Christmas Mantel 2014

Happy Christmas Season to you!

I decided to simplify things this year and limit the Christmas decorating and was able to get almost all the decorating finished by the weekend after Thanksgiving. A Christmas mantel, however is one space that must be decorated for the holidays.

It would be great to finish right after Thanksgiving since it would let me get everything else finished earlier and not be rushed that last week before Christmas.
You know the saying "the best laid plans"?

Well, I won't go into the details, but something having to do with a trip to urgent care and a round of antibiotics have put me in bed for about a week so far.
Sometimes you just have to say Whatever gets done, gets done. 

So glad I finished decorating early. 

I found some really cute red checked pillow covers at Ikea. 

I had planned to make some new Christmas stockings, but instead I hung a snowflake ornament on the hook to dress them up. 

That green candle looks like it's going to light the left stocking on fire, but it's actually several inches away from it. 

Hope your Christmas planning is going well. 
Last weekend we were up at the mountain cottage and cut down a Christmas tree to decorate. It was growing between shrubs, so we are only using the top 4 feet. Mr. DIY put the lights on last night and I'm planning on decorating it in the next day or so. It's the last thing I have left to decorate.

Then there's buying and wrapping presents, shipping and maybe a little baking...or not.

We'll see how it goes!

Pam