Lordy, I am hosting my annual christmas brunch and the only day everyone can make it is Dec. 1st! Down come the halloween decorations up go the christmas. On the bright side all my decorating will be done by Thanksgiving.

Yes, Zippy, it is too early. LOL I LOVE Thanksgiving and do not do any decorating until right afterwards. That said I love Christmas also and love decorating. I have a great pilgrim decoration that does not go well with Christmas decorations! LOL

The candyland tree would be beautiful for your girls. Our main tree is a collection of collected ornaments, many are old tinsel and scrap ornaments (antique/vintage), glass ornaments hubby and I have collected over the years, and special ornaments given to us or representing something. I still love putting up the crystal bell that reads *our first Christmas*. Most all of our ornaments have meaning to us.

While I'm generally not into *themes*, I have done a small tree in the breakfast nook with cookie cutters and ribbons. Also in our bedroom we usually have a 4 ft. tree with a series of collectables. I guess that is a theme too! LOL

I'm actually thinking about paring down this year and only putting up our big tree. I love decorating the mantel and outside the house, although that is mainly greenery and red velvet ribbons.

Does cottage living still have a website? I wonder if you might find some ideas there? Country living might have some good ideas too.

tina

I just posted about picking up "Southern Accents Christmas Decorating Guide" -- one of those larger special edition magazines .....

This one is WONDERFUL!! Full of ideas from the now-gone Southern Accents magazine!

Might have some fresh ideas for you, Zip! LOL!

Jan at Rosemary Cottage

I must confess I am totally JAZZED about decorating for Christmas this year! Usually T-giving is *my* holiday and I do the big dinner and stuff. Then I find I'm too tired to do Christmas stuff. Well, this year looks like an off-year for a TG gathering at my house so I'm psyched about Christmas--yay! I also have a trip to visit the Biltmore in December with a friend and our DDs. We cannot wait to see it all done-up!

What I have to do is remember to let my kiddo HELP with the decorating. My son did all of the Halloween stuff ON HIS OWN this year. The thing I'm learning (albeit slowly) is that it does not have to be perfect to be fun :)

Igloo: That animal tree is too precious for words! Your babe napping below it brought a smile to my face and a little tear to my eye. Darling!

Great pictures! Igloochic- I'm glad I'm not the only one who puts stuffed animals on the tree :) Adorable picture of your little boy!

Yep, for at least the last couple of weeks! Hi Judith, good to see you here! I never get tired of seeing your trees or *anything* you do! How's the re-model coming along? Like Judith, I do several trees also, so have to get all my ducks in a row, *mentally*, first.

There's an upscale furniture store here in Austin that is having a Christmas tree 'tips and tricks' demonstration tonight. I do pretty good on my own, but now i'm curious to see if I might be missing something.

Igloochic, you mist be beside yourself with happiness! What would Christmas be without the little ones?((())). The little guy is gonna love having his own, personal Christmas tree in his room!! ;o)

Anyone thinking about Christmas decorating yet?

Yes, I'm thinking of NOT doing it!

I meant to comment Igloo on your little boy. What a darling pic! How is he doing, btw?

tina

patty cakes, thanks! Remodeling the kitchen is slow, got the one kitchen/hall wall closed in (thanks to a great friend), but ran out of money, chemo treatments/dr bills are expensive, so I will have to look at the money spent as a "personal body remodel instead. LOL)

"barfing christmas throughout the house :)"
Igloo!

Boy, I know you learn something every day, but this isn't something I'm proud of learnin' today! I'm kidding, totally kidding. But I bet I will be thinking of you when I begin decorating this Christmas.

Yep! Hobby lobby has all Christmas stuff on sale at 50% off, so I was there today. I have to share what I saw though. A young woman and her son of about 4 years old were shopping in the Christmas department. The mom was carring a piece of green fabric with tractors on it. They found a bright green foil tree about 2.5 feet tall. The fabric was going to be the tree skirt. The tree was to be decorated with bright red tractors for his bedroom and he was helping to pick things out. They also bought a pink tree for his sister that was to be decorated with lollipops and candy canes. I just thought these ideas were adorable and since I don't have grandkids yet, I thought I'd share.

Zipdee,

I actually started today but only outdoors. I removed my dead flowers from the window boxes and put in some branches of Pine and spruce and a few red berries.
Not done anything else yet but I have been thinking on it. Our thanksgiving here in Canada is Middle of October so that is all done with and now that Halloween is over it is time to get moving.

