I love Christmas, it's one of my favorite times of the year, spending time with family and friends, the joy of exchanging gifts, gatherings with them enjoying delicious foods and sharing in the spirit and wonder of it all. And, as much as anything else my favorite time to decorate my home.
I get excited when bringing out all of the decorations that have been put away over the past year, it's like an early Christmas gift going through them, and out come all those memories, too.
My neutral palette is the blank canvas for the different options and colors to choose from when deciding which direction I want to go with the holiday decor. I love lots of sparkle, glitter and golds, beautiful deep greens and occasionally I do use touches of red, because what says Christmas more than a pop of red here and there?
Although this year I've gone with mostly green, gold, cream and white, and lots of sparkle. Once the tree location is decided on, since we have a few different locations for the main tree, and a couple of smaller trees, I start with where and what I want to display. It's hard not to use everything, but sometimes rotating items to use next year makes it much more special to use them the next time. I've acquired more than I need over the years, and those after the holidays sales get me every time!
I've had a Magnolia theme going this year on our mantel in the family room, and used it through the summer, and the fall. My plan was to not give it up, and so I edited out some of the fall touches and added in some Christmas touches using greenery, gold and glitter for the holidays. I also wanted a less is more approach to the overall look of my holiday decor, and have it flow well with our current home decor, and palette.
The floral arrangements were given lots of glittery golden additions tucked into what was already there. I kept the dressed up faux candles as they were, since they worked perfectly with my "lots of sparkle" theme too. I added a pretty gold beaded garland and some holiday picks to the mantel, and hung a couple of golden snowflake ornaments.
Below the mantel a table has more gold and sparkle. A glass vase holds pine cones I spray painted gold a few years ago.
Across from the mantel I have filled a golden urn with ornaments, pine cones and mini-Christmas presents all in gold. Along with the urn on the table I placed some golden jingle bells, a sparkly golden Christmas tree, and a little JOY.
I got the wooden J and Y from the craft store and used a round golden ornament for the O, I simply have them propped up in front of the urn, resting on each other.
In our living room I kept it simple by adding just a few Christmas touches. I placed a small Christmas tree on each side table.
My beautiful ceramic Nativity set sits near the tree on the left and usually gets displayed in this spot each year.
A small Santa and a mini golden Christmas tree sits on the table between the windows.
A Merry Christmas greeting front and center on the coffee table, and a pretty candle display add a festive touch. And, gold tinsel garland tucked into my beautiful crystal bowl adds a little more sparkle.
Across from there is our foyer separating the living room and dining room. I did a little something different on the stair railings this year. I wrapped the handrails with gold tinsel garland, and cream and gold ribbon with sparkly snowflakes, and golden ice cycles hang from the garland.
And, there sits our beautiful Christmas tree in the corner of our foyer, wrapped by the staircase. We are ready for Christmas and awaiting our loved ones, and Santa Claus!
Merry Christmas wishes to everyone!
