Thank you! Riley is feeling a bit under the weather lately. She is currently having test run. We also found a walnut sized knot under her tummy. I was hoping it was a hernia, but the vet says no. She took some biopsies and sent them off to a better lab for a diagnosis. Doesn't look good.

lisa mocha - My neighbor has a Mocha! Having lost another dog at age 17, I feel for you. :( Other than losing my father recently, it's the hardest thing I have ever had to go through. Don't know if I can take losing Riley so soon after my father. She is 12.

OK, back on topic...as some of y'all have probably already seen on another thread, I am not decorating the inside of the house because we will not be here for Christmas. However, that has not stopped me from buying new decor.

I added to my Santa collection last weekend, and today I just couldn't pass up these cute little Christmas trees that were at our local Walgreens for only .99 each! I think they will look cute grouped together somewhere when I decorate next year. Already looking forward to it.

They came in gold and silver, and 3 different wire shapes. About 10" high. They look much better in person than they do in this ad.
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It's beginning to look alot like Christmas here in Wisconsin..we finally have snow and it's sooo beautiful this morning.

I have only done my mantle, and that was tough! I tried to use silver plate and white ironstone, but found that at least in the LR, I am NOT a silver girl, even though the pieces are antique!

I also had 'help' (NOT!) from my new son, also a Riley, who I adopted on 11/15 after losing my Joey suddenly on 10/20. He came to me as 'Dannyboy' from New England Brittany Rescue, and he started out in MO, then KS, then NH, and finally to Maine. He's estimated to be between 2 - 4. This is him about 16 hours after he arrived, comfy in my office chair. I renamed him as Danny was too close to my Sam/Sammy, and I didn't want to confuse them. He's big cuddler!

Anyway, without his help, this would have gone up a lot faster, but here it is. $30 antique mirror from CL, lamps I made a few years ago from old barley twist candle sticks (I did NOT drill into them; my favorite transferware, Furnivals Quail, garland I made a few years ago and added to this year, holly from my yard, and I made the scarf from a 25 cent piece of sample home dec fabric that I got at a nearby store. I had the trim on hand. The wooden and gesso piece above the platter is from an old mirror that is long long, and I have always loved it, so plopped it there!

I love seeing all of the photos - gorgeous and inspiring! Our tree is a mix of old vintage glass balls (can I ever have enough? um, no.), handmade ornaments from the kids, and lots of the items picked up at craft fairs and the like. I love a tree positively "encrusted" with ornaments. We play "I Spy" with the ornaments every night with the kids which is a fun ritual. (Geez, we need some presents under there!)

Love all the dog photos--Mocha has such a joyful expression in that photo--pure love!

Joyce, I can't believe that snow. We had snow on the ground this weekend last year, but today I kept the doors and windows open for fresh air while I cleaned, and my neighbor was cutting grass. Not too Christmas-y.

schoolhouse - That's some chandelier!

joyce_6333 - Oh my...how much snow did you get? It's gorgeous out there!

my3dogs - Your home is beautiful as always!

What a sweet looking dog your Riley is. The Mocha that lives behind us is a Boykin Brittany. They are raised in SC.

laurainlincoln - Your tree is really nice looking. I love that game you play. I'll have to remember that if I ever have grandchildren.

Well, just finished the outside with all natural greenery from the yard (unfortunately, the magnolia is dying so no waxy leaves for me), a few artificial pieces and some bows. I'll take pictures and post later.

Oh how I love those white trees! I want one so bad!

And Sombreuil - your wood work is gorgeous!

I'm another one that can't take a decent pic of my whole tree:

So here are some close ups:

This is the first year that I've had the stockings on the mantle. I haven't been able to get my family to part w/ the riot of red and green stockings and really, why should they have to? Year after year I try - it's a tradition of me asking. It does make me smile everytime I look at them though! I'll suffer through but I have no idea how to decorate the fireplace. Really never did since the stockings weren't there. The Dr. Seuss implosion of color seems to call for something fun and lighthearted. Any suggestions for this minimalistic/ rustic/ modern bent of a decorator in a Victorian house would be greatly appreciated. This is all the further I got today!