*that* Hobby Lobby! I went in a month ago and they had Christmas stuff~the other day is was Christmas music! I *heard* it's because of the economy Christmas has 'shown up early' this year. It seems the 'marketing people' believe people won't be spending as much, so by 'flaunting' it early, are using it as a form of mind control. Are *you* buying into it? ;o)

Judith, hope you're feeling lots better((())). I've sure missed YOU and your posts~I keep hoping you'll show up on the Holidays forum. Everyone misses you over there.

sjt2900- what a great story! I love that idea of separate trees for the kids and such good ideas. Thanks for sharing :)

More ideas for the nieces and nephews....hmm (LOL)

Does it count that my tree is actually up? Ok so it is! We moved here two years ago and for the first two Christmases I put up my huge tree that took up the Living Room the first year and the entire kitchen last year. I had to beg and plead my family (dh and ds12) to help me decorate it so as soon as it was down, I gave it away. I saw a slim tree on QVC's website and ordered it about a month ago. Knowing I only had a 30 day return policy I put it together to see if I could live with it. It is still together and sitting here.

Last year I had enough Christmas decorations to decorate 3-4 homes easily. My kid sis decorated hers out of it without putting a dent in it. So this year I plan to take them all out pick out my favorites, let my ds12 choose some memoriable ones to keep and let the rest go. I know that they could bless someone else's home but its hard to thinking of parting with alot of them!

Alicia

I never got my fall decor out, so I think I'll just skip right past to Christmas! I don't know where the time is going?!

LOL Rob you cracked me up. The first time I heard that phrase it made me pause but now it just makes me smile. It's better than my friends "It looks like father Christmas had holiday diahrea all over your house" comment. (He normally puts a santa hat on a nome and calls it a day).

Thanks so much for the compliments on the silly tree and even sillier (is that a word?) child! I'm so looking forward to seeing the holidays through his healthy eyes this year! He is much better though pretty much sick weekly because we are in cold and flu season now but we move to the new house next week so I expect we will have a healthier boy very very soon!

Wow I thought I was the only crazy one dying for Christmas to be here! Not the shopping or the crowds, just the decorating!!! I was in a garden store today and bought 2 ornaments as they were still unpacking the boxes and putting up the trees. One of the ladies who worked there said "look it's our first Christmas sale!"

We just got done with a whole house remodel so I figured it might be because of that, but it sounds like Christmas is in the air for a lot of us! Every year over the last 6 years we've either had very ill family members, deaths in the family, moving, and then remodeling so I feel like I've missed out on one of my favorite holidays for a few years.

Igloo I'm so glad you will be able to celebrate fully this year! I also love that tree!!!

Judith I wish you were JudithMD instead of VA I would LOVE to have your house photographed for the region publication I work for!!!

My neighbor has a cool, quirky sense of decorating and a beautiful home. Last year she put up one of those upside down Christmas trees which was too cute! I asked her if she would be willing to let us photograph her home for next year's holiday issue and she is already decorated with 5 trees and lots of other stuff! On our way home tonight we drove past her house, which up until today was all festooned for Halloween, lo and behold, it's all decked out for Christmas...lighted greens, a tree on the front porch you name it! I'm sure some of the neighbors will be talking LOL!!!

I do love Thanksgiving too, and have lots of cool turkeys and acorns, etc. but I really have the itch to move right in to Christmas! I was just at a house where we did a holiday tablescape shoot and we have 3 more set up for next week, so after that one I think it will be all I can do to NOT put out my Christmas stuff!!!

Post pictures please!!!

Kat :)

lesmis (Kat), thank you for the lovely complement , that means alot that you even thought of me in that catagory :)
What is the name of your magazine, I would love to see the pics you take of the Christmas season in your area, perhaps they would sell it in my Barnes and Noble since we(States) are so close (or I could request they order it for me).

Judithva, I didn't see an email link for you. I can send you a link, the magazine is online, but they don't publish many of the pics on the online site (not sure why, since that's the best part of the story most times) but you can read the articles. My email is swlesmis@hotmail.com. Where in VA are you? The magazine I write for is about Maryland only.

