Decking the Halls

We've been getting in the spirit of the holidays and have had fun the last few weeks decking the halls. We'll be in the US for Christmas but wanted to decorate a bit around the house anyway. We haven't had our own tree since 2009 because we're always away for Christmas. And in the weeks leading up to Christmas I often wish I had decorated more. It might seem silly to have a tree when we will be away for Christmas, but we've planned to give our tree to our neighbors who've just moved back into their house after renovating it since summer. I didn't go crazy with the decorations, but here's a little bit our holiday cheer around the house. I have soooo many Christmas craft and decorating ideas on Pinterest and this wreath is just one thing I wanted to make inspired by a photo I've pinned. I've hung it in a few different places in our front room, which is basically my craft room. I love it and love that it was simple enough for Lois to help me make it. Our front room looks really pretty in the evening when the sun is going down, which is when I took these photos. 

Also in the front room, I decorated our spinning book rack with lights and Christmas ball ornaments to make it look a bit like a tree. I love the metal Christmas Tree shown in Sarah Moore's book Vintage Home (at least I think it's featured in Vintage Home and also here on Pinterest). Unfortunately I had to drag the cord a bit since the outlet was far from the book rack. 

And a few photos from Ellie's room. I bought some star fairy lights for both the girls' rooms and hung Ellie's in the branch above the daybed. 

And then there's the tree! Most of our ornaments are from Anthropologie, which I buy a few of just after Christmas when they are on sale. But some others I made and a few were gifts from friends or relatives. Initially we decorated the whole tree but Ellie was interested in undecorating the bottom quarter of the tree, so we just left ornaments off the bottom. And Lois made our beautiful star. I also have some vintage balls in various colors, but I'd like more. I'm a big fan of a bit of tinsel in a tree since it give it a shimmery look in the lights. I normally also stuff the tree with Christmas cards we received in years past, but I couldn't find my Christmas card stash. I panicked a bit a first, but I know they are somewhere in our house. I do miss the cards stuffed in the tree though. 

I made this ornament below using an Yellow Owl Wokshop stamp on some air drying clay (I stole the clay from Lois). I made a bunch of these to attach to presents. I was thinking I'd stamp them onto some cookies too. 

This one below is from Anthropologie. I have a trio of these ladies. 

This tree I made from an old quilt top.

Knitted fish from Anthropologie. 

This little jump rope gal I bought when we lived in San Francisco. It's from my friend Lisa's antique shop.

A yarn wreath I made last year. Another Pinterest idea. 

 Mitten from Anthropologie.

Another one I made from a Yellow Owl Workshop stamp. 

 One I got at the Kempton Park flea market last month.

 Anthropologie beaded sweater.

One more of the Anthropologie trio of wood dolls. 

 And Lois's star.

And I have some narcissus in tea cups around the house. My mom often planted them during the holidays. I didn't like their scent growing up but now I love it. 

I took this photo below with my iPhone of a different narcissus in a tea cup of the same set. It got so tall! I took this photo the day it tilted over. 

And a few more iPhone photos... I made a few dozen cookies for a cookie decorating party I had for Lois and a few of her school friends. I used this recipe from an old issue of Gourmet Magazine, and they we so good. 

And I made more ornaments with rubber stamps. 

So that's a bit of our festive cheer around the house! Have you seen this post from Artemis and their festive cheer at home? And Alicia Paulson's recent post? Beautiful. If we were staying home, I would have done more but I'm happy to have gotten this much done. I'm looking forward to visiting family and friends in Atlanta. My sister and her husband recently added onto their house, and from what I've seen, it looks great. I'm hoping to share photos of that and more of our holiday from Atlanta.