Holiday Cheer

It feels like October but the holidays are upon us. This year the decorating is similar to previous ones, but we made a few tweaks.

Like last year (when, apparently, I forgot to take a picture) our tree is nestled between both sofas, tucking it a bit more out of the way so that the toddler can't do too much damage and it can't get knocked over by cat or child. We've now had the tree in all 3 available corners of the living room over the last few years - I like that we have some choice on where to put it.

We bought new lights this year, too, based on a review on The Wirecutter, our go-to place before we shop these days. and bought GE Colorite LED lights. I know they're energy efficient but no, they still don't look as nice as the old fashioned kind. Also we found it weird that there is so much purple in there, a color they don't usually include in colored lights. But as it's our toddler's favorite color, that's not necessarily a bad thing.

The fireplace looks mostly the same except this year we used live greenery we bought at a fundraiser, instead of the plastic one (ugh look at all those toys!)

Now I remember why we use artificial - needles everywhere!!

I went all Martha Stewart and made a felt tree for the toddler to decorate, though mostly she just wants to tear off the gingerbread man's eyes...

We skipped the outdoor lights this year - it seems I only have the energy for them alternating years (I did it last year. But we do have a new wreath and some more greenery.

After looking around our neighborhood, I decided I want to put wreaths in both upstairs windows. Of course my new front door wreath (that I bought last year on sale) does not seem to be for sale anymore, so I won't be able to create a matching set - or even anything complimentary, from at least a quick glance at all my usual stores. So I might need to start fresh next year. If I do, I'll have to remember to buy a thinner wreath - this one is so fat that we had to put it on our storm door since putting it on our front door pushed the storm door out a few inches.

Now we just need a little snow to add the real finishing touches on the making the house feel Christmasy.