Be Present - Be Real

Okay – here’s the deal – when we first got married and started our own traditions I made a promise to myself that I would NEVER EVER have gold in my Christmas décor scheme. Who knows why – it just SO WASN’T my thing…

Everything just HAD to be silver and red – only.

But isn’t it funny how our tastes [and ideas] change through the years?

As I grew to love my favorite happy color combo [purple – cream – and green] well,

GOLD just went so much better at Christmas than silver. Ha.

So my Christmas décor began to change gradually over the years as well

[I’ve never been one to pack away a color scheme and start anew…]

This year Craig was soooo sweet to enlarge our mantle a bit – giving me so much more room to add some décor and colorful goodness. [And let’s be honest – I’m going to love this extra room all year through!!] I wanted to go with all the sparky goodness that Margie so wonderfully does – but as I added more and more I realized that there was a bit of miss-match with our treasured hand-knit stockings that Craig’s mother has knitted for each of us through the years…

and those are CENTRAL to our Christmas décor…

I knew I had to somehow merge the elegant and rustic look –

And, well, you can see the results.

I had a lot of fun pulling it all together - and I'll admit,

it was a little hard to put that silver back in - lol-

Let me show it to you bit by bit – what’s new, & what’s re-purposed

[y’all know I’m all about THAT.]

The gold framed mirror came with the house – it’s never been moved and is the backdrop to everything on the mantle. I added some old silver trays from the attic to spark things up a bit [I mod-podged some wrapping paper circles to the center to add a little something-something; it’ll wash off when I’m done – gold-foil wrapping paper and silver foil {trees with birds} gift bag from Target.]

The large white frame is from Goodwill and has a painted black / purple board inside [- have had this for a while {I always pick up frames to re-purpose when I see them at a good price} I may add a white vinyl quote to the outside before the season’s out.] The small white frames are those I picked up for a buck a few weeks back and spray-painted – they now hold the few Santa photos we have of the boys [I’m sure they’ll stay on the mantle with different photos rotated throughout the year -] I picked up the little Merry Christmas plate along the way somewhere [$1.]

The small green, burlap-wrapped trees have been a part of our Christmas décor for years, they have battery operated lights [fun!] The gold bottle-brush trees are also a staple that we’ve had for years – and the gold photo stocking holders have been on the mantle for several years now…[picked up at Target after-Christmas one year.]

I wanted to incorporate my ever-growing milk glass collection so I used pieces to layer and stack, and hold my favorite white star [it has always stayed out year ‘round.] So, have I bought anything yet? LOL – well, I DID make a little Target run and picked up the gift wrap and those gold-mercury-glass-looking votive holders and silver mercury-glass-looking candle holders – the bronze candles were bought at discount store [do any of you have an Old Time Pottery nearby? I know some of you do!].

And those gold stars throughout are a pack of ornaments from Hobby Lobby.

Lastly – I wanted to gather twigs and pinecones and rustic yard debris [lol] to add to the mantle and then I remembered that I had that beautiful grape garland that’s been setting behind some art on top of a chest for awhile now – so I moved it front and center and added some sheer bronzy-gold ribbon [picked it up at OTP as well] and small [battery-operated] lights to spark it up a bit! [We have BOXES of these in our Christmas storage – bought after Christmas each year, because, well, you never know when you might need s a little set of battery-operated lights – lol.]

I think this one piece is what pulls the elegant-rustic look together the most. LOVE IT.

And it gives me a little ‘happy’ when I walk by and see it. – And a GREAT BIG HAPPY when I TAKE THE TIME to sit quietly with it [and a mug of {{sugar-free}} hot chocolate] and think about the blessings in my life. And that’s one of the most important parts of Christmas to me – reflecting on the goodness that God has given us, starting with the babe in the manger.
I have several nativity sets throughout our home at Christmas [even in the bathroom] -
I'll share some of them later in the month.
I have some more pinterest-inspired decorations to share with you [some involving twigs and rustic debris from the yard – lol] – until then, I want to encourage you to start gathering things from around your house that you love and pull it all together so you can have a little happy in your life too!