It's a Festivus Miracle!

Okay, there's no aluminum pole since we don't actually celebrate Festivus here, and I suppose that's probably a good thing, because the airing of grievances alone might take us through to 2016 :)

I did however put up some more traditional holiday decorations this year:

In a new house it's always a bit of a challenge figuring out where things will go, where the outlets are, what fits where, etc. To further complicate matters, I also decided to switch up the color scheme this year so that our decorations would blend more with the existing decor. 

That means, essentially, there's no (or at least very little) red to be found. Instead I kept pretty strictly to whites, metallics, greens, and blues. 

Our outdoor lights are all solid green, with the exception of a couple small LED branches in warm white that are in the pots out front.

I think they're a nice change of pace from the white lights you see everywhere, and E always says "green is my favorite color" when she sees the lights on, so that alone is reason enough for me to love them. 

Indoors I stuck to the color scheme and kept a pretty clean look overall. I have tons of decorations I didn't put out this year, but I just was drawn to a little less clutter this holiday:

Of course the mantle is fully decked out, with a lighted garland, some pretty green mercury glass vases and candlesticks, as well as gold stick trees and my favorite vintage laurel wreath sculpture.

The dining table has a combination of vessels with Christmas balls and candlesticks with simple white candles and some fresh greenery. I kept the colors here to just white and silver since the dark blue walls already bring the drama in this room.

It also turns out the dining room plate rail is an ideal place to display all of our holiday cards:

You're all very attractive :)


I just can't stand to clutter up my kitchen with a lot of decorations, so the only nod to the holiday here is a cute little mini rosemary tree, which I transplanted from its red plastic container to this galvanized steel one.

Our main tree is in the piano room:

We chose an 8-foot live tree this year, and the charm and scent of a live tree is certainly hard to beat. The needles everywhere, I could live without.

I love having such a full, pretty tree, but I think next year it's going to be back to artificial for this girl, and most likely a 9-10-foot tree as the 8-footer looks a little stumpy here, in my opinion. Balsam Hill has some beautiful artificial tree options, if you're in the market.

I also strung up some lighted garland across the piano top:

Of course the TV room and the basement are where we spend a good portion of our time when we're home, and it would have been a big bummer to not be able to enjoy pretty Christmas lights in those places, so I put up a couple of very simple topiary trees with lights.

These trees have a small footprint, but add such a nice ambiance to the rooms they're in.

Lastly, E is really excited about Christmas this year and seems to for the most part understand what it's all about. So, I figured it was time she got her own tree.

We put up this cute little pink tinsel tabletop tree in her room, and decorated it with some mini ornaments and some larger ones she and I crafted together. She adores having her own tree, and thinks it's pretty special that mommy actually lets her touch this one :)

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season, and thank you so much for reading!