I have 20 stockings hung across fireplace wall. We did it for the first time last year and now it's my favorite thing. It's a weird wall: no mantle, no raised hearth, and the fireplace hole is about a foot off the floor. There are 4 small wooden pegs, unevenly spaced, and only about 2-2.5 inches long sticking out of the far sides of the wall, 2 on each side. I string a white rope across the pegs and clip the stockings to that.

My 2nd favorite thing is a tiny knit hat & scarf, that came on a wine bottle gift last year, that I put on my Eiffel tower statue on the bookcase. It makes me smile to see it.

I'll search for my camera and see if I can get pictures downloaded. But don't hold your breath for that.

Ttodd, I love the splash of color the stockings bring.

I love some of the closeups of the ornaments. So pretty.

Newhomebuilder: only about 6". Grandkids are looking for alot more when they come to WI for Christmas.

I hope it's OK if I post one from last year. I thought it might help anyone wondering what to do with all the stacks of pretty cards you get. (And we only have a few so far this year.) Anyway, I hang ribbons from corner to corner on one wall of our FR and hang the cards on the ribbons. By the time Christmas comes along the ribbons are filled and I love seeing everyone's cards, especially the photo cards.

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These are also from last year but we only do this on Christmas Eve and it's so pretty. Our whole town, nearly every house, puts out luminaria. (Sales benefit the Infant Welfare Society.) It's so beautiful to drive around town and see all the luminaria.

Front of the house:
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Looking down the street:
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Sombreuil - I was looking at your pics again and noticed the pic (forgive I don't know the title) of the man w/ his hands folded as if in prayer.

My parents have the same picture. One day before saying grace at the table my then very young niece pointed to the picture and said "That's Grandpa when he says 'O Lord please help me!'.

My home is a typical late 70's Florida style. Not elegant as many of the ones shown on here, but its mine. Here's a few pics of what I have done so far.

The mantle - I can't seem to take a straight picture!

Entertainment center

Foyer in the daytime

At night - I noticed I need to lift the 3 faced snowmen's hat to cover the cord

My babies! That's (left to right) - Amos, Asher - my GS - and Amos' sister Andi. Pups are 5 and Asher is 29 months.

Beautiful trees/decorations, pets and little ones!

I'm still fluffy and messing with ours, not sure if I'm done yet. It's very hard to get a good picture, especially with the vivid colors! Just started wrapping packages too, so much to do.

WOW! What absolutely gorgeous trees and decorations. Love the dogs, too.

Here's my little gift wrapping helper:

Our family room tree:

My Santa collection:

Nativity scene:

All the trees are so stunningly beautiful. I took some pictures today, but the close-ups turned out the best. It is so much fun decorating for Christmas, isn't it?! ~ whether or not glitz & sparkle floats your boat, or woodsy & country, I love it all.

Beautiful decorations! And sone of you have interesting animal helpers :)

That grand boy is simply adorable! His presence would decorate a room without anything else!

Okay .. I think I'm done adding to and fluffing the tree. :) I kept the rest of the decorations in here fairly simple since the tree is loaded! I wish I could get a good picture, the deco mesh ribbon looks so much better in person. I would like to find some festive pillows for the chairs and trade my peace lily out for a poinsettia, other than that this room is done.

Next I'm on to the hall and stairway.

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We like to keep it simple. I think I need a garland of some type-ttod, where did you get yours? we have a similar monochromatic tree.

And there's always an Indian flair to our decor:

Oooohhh! What a lovely thread! I love the red tree and the white trees, and all the cute doggies and darling children...and Susie, my children would LOVE to love on your street...your lights are gorgeous!

Well, the Nini family made the trek to the tree lot for what is considered the "unholiest day on the year" on our calendar....yes, tree day. Watching dh cursing our tree as he struggles to get it in the stand, straight, in the door, in place, straight...it's enough to make you start drinking. Heavily.
But it is up....and we made it through intact, until tree day next year!

Our tree isn't exciting, but every ornament is meaningful.

Our front door...I got to do 2 wreaths this year! Love my new bows, a sweet lady custom made them for me at our local hardware store!

Ttodd - love that second tree. I also do light colored decs - wasn't really planned, but many of the old tinsel and scrap ornaments I collect are pastels, and then I just started adding alot of glittered stuff, snowflakes, stars, also golds, silvers, white.

