I've finally mastered Christmas minimalism...

...thanks to one small ball of fur. And it doesn't hurt nearly as much as I thought it would!

This is our house right now, decorated for Christmas 2010. You really have to compare it to past Christmas's to get the full impact of how many decorations I did not put out this year (I normally go over the top when it comes to Christmas decorating). I also didn't have to rearrange the furniture to make room for the tree in our small living room (definitely a plus!).

See what I mean? This is last year.

Instead of my tinsel tree, the Christmas cactus has been moved into the living room bay window because....

...Baby has taken over the Dining Room bay window, where the cactus has been sitting for years. She likes that window best because the bird feeder is attached outside of it!

Fake poinsettieas have replaced real ones...


Again, because of you-know-who. (Poinsettias are poisonous to cats and since she is into everything, I'm definitely not going to take a chance with her! Here's a toxic/non-toxic list put out by the ASPCA if you ever need to refer to it).

Bottlebrush trees aren't breakable (I see you back there, Baby! Watching my every move!)...

...so a tray full of them seems to be a safe centerpiece for the trunk/coffee table.

...and if little Miss Mischief does knock them over...


...it's easy enough to set them back up on the tray.

I'm old enough to know the truth of the phrase "never say never," but I'm thinking I might try to make this "Christmas minimalism" an annual tradition, because it was SO easy to decorate - and undecorating is going to be a BREEZE!

I'm linking up to Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show & Tell Friday, so be sure to head over there to check out all the other participating bloggers!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Donna

The sugar village and A Christmas Carol

My little sugar village is set up on the family room TV.


Did anyone else watch Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol when they were growing up? This 1962 classic is my sister's favorite version of A Christmas Carol, and several years ago she gave me my own copy! (My favorite part is when they all sing The Lord's Bright Blessings - I love that song!) I actually have two favorite versions of A Christmas Carol - the 1938 version starring Reginald Owen as Scrooge and Gene Lockhart as Bob Cratchit, and the 1992 Muppet version starring Michael Caine as Scrooge (wonderful memories of watching that one with the girls when they were little, not to mention I love Michael Caine!)...


Back to the sugar village... The sugar houses were bought at TJ Maxx and Marshalls several years ago...


They were very reasonably priced and, with their little bottlebrush trees and wreaths, they had a vintage look to them. The reindeer and sleigh actually are vintage.

They definitely show their age, more yellow than white...

...and they're no longer glued to their cardboard base.


But I think they look right at home in the sugar village.

The houses and churches in the village are all white, but the roofs are pink, green, and blue, all heavily dusted with snow.

Several of my vintage angels appear throughout the village, some on the ground, some on rooftops.

I almost passed on these houses and churches several years back because, (to borrow one of my mom's favorite sayings) I needed more Christmas decorations like I needed a hole in the head. But I thought they were so pretty that I ended up collecting several different houses and churches over a two year period.

The little table in the corner of the family room is also set up with a church that I've had for years (much smaller than the sugar churches on the TV), some bottlebrush trees, and more vintage reindeer.

Well, I set aside some time today to take photos of my Night Before Christmas books, so I'll share those with you next....

Until then, stay safe and warm!

Donna

Winter white, silver, and green for the mantel...

Of course the winter white is year-round since it's the color of our walls, our painted furniture, and our slipcovers. I don't know why I'm so afraid of color. I love color! I drool when I visit blogs with bright colored walls, and furniture painted in blues, greens, & reds, with vibrant slipcovers in florals and stripes. Maybe someday I'll get over my fears, but until then... winter white!

(click any photos to enlarge)

Alrighty, so in my last few posts I've shared the dining room, including my bird tree and the dining room hutch. As you can see from the photo above, the hutch is actually located in the living room, right next to the fireplace (because our little dining area is too small to accommodate it!)


So come on into the living room with me... Oops - don't go too far! Mm hmm, that's the end of the living room already, right where the corner TV armoire is. Very tight quarters in here, especially at this time of year.


The tree has been set up where the loveseat usually sits. And the wing chair, because it's smaller, was moved over next to the tree. It usually sits next to the fireplace.


As you can see, it's pretty cramped over here by the fireplace, with the loveseat and coffee table plunked right in front of it. But instead of saying cramped, let's call it cozy. That has a nicer ring to it!

I tried the mantel with green glass balls hanging from the garland...

...but ended up switching to silver.

I guess I have a bit of a winter woodland theme going on. There are lots of trees on the mantel - all sizes and varieties of bottle brush trees, as well as some birches.

There are also woodland creatures, in the form of deer (stocking/garland holders), cavorting about...

... as well as mirrored snowflakes (again, stocking/garland holders) and sparkly silver trees of all heights and textures.

I wish I could remember the name of the woman that I purchased these stockings from years ago so I could share it with you - aren't they pretty? This one has a cream crocheted doily-type border at the top...

... while this one has delicate lace and ribbons.

The finishing touch is The Christmas star, sparkly white with silver tinsel edging.

I also decided to tucked my peach and green floral lap quilt over the loveseat sitting area for a little change of pace, trying to coordinate with the green floral sheet I'm using to cover the old brick hearth (we don't actually use the fireplace so the sheet is safe!). So that about does it for our cramped, I mean cozy cottage living room!

I still need to share my collection of Night Before Christmas books with you, and I also have a few things in the family room to show you!

But now you should head over to visit Cielo at The House in the Roses, to see the incredible mouth-watering meal she has prepared for Sunday dinner with her family! You'll also find a list of bloggers who are participating in Show Off Your Cottage Monday...

Then after that, be sure to head to Nesting Place for a huge list of Christmas homes to visit!!

Stay safe and warm, wherever you are!

Donna

Holiday Home Tour

Today I'm taking part in the 2009 Holiday Home Tour hosted by the lovely Tracey of Notes from a Cottage Industry. Please be sure to visit Tracey as she has posted links to many other bloggers who are sharing their Christmas decor! Thank you, Tracey!!

(click any photos to enlarge)

We took advantage of our daughters being home for Thanksgiving to trim the tree. It's definitely more fun when everybody is here to decorate... We bit the bullet a few years ago and bought an artificial tree (I'm not sure either girl has quite gotten over this yet, but when the last 'real' tree we had dropped every needle the day after Christmas, which meant we were still vacuuming up remnants of it the following summer, we decided it was time to go artificial.)


I wasn't able to download all of my photos, so I'm just going to share a bit of the living room for now... In future posts I'll show you the fireplace & mantel, the vintage birdcage all decked out for the holidays, the dining room, and much, much more.


Our living room is quite small so every year, in order to make room for the tree, the furniture has to be rearranged.


The tree definitely takes up quite a bit of the room, but it's well worth it - especially at night when the room is illuminated by just the tree lights...


In a future post I'll share the sentiment behind this year's window decorations.


I'll also show you more of my "Night Before Christmas" collection (I never get tired of looking at the beautiful illustrations in these books... The artwork is amazing, with each individual artist depicting this Christmas classic in a style that is unique to them)...

I often take advantage of after-Christmas sales to pick up heavily discounted bottlebrush trees in all styles and sizes. I've used them in several of my groupings around the house this year...

...including on the pie safe, where I plunked them down on top of my small collection of button vases. The glitter reindeer are from Target last year - can you ever have too much sparkle at Christmastime? I don't think so!

Now I'm off to finish downloading more Christmas photos! Thank you for stopping by to see the first of my holiday decorating posts! I wish you all a joyous holiday season...

Donna