Kat :)

Two weeks ago! We had to start decorating the shop for Christmas, and because we are small with no storage, that meant putting things out as soon as we could. We still have a few small things to go, but our Holiday Open House is this weekend. I'm sure I won't want to do anything at home, just like last year.
Also wondering if anyone decorates bedrooms (guest or master) with a Christmas look. We used our white matelasse and added some red and white shams--I love it and that was the easiest part.

Igloo- He is tooo cute! The time we have small kids in our homes is so fleeting,our house always had the unidentifiable kid made Christmas "decoreens" on display. Still do! One year when my DS was about your DS age, we had Halloween witches that he adored hanging from the dining room chandelier until Christmas Eve! I got a lot of ribbing from friends about the Christmas witches!
judithva- I always admire your trees and tablescapes- just amazing!
lesmis I live in Maryland you could use my address for judithva LOL!! I will visit the link.
aahhh now I feel guilty about teasing zipdee! In the past I would begin planning and making decorations and hurried Christmas! Now my baby is 21 and so no hurry to decorate and my job and life is so mad crazy havent thought about it.

Oh Momma am I thinking about it! This wknd DS1 and I decided to put the Dept. 56 village up early so that we can enjoy it much longer this yr.

Zipdee - somebody here posted a beautiful tree of theirs in either the library or music room. Can't remember who it was. Lots of red and raffia. I think that the poster said that they made many of the ornaments. It was really pretty. Maybe somebody will remember the tree or the actual owner will see this thread and repost their pictures.

If your inclined to make an yourself I think that the black silhoutte ornaments are neat in a little picture frame w/ a red mat.

Igloo - I love that tree! I will have to tuch the pictures away for reference if you don't mind. DS1 wants me to paint his bedroom in the house we are moving to like the inside of a tree - sort of like the 100 Acre Wood. That Christmas tree of yours would be perfect in it! Last yr. I put a medium sized tree up in the boys bedroom between their beds on the bureau. Their bedroom is a vintage transporation theme and I have a bunch of vintage style transportation ornaments for their tree but in the end I jsut handed them a box of ornaments that my mom handed down to me that I used to decorate w/ as a child and told them to 'have at it'. They decorated it themselves and not only did DS1 ASK to take a nap, both he AND his little brother napped side by side on the floor underneath it WITHOUT fighting! It was a happy mommy day! Your son looks adorable!

I dream of having a candy themed tree in my kitchen like Judith's someday. I have a bunch of candy ornaments but I really can't put them on the tree because the little ones try to eat them. Last yr. I took to hanging those ornaments from the chandelier in the entry hall.

I'd love to try an Elegant Woodland themed tree this yr. (again). If anyone has suggestions I'd LOVE to hear them and how I might pull it off. I tried last yr. but failed miserably. DH thought it was a great idea but agreed that it didn't come off the way I intended. This is what I tried to do:

Used all of my range of blue balls on the top 1/2 of the tree to create the sky.

Peppered in flocking for clouds.

Hung a sun ornament and a moon ornament from DS1's Nursery Rhyme ornaments collection in the 'sky'.

Put my bird and other featherd friends ornaments on the top 1/2.

The bottom 1/2 was done in a range of browns and greens (glass balls again) to represent the ground and I put all of our woodland creature ornaments and nut and leaf ornaments.

It looked flat. I'd welcome any suggestions on how I might pull it off as I'd like to try again.

Usually I end up doing the tree in a riot of red and green balls in every shade possible w/ vintage looking red tinsel garland. Then I add in my collection of glass Old World Santas and animals.

Sally,

I'd love love to do my bedroom like that some time! IF you're comfortable posting a link to your store would you mind doing so? It's wonderful!

And for any of you who haven't seen Sallymo's DR 0 it's lovely!

Cooperbailey, I just sent you and email.

Kat :)

lesmis, I am sending you an email...

Thanks Judith, I'll look for it! Apparently I could use an* editor on here as well!!

Kat :)

Hey ttodd, here's the blog link, the Christmas bed is inside the current post.
I don't want to be considered a spammer, although you can't buy anything online.

Here is a link that might be useful: shop's blog

Great blog Sally, I wish your shop was closer!!! And how can it be spam if we ask for it?! ;)

Judith I replied to your email.

Here is a picture of the ornaments I got yesterday. They are pottery and heavy, by Seasons of Cannon Falls.

Kat :)

I am 99% a lurker here. I love reading and following all the wonderful decorative things everyone is doing. I am an over the top Christmas decorating-aholic and have started making plans for this years decor.

