Hanging on our wall hook is one of Mama Gay’s aprons that my SIL gave my daughter this year! I just love it!

The guest bathroom is also my son’s bathroom so it can get a little tricky having it ready for guests. We figured out a little routine this year that I think I’ll keep year-round. Having Christmas decor sitting around in his bathroom on the daily is not practical, so I keep everything on standby in a wooden box and before guests arrive, he cleans up his bathroom and puts his stuff in the cabinet and then I can come in with my box and add the decorations and guest amenities.

The guest bath is down a long hall with other doors so it can sometimes be tricky for guests to find it. I think I probably got the idea from Refresh Her to put a wreath on the door and tell guests to just look for door with the wreath. I’ve been doing that for a while now and it works! For December I switched to a ball of mistletoe. When someone asks for the restroom, I just said, “Down the hall, the door with the mistletoe!”

At the front entrance, I added two new ideas this year. One of those ideas was a little bowl of bells on my foyer table to hand to guests when they leave. I had them leftover from the bridal shower and thought I’d keep them there for a little something fun and Christmassy for visitors to take with them. I’m definitely going to repeat this each Christmas and already have a Bible verse picked out to print and tie on to each bell next year.

The other idea was keeping coffee gift cards in my mail holder at the door. Every year I have the hardest time catching our mail carrier, delivery people, and trash collectors to give them a little something to say thank you. So, I put the gift cards at the door to have them ready and told my son to always shout out when he sees one coming (He watches everyone coming and going in the neighborhood! I call him Mrs. Kravitz, haha!)

And speaking of the front entrance, I’ll see you to the door before you go and thank you for stopping by today! I wish I could give you a little bell to take with you! (Please overlook the fall pumpkins, lol!)

I hope you’re enjoying lots of post-Christmas rest this week! I’m catching up on blogging while watching movies, so be watching for more posts to come!