I feel your pain.

I didn't have Santas, but I had reindeer and Christmas balls (lime green,silver, purple) on my mantle. I took them down, and added back some red twigs from the yard in a vase with some money plant (the white discs on a stick). I also put out my clear & frosted Christmas balls. They look like bubbles, not ornaments. I also added some winter things like skating children figures. And I brought out my acrylic snowmen too.

You can take the Santa's down and leave the greenery and lights for a while longer.

I have two chunky flameless candles on my mantel along with the things I had up pre-Christmas. They come on automatically at 6:00 and stay on for 4 hours. DH really likes the soft light that the candles give out.

Yes -- simply remove the Christmas-type decor and garland -- and find some of the faux candles!!

Try the faux candles in all of the same color -- but different heights! Simple and easy -- and adds a glow to the room!

For some winter decor -- add some pinecones along the mantel -- or perhaps pile some pinecones in a pretty white pottery or china bowl or a wood bowl and place it in the middle of the mantel -- along with some of the faux candles.

I went through the same exercise yesterday. I have abstract silver glitter feathers in a white vase and two silvery tree decorations, which I actually took down for a moment and then put back. I ended up leaving them all plus a plain pine wreath and some white ceramic candle holders with snowflake cutouts. I decided to declare everything "winter" instead of "Christmas." I can rationalize with the best of them!

On top of an armoire I have a manzanita branch which I wrapped with little white lights one Christmas. I liked it so much I usually leave them up all winter or even all year. If it makes you happy, do it!

I have faux candles, too. (Hated the flickering aspect they came with...dh did some surgery and corrected that.) Some faux ivy intertwines with the candles. A rectangular mirror is at one end of the mantle and a smaller rectangular frame holding an old letter is on the other end.

It's not as bright and cheerful as the Christmas decor, but it's not blah either.

"You can take the Santa's down and leave the greenery and lights for a while longer."
Ditto! Enjoy it as long as you can~

I have been thinking about buying twig lights for my own home but lovesummer's idea of just wrapping a branch in tiny lights sounds a lot less expensive!

I have a lighted fig tree that stays up year round. I usually only turn it on when we have company, although it has been on every night since the Christmas decor went up, and is still on during all of this wintry weather we are having.

home4all6-

We live in NNY, so it feels appropriate to have wintry decor out until at least March. I took down the blatant holiday stuff from the mantle (holly, reindeer, etc.), but kept the snowflake lights and a few of my more colorful and sparkly balls and garland. I added a couple of resin birds I got from the dollar store, changed out the candles from red to blue, pink and white and put a few white and silver trees up there. It's kind of a crazy mish mosh but it's colorful and wintry, and we like it. I have a couple of red heart wreaths (small) that I put up for Valentine's Day. Right before St. Patrick's Day I change it out, usually go green and yellow for spring, then change it again for summer and fall. I like mantel decorating, it's an easy way to get seasonal stuff on display.

We light the mantel lights every night, and often have a few candles going as well, you gotta have coping strategies to get thru the winters at the 44th parallel, and making the dark nights feel fun and sparkly is one of them.

Here are a couple of pics:

Good luck-

sandyponder