I was thrilled to see judithva's postings here. I have admired her trees and tablescapes since I discovered them here a few years ago. Like many others here, I have thought of her often and hoped she was doing better. Judith, like you, I have been dealing with a serious health condition with chemo treatments, surgery, hosp. tests, etc. over this pas year. I am so glad to see you here again and hope you are feeling well.

I would like to thank everyone for all the pictures, information and interesting items they post here. Altho I have not contributed, keeping up with these forum's have brought me many happy hours and I hope to become more of a contributor when I am able to get back to "normal"

Nancy, that's so nice to hear. Hope you are well soon and would love to see pics of your over the top decorating!

Judith, I was hoping that you hadn't abandoned us when I didn't see posts from you. So sorry to hear that you weren't feeling to weel but sure do hope that you're on the mend!

Thank you so much to everyone that responded!! I've read all of the thoughts and suggestions, you all have given me a lot to think about and work with, I really appreciate it.

CB .. Why yes, I lost my everlovin' zippedydoo dah quite a while ago. :D If you ever see it, please beat it into submission and send it back my way. ;) I'm normally the person, shelping decorations out of storage half way through December. So I know if I don't get a jump on this, it won't happen at all. *LOL*

Igloochic .. your little one is darling and so is that tree. What a lucky little guy to have that in his room! Good luck with the Christmas 'barfing' *LOL*. :D

Judithva .. all of your trees are phenomenal! The large ones so elegant and the candy land theme is wonderful, I love it.

Tinam61 .. Sadly the Cottage Living site is no more. :( I did pull out the past December issues I saved and looked through them though.

Teacats .. I'll be on the look out for that magazine. Thanks for suggesting it!

Ttodd .. I love the idea of black silhouettes, mounted on red. As strange as this sounds I think doing our three basset hounds silhouettes could put a fun, happy twist on the idea. I've often thought about doing three large oval traditionally matted silhouettes of the Bassets and hanging them on the green walls in the hall would be kind of fun. :D

Lesmis, those ornaments are so cute and look great up against the stoneware.

Zipd: We always buy fresh tree -- it makes the whole room smell like Christmas. We live in soCal near the beach so Christmas here doesn't seem like christmas at all. Last year, I tried the beach theme instead of the typical pine cones, etc. We made the garland from sea shells, muted green & grey sea glass & tarnish silver beads. The ornaments are made from starfish, coral branches, silver dollar, etc. I kept the colors limited to grey & muted green.

Another idea I found on the internet is to hang your china on Christmas tree. Here's the pic of the "china" tree (from my romantic home blog):

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I love how she decorate her big birdcage. I have a HUGE wrought iron birdhouse & I'm thinking of stealing her idea this year LOL :-D

(her birdcage)

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I've been roped in by my sorority to be part of a house tour that we are doing this year. I'm ambivalent about it because we really haven't gone all out since we moved two years ago. The first year we went back home and last year with my son in China, me and DH took a breather from all the Xmas decorating and realized that we loved it! It usually took us about a week to decorate the tree alone because we always had a gigantic live tree. That coupled with interior/exterior decorating pretty much wiped us out.

So this year I'm forced to face the memories and the headache and decorate the house. It will be interesting tackling a new space because at least in the old house we had it down to a science of what went where. Either way I think it is still going to be hard becase my son is now in school in Tokyo and once again will not be home for Xmas.

I'm definitely looking forward to it since we didn't have a tree last year due to the new addition and remodel.

After Christmas when the stores had their big sales, I bought an all white Christmas tree and a lot of "new" vintage glass ornaments. The sales were amazing!

First time ever I'll be able to put a big tree up and not have to re-arrange furniture!

I'm also hosting Thanksgiving, and since I never decorate for Fall, I'm decorating the table kind of Christmasy since we talk so much about it at TG. :)

I have to begin decorating inside for Christmas now. My family is all here to visit Thanksgiving, so that is when we have to celebrate Christmas.

Totally and completely! I just mentioned to my husband this past weekend I am geared up and excited to pretty the house up.

I am doing the outside xmas lights this weekend. I am in Ottawa Canada and it is starting to get chilly out so I want to get them up before it is too cold (mind you I won't flick the "on" switch till Dec 1st).

I host xmas eve celebrations which are a really big deal here so I have to really jazz up the house big time with holiday spirit as there is about 40 people who join us that night.