Fa la la la la!

tina

Here's our tree. It's very...untraditional this year.

I made that tree skirt out of scraps, and it reverses to a brocade.

Being as we're not even going to be home Christmas week, and I hadn't planned on a big decorating spree, I'm glad that I at least accomplished something!

Oh Zipdee I love your room! If I could commit to color I'd do something like your place in a heartbeat! Just perfect.

pps7 - I got that Garland at The Flower and Craft Warehouse in Blue Ball PA a few years ago. It started as one piece of garland w/ many strands so I ripped it apart. Every year I keep an eye open for mini plush tinsel garland. Target had some this year but they only had one left so I missed out.

Thanks Tina!

Franksmom - love your tree! I really want a white tree somewhere to put all of my blue and green ornaments on so your tree is good inspiration for me. Great job on the skirt!

Everyone has done a beautiful job!!!
I think I am as done as it will get this year:) For some reason the decorations in my house this year are making me clausterphobic. I usually love the halls decked:( Also my DD really wanted colored lights and I am a white light girl so I am trying to get use to the change.

at night with colored lights on tree

here is the dining room decorated for a "christmas baby" baby shower I held on saterday, the onies are being replaced with holiday cards but otherwise the room will stay as is.

oops I am sorry that party was on Saturday not saterday:) I thought I changed it before I sent the message:)

So many gorgeous pictures!

franksmom~Beautiful job on the treeskirt! I love your tree...I have a white one with blue ornaments as well:)

nini804~ I absolutely love your gorgeous doors! (and the wreaths are wonderful too!)

mboston~What a wonderful pillow collection and your picture of the 2 doogies and your grandson is adorable!

joyce~wonderful pictures too...I love the scenic winter pics and really love the simplicity of the snow on your back deck with the wreaths. I guess we need some snow here in Toronto to get me more in the Christmas spirit!

newhomebuilder~I'm sorry to hear about your father. I also hope Riley will be ok. Mocha had a # of lumps/bumps we always seemed to be checking out and none were of any great concern so hoping same situation with your Riley. We always joked that we had paid for most of the Renovations at our vets for what we'd been through the last few years with her. Someday we'll have another, but not sure another would ever be like her...she honestly was the sweetest & most loving and intelligent dog I'd ever had. We swore she had a human soul. Forever in our hearts:)

So many other wonderful trees too everyone!

Thank you lisa Mocha. Still waiting word from the vet.

nini804 - What a gorgeous front door!

To everyone else since I have posted, your homes and decor are fabulous!

Took pics of my outside decor tonight. This is it...natural (well most of it) and simple.

Big difference from years past.

Previous home where we had wreaths on every window

Bah humbug to me. lol

Love this thread every year! Your homes are so warm and inviting. Here are my pics sans outdoor tree lights - DH is taking it slow this year.

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I'm hooked on this thread.I keep coming back for more ideas and then I go out and buy more Christmas decorations!
Newhomebuilder- I really like the way you did your urns at the front entry. Are those real greens?
Ttodd, your tree looks great...we have the same taste in ornaments. Here's a picture of a silk floral arrangement that I use year around but I've tucked in ribbon and ornaments for the holidays.

OK, I know I already posted a close up of my tree with Jovi, my BC, in front of it but I just had to share this. I managed to take a pretty good "tree lit up at night" photo yesterday. I know it would look better if I'd wrapped some of my packages but I didn't want to wait and try again....I'm not 100% sure how I got this one and I'm not sure I'll get that lucky again! :-)

Wonderful decos everyone!

Thanks Ttodd! I understand what you mean about commiting to color. I have an on and off love/hate thing going on with the colors in my house. I've found my happy middle by adding plenty of white in the mix to one, tone the colors down and two, play crisply off the colors.

