Oh Christmas Tree.....

Living Room Console all ready for the Holidays

It is that time of year again....time to deck the halls and all that jazz. I am finding that this year, the "divide and conquer" method is working for me. I have been working on one room at a time, and so far I am almost done with the Living Room. Granted, I have had help, but the duties are largely up to me. My family has found over the years that I am particular about the tree lights. Guess what? When one is particular, one finds that one is relegated to completing the task oneself. It takes me about 4 hours all together to do the lights.....I know....a bit compulsive.

But isn't it pretty? I do enjoy the fruits of all that labor. I truly do.

Our tree all finished

It all starts with this:

And this is not all of it, believe me. I have been collecting ornaments and "stuff" for a long time, and many of the ornaments were collected by my mother and passed on to me. As Mom has downsized over the years, I have become the lucky beneficiary.

As I said, I did have lots of help, and here are my little elves working away.

All done!

I decided to use burlap as my tree skirt for the first time, and am not quite sure what took me so long! I love how it drapes and the color is perfect for any color scheme. Best of all, it is very affordable and available.

And evening all lit up.

The tree was done first. Then on to the console. Every year I do a little something different on this table for the Holidays. One of my very favorite Christmas movies is the musical, SCROOGE. So I decided to add a little Dickens to my decor this year.

I used ribbon with music printed on it, and brass horns which I have had for many years. I stacked vintage books to add some different heights. I found a vintage star the other day at a shop I love (I will blog about it soon!) covered in tarnished glitter.

I have added silver candlestick holders leaving them a bit tarnished. I may be alone here, but I love a little bit of tarnish on my silver (unless it is to be used at the table). It has a bit of a romantic quality. I cut some boxwood from our garden and put it in silver baby cups (one was my father's, one was mine and a couple were from other family members.) Derby cups would also be pretty, but I do like the personality of the baby cups.

I added some votive candles and some evergreen cuttings.

Oh....and a few gold painted pine cones. (Here's a tip: if you buy wreaths that have pine cones on them, save them for future use before disposing of the wreath after the holidays. They do come in handy and are already pre-wired.)

As I said, I did have quite a bit of help. We put on the Christmas Carols, had some hot cider and had a wonderful evening making things merry and bright! But now it's time to take a little rest, sit back and enjoy........