I am excited just talking about it!

Haley

Judithva, your trees are as beautiful as The Biltmore! Wow. We have a little pre-lit tree that MIL bought, so perhaps I could actually try the Candyland tree in addition to our regular fir.

Timing-wise because of the school calendar, I can't really do anything until after exams are graded.

Just wondering if anyone else is getting their trees decorated! I moved 2 yrs ago to a small home and last year I decided the big tree had to go! I bought a slim one from QVC and decorated it today. I have a problem though the toppers that I have all look way too big for such a small tree.

I would love to see what everyone else is using for a topper!

Alicia

I am going to start tomorrow. Am planning on doing an icy , snowy glittery tree for the LR against our newly painted red walls. I have an inspiration pic that inspired me & with some Christmas music hope to get in the decorating mood fast tomorrow. Good luck with yours.
Bonnie

Your little boy is so precious by the tree.....just love that picture!
Bonnie

Igloochic - that tree is now my inspiration for my dd's room. She adores stuffed animals and has WAY too many of them. I think I will surprise her by doing an animal tree for her while she is at school - it will be a way of containing all the animals in her room - at least for a month ;-)

We got our first ever fake tree this year, and it is little. We didn't have to move any furniture. Here it is undecorated:

Way too early to be decorating for winter yet. Thanksgiving was just a couple of days ago, and winter isn't for almost a month, thank you very much. LOL

We don't put up holiday decorations until about two weeks before Christmas.

Love seeing all the great things that everyone is doing, tho!

I am starting today, but probably won't turn on the lights outside until next weekend. I put 3' lighted trees along the front path and string LED lights along the deck. I am determined to do it while I have a warmish day rather than wait as usual and be out there freezing! The live wreath will wait until around Dec. 15th, but I keep it up through February (minus the bow). I am always amazed that it lasts so long! No hurry on the candles in the windows. Need new bulbs, so whenever I get to HD...

No decorating or outside lights for us this year, though the neighbors will miss the outside decor. We're spending our holiday in the Carribean so we get a year off from the family and all the hustle and bustle. Looking forward to it.

I had the 2 DS's get down all the Christmas stuff yesterday. I spent this afternoon dusting and then putting out a few things. I am terribly excited about decorating this yr. Best yr. we have had in ages, so thankful!! I could not talk DH into getting the tree yet. He wants to wait until next weekend. I will continue to put things up this week.

I wish I had a picture of SIL's Christmas tree. She decorates a tall, slim tree in her living room with pieces of old jewelery that she picks up at yard sales. She has refined it to only silver and "diamond" pieces, especially earrings and old fashioned broaches. It is really cute and different and something most people have in their own drawers.
MJ

We have a holiday party every year and in the past, it has been earlier in Dec., but this year it's not until the 12th, which is good because our house is a disaster outside, in the midst of a re-siding project! Usually I do like to put up the outside lights and garland the first weekend of Dec., but that will have to wait until probably the 12th... siding job is supposed to be done by then! Today I had to do something so I bought a wreath and a mantel garland from a nursery. This weekend we'll unpack our new fake tree and decorate it. I would love to have a real one but DS2 is allergic. Every year I seem to eliminate a few decorations because I just get tired of them, but I never get tired of my Santa collection. I have about 20 or so different Santas -- some are figurines, some are made out of wood, one is stuffed, etc. Every year I do something different with them. One year I stuffed them all on the mantel. This year they're all going on the shelves in my kitchen. I find that I appreciate them more when they're all together rather than scattered around the house.

Lavender, this will make you feel better. I have a collection of plastic Rudolph toys that I display as if they're fancy decorations. I figure Christmas is my excuse to be as tacky as I want to be!

I never do much Christmas decorating. We're never here for Christmas, we're the ones who always travel to the rest of our far flung family. I used to go crazy running around, getting the tree up and making everything "just so" before we left only to come home to the task of running around to take it all down as soon as we get home. Now I do very minimal things. That said, we did "dress up" our front door for Christmas already.

Before:

After:

Yes, that was much more than just hanging the wreath but, when we were done with the demo and installation it just seemed right to go ahead and put the wreath up!

judithva, Where did you buy or did you make your candy and treats decorations? They are beautiful. I do a candy & cookie theme in my kitchen and would love to know where / how you made those. Thanks