I went totally different in the hall this year, normally I do a big ole garland, I've showed you guys before. This year I kept it simple by adding a few pine swags to every fourth stair. That and it seems a snowman has left behind his hat and scarf .. must be why all the snow flakes have gathered in there. :)

Oh, this thread is making me want to decorate.

sidney4 - Yes, all the greenery is real. The ornamental cabbage is in the middle, as are some Pansy greenery. I cut the blooms off and added the silk Poinsettia's.

whitdobe - Really pretty. I put faux gifts under my tree until we start collecting the real deals. :)

Whitdobe, I store my ornaments in Christmas decorative boxes and when they are emptied, after ornaments are on the tree, I put them around the skirt like presents:) Super easy and when it is time to take the ornaments down again all the storage boxes are right there for me! Handy dandy:)

I love seeing everyone's decorations. I especially like seeing the white trees. I don't know anyone in real life with a white tree, so it's something different for me--they look great! I also like seeing all the stockings. My mom knitted all of us, our husbands, and all the grandchildren stockings so stockings have special meaning to me.

Here are some pics of my furry kids in front of the tree.

Oh, Kristi, your little kitty in the middle looks just like our cat we rescued while stationed in Germany. He was the meanest most cleaver 18lb Maine Coon known to man. BUT, he was beautiful and we miss him dearly. Your kids are just too adorable.

I'm starting to think I want a white tree...oh, and a live one too (so many pretty ones here). Maybe next year I'll have more energy to put one up. I've been decorating since Halloween and I considered not even decorating my own house this year. I will say it's so nice to see what other folks are doing and being inspired by their creations. Definitely a perk-up that I've needed.

Here are some of the trees I decorated for a client this year. Sorry to be a repeat from another thread...

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We are getting our first real tree. We have used artificial for the past 10 years or so. I had a real one as a younger child. Can't wait to put it up. Great pics. Love the ones of the cats with the "Why are you doing this to us" expressions. Having a cat I guess that's a general expression.

Posted by roarah (My Page) on Tue, Dec 6, 11 at 21:03

Whitdobe, I store my ornaments in Christmas decorative boxes and when they are emptied, after ornaments are on the tree, I put them around the skirt like presents:) Super easy and when it is time to take the ornaments down again all the storage boxes are right there for me! Handy dandy:)

Why didn't I think of that! I keep special ornaments in a red cord boxes that would be perfect as a base for all the gifts. Thank you. I just hope I can remember for next year.

kristinekr - Adorable! The dog reminds me of a Lhasa that we had. Big under-bite! One year, she got into the Christmas cheese ball that was set out on a coffee table. Had red food coloring all over her mouth.

bleigh - Your trees have always been some of my favorites. I'd love to put a tall skinny in our small den, but DH will not hear of it.

Having your ornament storage boxes set up to look like presents so that you can put them under the tree is a brilliant idea! I have large plastic boxes with dividers that really wouldn't work well to wrap but I think I'll be keeping my eyes out to see if I can get some new storage boxes that would work with.

Thanks for the great idea!

Wow! Gorgeous trees and rooms, everyone! I am so envious of all of you with real trees! *sigh*

I'm not quite done but here goes:

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Binsd, your decorating is really nice! Where did you get those ornaments in the upper windowsill? Are they regular size or larger?

Thanks oakleyok! Those ornaments are Waterford Heirloom Four Seasons. Here's a better look:

I am pretty sure they are retired and that I bought them at Tuesday Morning.

Bump. We need more trees, even you posted in the other topic. :)

So many wonderful looks! Tree is up but now I am definitely inspired for how to approach the rest of the apartment.

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Wow, I'm really late to this thread. Finally got a picture of our tree. We ordered it through a sale through the community pool. The trees came in on the larger end of range of sizes. As you know, our space is already very full!

I love all of the pictures of everyone's holiday decorating. There are so many talented decorators here on HDF. Since my camera card is giving me a bit of trouble at the moment, I thought I would share a pic of one of my friend's trees - circa 2010. My friend is a local artist, whose home and holiday decor are to die for IMHO.

Here's a peek at last year's tree:

This is not my tree nor my idea, but I just happened upon it and want to share it. I am definitely going to start buying those old toppers I see...I have a topper on my tree that I love so couldn't imagine what to do with more - I'm not crazy about the pastel, but more vibrant colors or silver or gold would suit me....

Here is a link that might be useful: american harvest blog

w in p, that is a really neat tree. Your friend is very talented.

Very pretty decorations everyone, Merry Christmas!

I mostly read everone's posts and do not post much, but I wanted to say thank you for all of the beautiful pictures of your Christmas trees. I love them all! Merry Christmas to everyone!!